With Great Wealth

During the plague of Darkness, the Jewish people were able to see all of the Egyptian utensils that they would ultimately take with them, when they left Egypt.

Rav Elazar Abuchatzeira זצ׳ל, asked why it was so important that they leave with great wealth. Even in the דיינו prayer, we say that it would have been enough to have left Egypt, even without the רכוש גדול, great wealth.

Hashem explains to the nation, that He made a promise to Avraham Avinu about this, and it was essential that He keep His promise. So the real question is why was this so important to Avraham Avinu. Rav Elazar explains that Avraham realized that Egypt would prove to be a most decadent place. He wanted to be certain that when the time came for his children to leave, there would be an absolute and permanent break with Egypt. In order to prevent a possible situation, where they might come back and ask for reparations for their years of slavery, they would take what was justifiably theirs for good. They would be finished with Egypt forever. This was to be our attitude for all times. Once we realize we were in a place with negative influences, we must be sure to permanently distance ourselves from such טומאה and negativity.