We were slaves to Pharaoh, not Pharaoh’s slaves. The former would be only a juridic-social description; the Jews belonged to Pharaoh legally, but spiritually were free people with their own minds and an independent approach to reality.

Moshe is an unwilling leader. Rather than campaigning for the position, he argues the counter. In the end, he loses his argument with God, a fairly predictable conclusion, and emerges as our greatest leader in Jewish history.

Man is bored. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on his entertainment and amusement. He pays enormous sums to anyone who can elicit a smile from him and make him forget his daily worries.

Yaakov is going to die. The exile is to begin. Before he departs, he delivers parting blessings - at least that is what the text says.

In a parsha of dramatic reunions, one that often falls beneath the radar, that of father and son, tantalizes with its ambiguity.

Is Hanukkah merely a holiday telling us a heroic story of battles won and political victories gained, like the American Fourth of July or the French Fourteenth of July?

In a "big" parsha of dreams, ascent, drama, turmoil and tears, one "minor" pasuk looms large.

The story of Hanukkah is typical of all our confrontations in the Galut, the Diaspora. In aristocracy, each family has a coat of arms, an emblem.