Shlomo's Thoughts on the Torah

Joseph wants the Jews to be far away from the center of Egyptian culture. He knew the dangers of living in that culture and that it would be dangerous for them spiritually.

When Joseph tells his brothers not to worry about what they did since it was God's plan that he be sold into Egyptian slavery it leads to the question does man have free will.

The brothers should have realized that something was amiss by the hints that Joseph dropped until he revealed himself to them. They missed the hints. This teaches us to pay attention to the details.

Joseph wants to know if his brothers are truly repentant for what they did to him. The way to test them is to put them into the same position and see if they would behave differently.

Judah becomes the leader of the brothers due to his taking on personal responsibility for the safety of all of them. That is the true meaning of leadership.

The story of Hanukah is that the anti-Jewish forces did not want to kill the Jews but that they should not live as Jews. By us living as Jews is our ultimate victory and their ultimate defeat.

In this week's portion we have the beginning of the brother reuniting as a family. The striking this is that the Hashmonaim were always united in their mission to save the Jewish people.

The story of Hanukah is the story of wisdom over knowledge. The Greeks had a lot of knowledge but very little wisdom. The Jews had wisdom based on the Bible.

While we recognize that God controls the world we are commanded not to rely of miracles in our lives. God wants us to act. Once we act God will act, not before.

Hanukah was not a war between the Jews and the Greeks but a war against the immorality of the day.

While Reuben is the first born he is not the leader of the brothers, Judah is. This is to teach us that according to the Torah leadership does not come by our birth but by our actions.

When Joseph is sent to find his brothers he has a seemingly chance encounter with a stranger. The stranger directs him to his brothers. The encounter did not happen by chance. It was directed by God.

Just as Jacob thinks he is able to relax from the troubles of facing Esau, Laban and Schem new troubles begin. This time from within the family.

Jacob's reaction to Simeon & Levi's attack on Schem can only be explained in that he was afraid of becoming like Esau. There is some Esau in all of us and we have to fight to keep Esau at bay.

The Ari once commented that Rachel is not buried where people think she is but that does not matter since so many Jews have prayed there it is as if she is there. We can make a place holy by our actions.

Simeon and Levi destroy the city of Schem for what Hamor did to Dinah. Why the entire city for what one person did? Because the rest of the people approved of Hamor's actions. They were all complicit.

Chamor did not think that he did anything wrong in abducting and raping Dina. She was from outside his tribe and therefore fair game. The Torah teaches that this attitude was evil.

Jacob has to negotiate with Esau. Jacob has to mollify Esau so that he can enter to the Land. He treats him with the respect that Esau doesn't deserve. He does this so that he can accomplish his goal.

Jacob stayed behind to find a small vessel. Why, if he was wealthy at this point did he worry about such a minor detail. It is to teach us to worry about the minor details while keeping our eyes on the goal.

Jacob realizes that the danger of staying with Laban is that he will become like him. He knows the best way to avoid this is to leave and return home. It should be remembered that Jacob has goals but he is a realist.

When we begin this week's portion we see that Jacob is running from his brother who wants to kill him. He meets his uncle who wants to cheat him. Yet he is grateful for the gifts that God has given him.

Rachel steals Laban's idols because she doesn't want her father to worship idols. While her motive was good her action was not. We are not allowed to do the wrong thing for the right reason.

In this week's portion we see Leah accusing Rachel of "stealing" Jacob when it was the other way around. This is to teach that Leah was so unhappy that she mistook their history.

The problem with our standing in the world is that we have to be careful of this who are nice to us to our faces but plot against us behind our backs.

When we first meet Jacob, he is introduced as a man who prefers to study. We think of him as weak and naive. It turns out that he is neither. This is what saves him from the individuals he will have to confront.