Parshas Shemos - Parsha Stumpers

פרשת שמות

Parsha Stumpers and Something to Think About

1. Where is there a רמז in the Parsha that one who does Shnayim Mikrah V'echad Targum nicely will merit to be able to do many more shnayim mikrah v'echad targums?

2. Why isn't Yosef listed among the other shevatim in the beginning of the parsha?

3. Onkoles explains that when the Torah mentions that there was a new Pharoah who “didn't know Yosef” that it means that this new Pharoah did not keep Yosef's decrees. Which decrees did Yosef make that this could be referring to?
4. Miriam reasoned to her father that he was worse than Pharoah because by seperating completely from his wife, he was preventing even girls from being born whereas Pharoah was at least letting the girls live. Was she really right in her argument? Wouldn't taking that chance of having children be considered a safeik sakanas nefashos?

5. How could it have been a maidservant of Batya's who went to get Moshe if Rashi explained that malach Gavriel killed them all?
6. Rashi tells us that Batya unknowingly prophecised by saying to Yocheved and Miriam, “Here is what is yours” - referring to Moshe. Why is this important? What is so significant about this “prophecy”?

7. Why was it necessary for Moshe to grow up in the house of Pharoah?

8. Rashi explains that before Moshe killed the Mitzri, he looked into the Mitzri's future to see if any geirim would come out of his descendents...
   1. What did the Mitzri do to that made him Chayav Meesah? If he only hit the Jew, then how could Moshe kill him; and if he killed him, then why did Moshe have to first look into the Mitzri's future?
   2. How is it possible for Moshe to know what would be in the future? What about bechira?

9. When Rashi tells us who the two Jews were that were hitting each other, he writes “They were Dasan and Aviram; the same ones who left over the manna (in the desert). Why is it necessary for Rashi to add in this piece of information? What does it have to do with here?

10. Yisro had seven names and seven daughters...what is significant about Yisro and the number seven?

11. Moshe is the third one to find himself by a well in a distant land right before finding a wife.

a. Who were the first two?

b. How are each of their stories as to how they found themselves by the well very different?

c. Why does there seem to be a pattern of the experience by the well getting progressively worse and worse?

d. What is the significance of the well?

12. Besides for the fact that they both went to a well after running away from home, there are many similarities between Moshe and Yaakov. How many can you find?
13. Hashem saw that Moshe turned to see the burning bush...was this some sort of test? What was so special about the fact that Moshe turned to look at the miracle?
14. Why must one take of his shoes by a place of kedusha?
15. What was Hashem's hava amina to tell B'nei Yisroel about both troubles, that Moshe had to argue and say that He should not tell B''nei Yisroel about the one in the future while they were still suffering now? (See Rashi 3:14)

16. The mind and mouth work together to bring ruchniyus into this world. If so, isn't it weird that Moshe who was the one who would bring the Torah from Har Sinai had a speech impediment?
17. Why did Moshe run away from the snake? Doesn't the mishna say that if one is davening shemoneh esrei (I.e – talking to Hashem) one cannot interrupt for a snake even wrapped around his leg?
18. Hashem gave Moshe three simanim to show, each one in case the one before does not convince them....
    1. Who witnessed these signs? Who were they meant for?
    2. Why not just show the third sign?

19. Hashem told Moshe (4:19) to return to Mitzrayim and that Moshe should not worry because those who had wanted to kill him were dead. Rashi learns that “those people” were Dasan and Aviram and they were actually still alive. Rashi explains that they are called “dead” because they became poor...

a. Who cares if they are “called dead”, why should that make Moshe feel better?

b. How does Rashi know that they became poor as opposed to one of the other things for which a person is titled dead (such as: Having tzaraas, being blind, not having children)?

20. How could Tziporah give Bris Milah to her son if the Gemara Kiddushin (29a) says that Bris Milah is a Mitzva which is optimally done by the father (on 8^th day)?

Parshas Vayechi - Parsha Stumpers

פרשת ויחי

Parsha Stumper / Something to Think About

1. Why in the Torah, and specifically in this week's parsha is Yaakov sometimes referred to as Yaakov and sometimes as Yisroel?
2. Why did Yaakov get up in bed when Yosef entered the room? Forget the fact that Yosef was King, still Yaakov was not feeling well and he should have stayed in bed sick so Yosef would realize and spread the word to have everyone daven for him?

