In this week’s Torah portion we learn how the Jews flourished in Egypt. This raised the ire of the Egyptian people who decided that they wanted to get rid of the Jewish nation.

A careful examination of the verses in the Torah tell us that the Egyptians came up with a two track plan to get rid of the Jews; the stick and the carrot.  Every male child born to the Jews would be killed, while they would assimilate the rest of the Jews into the Egyptian culture and thereby cause them to lose their Jewish identity.

However, our Sages teach us that while the Egyptians were successful to assimilate some of the Jews, still many remained strong and refused to abandon their Jewish names and language thereby holding on to their Jewish identity.

In our times, after generation of Jews being persecuted by the stick, we are still in danger of losing our identity, through the carrot.  We must take concrete action to bringing Jewish traditions into our home so we should G-d forbid, not lose our Jewish identity.