Rabbi Eliezer Hakappar Berebbi posed a rhetorical question that reveals something extraordinary about the Israelites during their centuries of slavery in Egypt. Did Israel not possess four virtues, he asks, that surpassed the worth of the entire world?
These four merits were not dramatic acts of heroism or grand religious achievements. They were acts of quiet, stubborn cultural preservation. The Israelites in Egypt were not suspected of illicit sexual relations. They did not engage in slander or malicious speech. They did not change their Hebrew names to Egyptian ones. And they did not abandon their Hebrew language for Egyptian.
This tradition, found in several rabbinic sources, addresses a profound historical puzzle. The Israelites spent over two hundred years in Egypt, much of that time in slavery and degradation. They had every reason to assimilate, to adopt Egyptian names, speak Egyptian, and blend into the dominant culture. Other enslaved peoples throughout history have lost their languages and identities within a few generations. But Israel, according to Rabbi Eliezer, held firm on these four points.
The choice of these particular four virtues is significant. They are all matters of identity and integrity rather than ritual observance. The Israelites in Egypt did not yet have the Torah. They could not keep Shabbat (the Sabbath) or observe kashrut in any systematic way. What they could do was maintain their moral character, their speech, and their names. These basic markers of identity, the rabbis taught, were worth more than anything else in the world, and it was in their merit that God ultimately redeemed the nation from bondage.