3. Why did Yaakov make Yosef swear that he would bury him in Eretz Yisroel?

4. Yaakov told Yosef that Ephraim and Menashe would get portions In Eretz Yisroel like shevatim. However, Yaakov said that if Yosef would have more sons then they would be included in Ephraim and Menashe. Did Yosef have more sons? And if so whose portion would they be included in?

5. When Yaakov asked Yosef regarded his children, “Who are these (unfit of receiving a beracha), Rashi writes that Yosef first showed Yaakov his shtar eirusin and shtar kesubah. And then, afterwards, davened for Yaakov to get ruach hakodesh back.
   1. Why did Yosef have his wife's kesuba and shtar eirusin?
   2. Why did he assume that Yaakov would think that he married illegally? He should have just started off by davening that Yaakov get his ruach hakodesh back?
   3. Why did it help if the real reason Yaakov lost his ruach ha'kodesh was because of the descendants of Ephraim and Menashe? The shechina already knew that they were not mamzeirim, so what did it do to get Yaakov's ruach ha'kodesh back?

6. Why did the Shechina leave Yaakov when he wanted to tell the shevatim what would happen באחרית הימים?

7. Where do you see in this week's parsha that, sometimes, having in mind to have done something is considered as if you did it?

8. Yaakov refers to Shimon and levi as having “stolen tools” because murder was a 'gift' given to Eisav. If so, how did they get it? And if it was a different type of murder because all l'shem shamayim, then what did they do wrong to get the mussar from Yaakov?
9. Why was Yaakov concerned that Yosef would “take revenge” for his mother and not bury his father inb Eretz Yisroel?
   1. Yosef loved Yaakov and would have wanted to bury him properly anyway?
   2. Yaakov loved Rachel and that was something that was clear to everyone, especially Yosef/ So what need was there for an explanation?
   3. Also, why did Yaakov say to Yosef not to rationalize and give his own reasons why Yaakov didn't bury Rachel in a better place (such as it being the rainy season or that there were a lot of pits in the road) ? If he thought Yosef would do that anyway and that it would make him happy, why not just let it play out?

10. The Gemara in Sotah relates that an interesting episode with Eisav occurred when the shevatim tried to bury Yaakov in ma'aras hamachpeilah. Chushim ben Dan was the one who ultimately beheaded Eisav to allow Yaakov to be buried. Why didn't any of the shevatim or other spectators have the sense to remove the obstacle (Eisav) which was stopping them from burying the tzaddik Yaakov?
11. The passuk (50:15) and Rashi write that the brothers sensed that Yosef stopped acting nice to them after Yaakov died, yet Yosef claimed that nothing changed. What did he stop doing that made him seem not as nice? And why did he stop inviting them over to his palace for meals?
12. At the end of the Parsha, Yosef told his brothers “HaTachas Elokim Ani?” (Am I in place of Hashem?) -
    1. Who else in the Torah used this expression? When?
    2. Is there a connection in how to understand the passuk in both places?

13. What argument did Yosef say to finally convince the brothers that he would not kill them? What argument did he try to originally use and why didn't it work?

14. What is the connection between this week's parsha and its haftorah?

Parshas Vayigash - Parsha Stumpers

פרשת ויגש

Parsha Stumpers and Something to Think About

1. In the first passuk of this week's parsha there are two times where it says that Yehuda was the one who approached Yosef. One is straight out (b'feirush) in the passuk and the other is a remez. Where is the remez?
2. Why wasn't Reuvain the one to approach Yosef and stand up for Binyamin? Regardless of the deal Yehuda made with Yaakov, still Reuvain was the eldest of the brothers so why not be the one to confront Yosef?

3. In one of the pshatim that Rashi (44:18) says that Yehuda was telling Yosef when he said “You are like Pharaoh” is: Just like Pharoah makes decrees and doesn't keep them so too you”. The sifsei chochomim brings the mahar'shal who explains that Yehuda was saying the following, “You Yosef put all your reliance on Pharoah. However, Pharoah is a liar! Pharoah had a decree that no slave should ever rule over mitzrayim or wear royal clothing. Yet he appointed you...!” What type of argument is this, though? Yosef could easily respond that indeed Pharaoh is amazing! After all, he made an exception to the rule for his sake. So what message was Yehuda trying to convey to Yosef?

