Vayechi: better a live slave

Vayechi ends with an implicit question: Why did the israelites stay in Egypt? (Why didn’t I leave Seattle?) They were so attached to Canaan. They owned property (Hevron, Shechem) there. No answer.
Rather, we are told of Jospeph’s guarantee that they would be provided for. The welfare state is born.

When these 57 numbered and named individuals went to Egypt they were shepherds. They were such shepherds that they could not stretch the facts to say that they herded cattle. They were people of the open range.

In Egypt they became urban. They built cities ( Ramses). They accepted that the necessities of life, like food, would come from elsewhere. (Is this a corollary to the idea that Gd is the source of [the necessities of] life?) Did this change in world view become part of the Jewish identity? Are Jews urban and urbanizing?

Under these circumstances, how could they go back to their old ways? The Israelites were enslaved to the illusion of security of their Egyptian existence. Their new self image which would serve to build them into a nation.

Are we enslaved by our” free” Internet?

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