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וירא יעקב כי יש שבר במצרים

Yaakov perceived that there were provisions in Egypt. (42:1)

When the Baal HaTanya, zl, was taken to prison in St. Petersburg, he asked one of his Chassidim to take a kvittel, written petition asking for a blessing, to his mechutan (father of child’s spouse) and close friend, Horav Levi Yitzchak Berdichever, zl. The Berditchever asked the messenger for Rav Shneur Zalman’s mother’s name. The chasid did not know. Rav Levi Yitzchak took out a Chumash and made a goral, lot, a means of turning pages in such a manner that the last page will have a pasuk which reveals the answer to one’s question. Obviously, only a Torah scholar…

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ויקרא יוסף את שם הבכור מנשה כי נשני אלקים את כל עמלי ואת כל בית אבי

Yosef called the name of the firstborn Menashe, for “G-d has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s household.” (41:51)

Is forgetting one’s youth, his home, his parents, something to be happy about? Yosef seems to have emphasized “forgetting” to the point that he named his firstborn Menashe. Horav Yosef  Nechemiah Kornitzer, zl, Rav of Cracow, explains that educating children is not about rebuke and pointing out what to do and what not to do. Children learn best when they have a positive role model in their parents. Seeing how a father speaks, his choice of words, how he interacts with others, his total demeanor, is probably the most effective manner of teaching a child how to act. Our actions…

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וייטב הדבר בעיני פרעה

The matter appeared good in Pharaoh’s eyes. (41:37)

Pharaoh accepted Yosef’s interpretation of his dreams. It is not as if Pharaoh did not have his own wise men who were quite articulate in interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams. He heard what they had to say, but it was not to his liking. The dreams were not speaking to him personally. After all, he was a king, an individual responsible for an entire country. Instead, Pharaoh was enamored with Yosef’s interpretation. A clever king understands that the vision which he sees is not personal. It must embrace an entire country and must influence the lives of his subjects. Yosef told Pharaoh…

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והאמין בד' ויחשבה לו צדקה

And he trusted in Hashem, and He reckoned with it to him as righteous. (15:6)

On a recent trip to an area, which was completely foreign to me, I was forced to rely totally on my GPS to guide me, literally every step of the way. I did not know when a turn was coming up, when I should just go straight. I was at the mercy of my GPS. As Jews, we, too, have a GPS system that guides us through life. It is called emunah, faith. Without emunah, we do not function; we are unable to function. It is our lodestar, our beacon of light, our guide which takes us by the hand…

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ויהי ריב בין רעי מקנה אברם ובין רעי מקנה לוט ויאמר אברם אל לוט אל נא תהי מריבה ביני וביניך ובין רעי ובין רעיך

And there was quarreling between the herdsmen of Avram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock… so Avram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen.” (13:7, 8)

Some people love to quarrel. It gives them something to do. Decent people, however, understand that strife is destructive, regardless of the motivation. If one is in a community, no matter the size, and a quarrel begins to ensue, he should distance himself from there as if from a contagious plague – because that is what quarrels lead to. At first, the Torah writes that a riv, quarrel, commenced between Avram’s herdsmen and those of Lot. When Avram spoke to Lot, he referred to the quarrel as a merivah. Why the change in spelling? The Shlah Hakadosh explains that this…

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וילך למסעיו

He proceeded on his journeys. (13:3)

L’masaav, on his journeys, implies that Avraham Avinu took a specific, planned itinerary. It was not a haphazard trip. Chazal teach that our Patriarch lodged in the same places that hosted him on his original trip to Egypt. Our sages derive a lesson in mentchlichkeit, human decency, proper etiquette, from this idea. One should stick to his usual lodgings. There is no reason, –nor is it appropriate – to switch from one’s customary lodgings unless he has suffered harassment and anguish there. Otherwise, he inadvertently gives the impression that he was displeased with his lodgings, which could cause a financial…

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ויאמר ד' אל אברם לך לך מארצך וממולדתך ומבית אביך

Hashem said to Avram, “Go for yourself from your land, from your relatives, and from your father’s home. (12:1)

Although the Torah relates the birth of Avraham Avinu at the end of Parashas Noach, we are introduced to the Patriarch in Parashas Lech Lecha. In Derech Hashem, the Maharal explains that originally the plan of Creation was that all human beings would share equally in fulfilling the Divine mission and that the Torah would be given to all mankind. Twenty generations of failure from Adam to Noach to Avraham precluded this reality from occurring. Thus, the title of Hashem’s Chosen People was given to the nation that earned it: Avraham, followed by his progeny. They would receive the Torah;…

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וידבר ד' אל משה בעצם היום הזה

Hashem spoke to Moshe on that very day. (32:48)

The phrase, b’etzem hayom hazeh, on that very day, appears three times in the Torah, each time indicating that large masses of people were prepared to impede Hashem’s decree from being carried out. Thus, to demonstrate that He was in charge – and not the people – Hashem ordered that it be done in the middle of the day, in plain view of everyone. Let them see that no one – absolutely no one – has the power to prevent Hashem’s word from being carried out. The first time was when the people of the dor ha’mabul were bent on…

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שימו לבבכם לכל הדברים אשר אנכי מעיד בכם היום

Apply your hearts to all the words that I testify against you today. (32:46)

Are Klal Yisrael to apply themselves solely to that which Moshe Rabbeinu commanded them that day? What about all of the other days? Are they to be disregarded? Horav Nachman, zl, m’Breslov teaches that one’s avodas haKodesh, service to the Almighty, should focus on hayom, today. Yesterday is gone, over, finished. Tomorrow is the future. Who knows if there will even be a tomorrow? Our concern is for today. Rav Yitzchak makes the following statement (in the Talmud Kiddushin 30b): B’chol yom – “A person’s yetzer hora, evil inclination, renews itself against him (every Jew) every day.” Rabbi Shimon ben…

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לו חכמו ישכילו זאת יבינו לאחריתם

Were they wise they would comprehend this, they would discern it from their end. (32:29)

There are some things that we only seem to comprehend at the end, after we have had the bad experience, and everything good that we believed would occur does not materialize. Only then do we realize our foolishness for not listening to the voice of reason, to those who discourage us from making a bad choice. The worst part is that, even after we have supposedly learned our lesson, it does not serve as a deterrent from performing the same foolish acts over again. The Kaf HaChaim, zl, offers a powerful analogy to explain the pasuk. A man was married…

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