They Were Always “Coming”:
Rav Yehoshua of Belz zy”a asks why it says that they “are coming” in the current tense, rather than saying that “they came” in the past tense.
He answers that usually when a person moves to a new country, he feels uncomfortable in the beginning and yearns for his old homeland. However, after a while he becomes accustomed to his new place of residence and eventually is indistinguishable from the other residents. With this in mind, the pasuk is hinting that Yaakov davened that his descendants should always be “coming”, meaning that they should always feel like they just moved to their place of residence in golus and they should never get too comfortable there.
This is also seen from the verse in the Haftorah (Yeshaya 27:6): Those who are coming, whom Yaakov caused to take root, Yisroel flourished and blossomed.” Yaakov caused to take root in the hearts of Yisroel the idea that they are always “coming”, and should not be comfortable in exile. In this merit, they flourish and blossom with yeshuos.
This is also seen from the pasuk in Parshas Vayigash (46:8): “These are the names of the children of Yisroel who were coming to Egypt.” Rashi says: “Relative to that time they are called ‘coming’ (in the present tense).” We can explain this to mean that they felt like strangers at the time they came to Mitzrayim and recognized that this was not their true home, and Yaakov instilled within them to retain this feeling and to remain with the mindset as if they are just now “coming” to the land and cannot be genuinely comfortable there. He taught them to always remember their true home and to year to return there.
The Belzer Rebbe concludes with a bracha: “May Hashem help us to always remember where we come from and to always long for the ultimate geulah.”
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