The Israelites spent twelve months in Egypt after Moses first appeared before Pharaoh. Twelve months of escalating plagues, mounting chaos, and growing anticipation of departure. During this entire period, the Israelites knew a secret that could have destroyed them from within: each family knew where its neighbors kept their valuables.
The Torah records God's instruction: "And a woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her that sojourns in her house, jewels of silver and jewels of gold" (Exodus 3:22). When the moment of departure finally came, the Israelites would ask their Egyptian neighbors for precious objects. But here is the critical detail the Mekhilta highlights — for twelve full months before that moment, not a single Israelite informed on another.
They were slaves living in close quarters. They knew each other's business, each other's possessions, each other's hiding places. Any one of them could have curried favor with the Egyptians by revealing what their fellow Israelites had or where they kept it. The temptation must have been enormous. A word to the right overseer could have meant lighter labor, better rations, preferential treatment.
Yet the Mekhilta finds not one instance of betrayal. From this the rabbis derive two qualities that characterized the Israelites in Egypt: they were not suspect of slander, and they genuinely loved one another. These were not passive virtues. Holding your tongue for twelve months while suffering under slavery requires active, daily discipline. The Israelites earned their redemption not only through faith but through an extraordinary solidarity that no amount of pressure could break.