1:1 ‘veeleh shemot bnei yisrael habaim mitzryaima et yaakov ish uveto bau’…sons
Q: ‘et yaakov’, why does the Torah precede the list of Yaakov’s sons that came with the words ‘et yaakov’?
A: The Chafetz Chayim explained that really Yaakov’s sons did not want to leave Eretz Yisrael and enter the very impure immoral environment of Egypt. They feared that the future generations would not be able to resist the immoral lures that would surround them in Egypt. It was only because Yaakov was going that the brothers agreed to come, since the brothers knew that Yaakov’s influence and merits would protect them.
