"And these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt" (Exodus 1:1). Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk opens his commentary on Parashat Shemot with a strange claim: a person's name belongs to their soul, not their body.
The proof is experiential. When someone is sleeping and you want to wake them, touching their body works—slowly. But calling their name works immediately. Why? Because during sleep, the soul ascends to the upper realms, leaving the body behind. The name, which is the soul's identity, calls it back. The body alone cannot respond as quickly.
This reframes the opening verse entirely. The Torah is not listing immigration records. It is expressing astonishment: these holy tzaddik (a righteous person)im (the righteous), known by the exalted name "Israel"—how is it possible that they "came to Egypt"? How could beings at such spiritual heights descend to such a low place?
The answer is "with Jacob"—meaning, for the sake of the simplest people, those called by the humbler name "Jacob." The tzaddik must sometimes fall from their level in order to reach the most ordinary people and raise them to holiness. If the tzaddik remained permanently in the upper worlds, there would be no connection, no bridge to the struggling masses below.
How does the tzaddik accomplish this elevation? "A person and their household came"—by awakening their own inner depths, the tzaddik can awaken the inner depths of others. King David expressed this in (Psalms 109:30): "I will thank God much with my mouth, and among the many I will praise Him." Even when the tzaddik descends to the "small level," their purpose is to lift the many.