After the impact of six plagues, Pharoah had no choice. He would have had to give up. The commentaries (Ramban and Seforno) say that when G-d told Moshe that "I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and I will increase my signs in my wonders in the land of Egypt" [7:3], He was...

"Now I'm motivated. I'm going to make this happen." Those are the sweet words that kick-off the path to progress. As human beings we have aspirations to grow, to build, to make a mark. What sparks the transition from stagnation to production? While Moses was grazing...

The blessing Jacob gives Judah concludes with the words: "his eyes will redden from wine, and his teeth white from milk." Rabbi Yochanan says homiletically (Kesubos 111b) that you can read it as "teeth whiter than milk" -- to give a smile to a friend is even greater...

The sons of Jacob find themselves before Egypt's second in command, unaware that it's really their brother Joseph. Falsely accused of espionage and of stealing from the royal palace, about to lose their father's beloved son Benjamin -- whom they swore to protect from...

We read this week that two years after Pharoah's wine steward and chief baker had their dreams, Pharoah had one of his own, and as a result, they rushed Joseph from jail. Obviously Pharoah needed Joseph, but the Torah tells us something deeper: that Joseph was only in...

Many of us certainly remember the bitter taste of medicine. Before artificial sweeteners and capsules, taking medicine was, well... a hard pill to swallow. Let's put ourselves in Joseph's shoes on his trip down to Egypt. After having lost his mother Rachel as a...