Pharaoh said to Jacob, "How many are the years of your life?" And Jacob said "The years of my existence are a hundred and thirty years. Few and difficult have been the days of the years of my life..." When Pharaoh asks Jacob about the years of his life, Jacob distinguishes between his existence and

Quality candles must be used for Shabbat but no such rule applies to Chanukah when we may use any type of candle. The human being is compared to a candle: the wick is the body, and the oil is the soul. Whereas not every person is ready for Shabbat, we are always ready for Chanukah.

And they saw him from afar before he drew near them and they plotted against him to put him to death. How could Joseph's brothers plot to kill him? The Ohr HaHayim explains that they saw him from afar...instead of trying to see things from his perspective, they judged him from their own distant perspective. And

Rashi explains that Jacob prepared to meet Esau in three ways: he prayed, he brought him gifts, and he readied for war. However, the Torah never uses the language of prayer. Instead, it states And Jacob said: "God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac! LORD who has said to me, 'Return

And Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed in his eyes but a few days in his love for her.When two people love each other, each moment they are apart seems excruciatingly long. How can the Torah tell us that precisely because Jacob loved Rachel, the seven years he worked and waited for