Parsha

The more we define ourselves as the actors rather than as the characters we play, the more our characters can actually succeed at fulfilling their unique roles in the story HaShem placed us in.

When we look around at the trees and flowers in our land, we should not take what we see for granted. Shevat is not only a month of blossoming and renewed growth, but the realization of a dream that persisted throughout the generations.

Sheep and cattle want to eat; they want to spend time outside and with their young. But can it really be said that they wish to worship G-d?

On a chemical level, chametz is a conundrum. The existence of fermentation is not sufficient to define chametz.

Under all speech that is good for anything there lies a silence that is better. Silence is deep as Eternity; speech is shallow as Time. -Thomas Carlyle

With the plague of lice, the Egyptian magicians admitted that it was the finger of G-d they were seeing.

G-d does not enjoy meting out punishment, neither does He initiate it. Punishment is the automatic outcome of derelict human behavior.

Of course, the good parent praises and rewards the child for a job well done. But, what about the math teacher who turned your child around?

In the end, justice will be served and all the nations who oppressed Israel will be punished, but Israel will at last be redeemed.

When G-d takes something from the body, he gives something else in its place. True, I am physically disabled, but I learn quickly and my memory is very good.

It is through the story of Israel, as it unfolds throughout time, that humanity sees history as possessing Divine meaning and purpose.

Faith, not logic, freed the Jewish people

Because Pharaoh has set himself up as a god, because he has come to believe that he is the absolute ruler of Mitzrayim, and because the people have accepted this upon themselves, what befalls Pharaoh will affect all of Egypt.

I have not placed reading before praying because I regard it more important, but because, in order to pray aright, we must understand what we are praying for. -Angelina Grimke

Mincha relates to the years of middle-age, and Maariv focuses on one’s golden years. Thus, while davening, it would be proper to focus on one’s children and grandchildren during Shacharis, and upon elderly parents and grandparents during Maariv.

The legitimacy and credence of the person speaking is based on his personal identity and essence.

Consider: Pharaoh is stubborn, cruel, and difficult in every meeting. He claims not to know G-d, he increases the cruelty of his slavery when he is asked for mercy, he ignores the overwhelming and awe-inducing nature of each miraculous event, and he ignores the pleading of his more moderate advisers.

Our Sages say that the reason we whisper the above blessing in Hebrew is that we do not want to openly flaunt a blessing we “stole” from the angels.

They are telling us something about special sights and sounds, flavors and fragrances, about tradition and family, about identity and longing, about an attempt at destruction and the triumph of the living.

When slavery runs deep into the psychology of a person, it becomes difficult to express the crucial courage and self-sacrifice necessary to break the chains of mental bondage.

All events in history are driven by a chain of events dictated from Above.

There is a famous lesson taught regarding B’nei Yisrael in Mitzrayim that they had, over the course of their exile, descended to the 49th and penultimate level of corruption. Had they not been redeemed at that time they would have become irredeemable.

Great doubts deep wisdom. Small doubts little wisdom. -Chinese Proverb

Apparently, God is only actively engaged when man is conscious of Him

Moshe became great because he went out of his palatial comfort zone and identified with this persecuted brothers.

There are some people who don’t easily cry. So, if they are motivated by a moving play or a poignant novel to cry, they should utilize those cries and extend them for the Temple.

What is the major theme of this book? Why does it not conclude with the major event that changed all of history, the revelation at Sinai?

This fact seems to indicate that we did not build the pyramids, as it is unlikely the Egyptians would have fed enormous amounts of meat to their slaves.

Only as a “kingdom of priests and holy nation” that reveals HaShem’s Oneness over all spheres of life can Israel fully express His Ideal and lead mankind to experience a world of total blessing.

How do we want to live our lives? Now that Hanukkah is over, the routine of work, study, and winter begins.