And Joseph said to his brother, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him for they were stunned before him. The Talmud records that when Rabbi Eliezer read this verse he’d cry. If the rebuke of flesh and blood can stun us into silence, how much more the rebuke

After telling us to place the Menorah in the doorway, the Talmud records that one sage preferred the doorway’s right side and another, R. Shmuel of Difti, the left. Following R. Shmuel of Difti, we place the Menorah on the left side: so that the Menorah will be on the left and the Menorah on

The brothers of Joseph announce a scheme to rid themselves of his dreams: And so now, let us kill him and fling him into one of the pits and we can say, a vicious beast has devoured him, and we shall see what will come of his dreams. They reasoned that with Joseph dead, his

And Jacob came in peace to the town of Shechem…And he bought a portion of the field where he had pitched his tent…And he set up an altar there…Some suggest that before building an altar, Jacob wished to own the land so nobody could interfere with his worship. Others suggest that he wanted to demonstrate

And Jacob came in peace to the town of Shechem…And he bought a portion of the field where he had pitched his tent…And he set up an altar there…What drove Jacob to buy a portion of the field where he had pitched his tent? Some suggest that before building an altar, he wished to own

Speaking to Lot, his father-in-law and boss, Jacob says: These twenty years I have been with you, your ewes and your she-goats did not lose their young…For me these twenty years in your household I served you…and you switched my wages ten times over. Ultimately, Lot and Jacob make peace. How did Jacob do it?