They went down to Egypt: Not to settle there but to sojourn there: This teaches how shrewd Jacob was. When children of Jacob went down to Egypt they (and their father) were fearful that their descendents would intermix with the Egyptians and become entrenched there. Jacob chose a set place for his family to live so that if one of them chose to leave the community, they could no longer return even to work.¹⁰¹ This is what the Torahmeans when it tells us Vayagar Sham, “they sojourned there,” that is, they chose to sojourn there and not dwell permanently among their neighbors. The land that he chose was Goshen: “Now, let your servant dwell in the land of Goshen…”¹⁰² Despite this plan, it does not appear that Jacob succeeded. When the children of Israel arrived in Egypt they were a quantifiable number of which they could easily keep track – there were only seventy people. But as the generations passed the people multiplied in a unnatural fashion (the Midrashsays that every woman gave birth to sextuplets) so that within a short period of time there were so many Israelites that they were too numerous to keep count of. In such a case it would have been hard to keep track of the people and hard to keep them from assimilating into their environment. It would have been hard to keep everyone living in one confined area. Thus the Torah says, “With seventy souls your ancestors went down to Egypt but now I have made you more numerous than the stars in the heavens.”¹⁰³ As a result the people would no longer have been in the category of a quantifiable number, and not capable of being tracked or counted. In the Talmud Sanhedrin, we find a story in which the emperor who asked Rabban Gamliel what was so impressive about the fact that God could count the stars; even he can do this. Rabban Gamliel made the emperor aware that this is no easy matter since the stars and the heavens are constantly revolving.¹⁰⁴ 39a - Again the Emperor said to Rabban Gamliel: It is written, “He counts the number of the stars etc.” (Psalm 147:4) In what way is that remarkable; I too can count them!' Rabban Gamliel brought some quinces, put them into a sieve, whirled them around, and said: 'Count them.' 'Keep them still,' he requested. Thereupon Rabban Gamliel observed, 'But the Heavens revolve so.' Some say that the Emperor spoke thus to him: 'The number of the stars is known to me.' Thereupon Rabban Gamliel asked him, 'How many molars and [other] teeth have you' Putting his hand to his mouth, he began to count them. Said he to him, 'You know not what is in your mouth and yet wouldst know what is in Heaven!' The insight of this story applies here as well: God compared Israel to the stars because while human beings cannot count the stars, God can; therefore when the Israelites were as numerous as the stars, they were still quantifiable! Jacob, then, did succeed since God could keep track of the people of Israel even as they multiplied in Egypt. Rashi also points out that since Israel was compared to the stars in the heavens, each and every Israelite remained important and significant in the eyes of God. As long as each Jew is counted none will be lost!

footnotes: ¹⁰¹ In other words, Jacob created the first Ghetto; this way of life was not imposed upon the children of Israel but was adopted by them in order to assure their continued unique identity. ¹⁰² Genesis 47:4; However, this verse is a statement by the brothers to Pharaoh and not by Jacob. Maybe the author implies that while they were speaking, Jacob was orchestrating this plan to isolate the family so they would not become assimilated into the general population. ¹⁰³ Deuteronomy 10:22 ¹⁰⁴ Sanhedrin