את מצרימה הבאים ישראל בני שמות ואלה” (א א) “באו וביתו איש יעקב
Why does it say “haba’im” in the present tense? Wasn’t the Torah given long after Bnei Yisrael went down to Mitzrayim?
Harav Yehoshua of Belz explained:
Usually, after a person moves to a new place, he may initially feel longing for his previous place of residence, and wants to return to it. However, as time passes, he gets used to his new place and becomes more settled. And then the words of Chazal are fulfilled: (Sotah 48a) “chein makom al yoshvav,” a place finds favor in the eyes of the people who live there. Yaakov was afraid that perhaps his children would get too settled in Mitzrayim and would not want to leave to return to the land of their forebears. Therefore, he davened that they should always be like “haba’im” – as if they had just come, that the new place should not find favor with them, and they should always yearn to return to the land of their ancestors.
This tefillah is also alluded to in the passuk that begins the haftarah to this parashah: “Haba’im yashresh Yaakov yatzitz uparach Yisrael” (Yeshayah 27:6). In the merit that “Yaakov” ingrained in his children that they should always be like “haba’im”, and thus caused that they should always have that burning desire to return to the land of their fathers, “yatzitz uparach Yisrael” – Am Yisrael merited to flourish and be redeemed from Mitzrayim.
