Insights on the Parsha & Mo'adim - From Joshua Moshe Mitchell

This week’s Parsha is פרשת ויחי, the very last פרשה of ספר בראשית. In this יעקב ,פרשה grows ill and blesses all the שבטים before his death. When יוסף hears of his father’s health, he comes to him, bringing his two children, מנשה and אפרים. Yosef places his sons before Ya’akov, מנשה on his (יעקב’s) right, and אפרים on his left. However, instead of following the natural order, יעקב crosses his hands...

This week’s Parsha is פרשת ויגש, where all of יוסף’s family goes down to מצרים. Here, יוסף introduces יעקב to פרעה, with the תורה stating: “ויבא יוסף את־יעקב אביו ויעמדהו לפני פרעה ויברך יעקב את־פרעה - and Yosef brought Ya’akov his father, and stood him before Pharaoh, and Ya’akov blessed Pharaoh.” After this, פרעה asks Ya’akov: “כמה ימי שני חייך - How many are the days of the years of your life?”...

This week, we read פרשת מקץ, a פרשה focused largly on יוסף. In this פרשה, Yosef interprets Pharaoh’s dreams, stating that there will be 7 years of abundance, followed by 7 years of famine. Because of his knowledge, פרעה puts יוסף in charge of the preparation for the famine, where he imposes large crop taxes, in order to store food for the future. As a result of his new authority, יוסף’s social sta...

This Sunday night, we will begin Chanukah - a חג that has no mention in all of תנ”ך. But, we do find it discussed in a few דפים of גמרא שבת. There we see a מחלוקת between בית הלל and בית שמאי. בית שמאי states that we should light 8 candles of חנוכה on the first night and go down one each night - to mirror the structure of the קרבנות on סוכות, while בית הלל states that we should light one candle on...