Parsha Related

The Shiltei Giborim on Meseches Shabbos writes a famous remez to Chanuka found in parshas Mikeitz, וטבוח טבח והכן, the word ‹vehachen› and the ches from the word ‹tevach› spell Chanuka. Last year, my daughter found another remez, where Yehuda says ונלכה ונחיה, the last two letters of ‹venailaicha...

Reb Yeruchum explains the Torah's use of the word "mekeitz" as opposed to simply saying "And it was two years" based on the midrash, which quotes the possuk "keitz som ;l'chosech" - "an end he placed for darkness" - as referring to the two-year period during which Yosef sat in the darkness of jai...

It says in Tehillim (37:23) "By Hashem are a man's footsteps established, and He shall favor his way". The Rebbe writes that each step a man takes, even though he feels that it is according to ;his ;will, really his steps are guided by Hashem as it is Hashem who guides the will of man. Nothing in...

זאת עשו קחו מזמרת הארץ... מעט צרי.... מעט דבשthe Shvatim said to Yakov that Yosef accused them of being deficient in shmiras ha'yesod, 'meraglim atem', liros es 'ervas' haaretz. Yakov said, זאת עשו with this you can repair the blemish. kechu mizimras haaretz, (הארץ בגימט' שבת קודש, (בצ' פשוטה tak...

Parashat Miketz begins with Yosef still languishing in an Egyptian dungeon, where he had been imprisoned on false charges. ; Pharaoh's cupbearer had been in the dungeon together with Yosef, but was released from prison and reinstated, as Yosef had predicted. ; Before the cupbearer's release, Yose...

; The “Tzadik Tomim” of Our Generation "נח איש צדיק תמים היה בדרתיו". פירש רש"י: "ויש שדורשים אותו לגנאי; לפי דורו היה צדיק, ואילו היה בדורו של אברהם לא היה נחשב לכלום". “Noach was a ‘Tzadik Tomim’ in his generation”. (Parshas Noach) Rashi tells us: Some interpret the extra word “in his generati...

In this week’s Parsha, we witness the confrontation between Yakov and Esav. Chazal identify three approaches which Yaakov Avinu employed in preparation: “Doron, Tefila VeMilchama” - gifts, prayer, and war. ;Based on the Zohar and the Ramban, Rav Dessler ZT’L says that this confrontation was, in f...

The Torah tells us that Yaakov was attacked by the Malach of Esav. As dawn approached and Yaakov prevailed, the malach asked to be freed. Chazal tell us that the reason it was so urgent for the Malach to leave, was because each Malach receives one chance to say Shira and precisely on that day the...

Disaster ;One afternoon a man came home from work to find total mayhem in his house. His three children were outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard. The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the h...

We all know the story of Yaakov and the shepherds from Parshas Vayetze. Did you ever wonder how Yaakov Avinu single handedly removed such a large rock from on top of the well? ;If he was an “Ish Tam Yoshev Ohalim” how did he have this kind of super-human strength? To answer this, perhaps an intr...