4. Rashi (44:19) says that Yehuda challenged Yosef asking, “Why did you ask us so many questions? Were we looking to marry your daughter or were you looking to marry our sister?”
   1. What was wrong with Yosef asking questions? He thought they were spies?
   2. Why did Yehuda give the example of Yosef wanting to marry their daughter or sister? Being that the brothers were older it would make more sense for Yehuda to have asked “Were you looking to marry our daughter...”

5. What was different between the reason Yaakov said he didn't want to send Binyamin down to mitzrayim, and the reason that Yehuda told Yosef? Why the difference?

6. In 45:4 Yosef told his brothers “Come close to me, if you please”. Rashi explains that Yosef showed them his Bris Millah. What would this prove to the brothers, though? Rashi earlier explained in last wee's parsha (41:55) that Pharaoh commanded everyone to listen to Yosef – who told them all to get bris millah. If so, EVERYONE in mitzrayim had a bris?
7. Yosef cried on Binyamin's neck. Rashi tells us that he was crying because of the betai mikdashim which would be destroyed on his land. What is significant about the neck that it should represent the beis ha'mikadash? Also, why was he crying about the beis ha'mikdash at this particular point?
8. How could Yosef favor Binyamin and give him a bigger present than the other brothers, when it was exactly that type of favoritism which had instigated the brothers teaming up against Yosef in the first place?
9. Why did Hashem stop the famine when Yaakov came down to mitzrayim? Shouldn't there have been a concern that people would then call Yosef a liar since he said that the famine would last seven years?
10. Chazal tell us that when Yosef reunited with Yaakov, Yaakov was saying kriyas shema. Why wasn't Yosef doing the same?

Parsha Miketz - Parsha Stumpers

פרשת מקץ

Parsha Stumpers and Something to Think About

1. Rashi (41:2,4) writes what the simanim in Pharoah's dreams meant. Why is Rashi telling us this here and not by Yosef's interpretations?
2. Rashi (41:8) differentiates between the dreams of Pharoah and those of Nevuchadnetzer. Nevuchadnetzer not only did not understand the meaning of his dreams, but also did not even remember his dreams. Why the difference?
3. Both Yosef and Pharoah had double dreams. Why?
4. The mefarshim explain that Yosef knew that the years of plenty and famine would happen very soon because Pharoah dreamed them one right after another. But what about Yosef's own dreams? He also had two dreams (seemingly one right after another) but his dreams did not come to reality until many years later?
5. Rashi (41:55) comments that Yosef made everyone in Mitzrayim get bris millah and move from their houses in order for the brothers to feel comfortable when they came down to Mitzrayim – a land where everyone had bris millah and everyone felt like a stranger after recently moving. Why would Yosef want to do this? As nice as it is to feel comfortable, is there not also a benefit to keeping distance when it comes to mingling among goyim?
6. The brothers exclaimed out of frustration, “What is this that Hashem is doing to us?” when they found that their money had been returned to them. Yet, we do not find such an expression when Shimon was taken to jail or when Yosef demanded them bring Binyamin to them, etc. Why only by this event?
7. When the brothers were trying to convince Yaakov to send Binyamin down with them, Reuvain spoke up and said that he could be trusted with Binyamin and if he does not take good care of him, then Yaakov could kill his two sons. What in the world was Reuvain thinking? Did he really believe that such talk would make Yaakov feel safe sending Binyamin with him?
8. When the brothers returned from Mitzrayim and realized that they were given back their money, they told Yaakov. However, Yaakov never seems to have reacted or responded with what they should do. Why?
9. The passuk (44:8) records that after Yosef accused the brothers of stealing his magic goblet, the brothers responded that if they were even willing to return the money that was given back to them “accidentally” when they could have gotten away with it, then certainly they would not actively steal something from Yosef. Rashi comments that this is actually one of ten kal v'chomeir's found in the Torah. What exactly is the kal v'chomeir though? Perhaps a magic goblet is something that would be worth taking since it seemingly gave Yosef power to know things about the shevatim that perhaps they would not want him to know. For example, we know that despite Yaakov avinu and his family not stealing anything from Lavan's house, Rachel stole his teraphim because she knew that Lavan would be able to use them to see where they ran to if she left them there (according to one explanation in Rashi there). So, what is the kal v'chomeir here?

Parshas Vayeishev - Parsha Stumpers

פרשת וישב

Parsha Stumpers

1. The Torah and Rashi describe that Yosef would to tell Yaakov about things he saw the shevatim do. He claimed to have eye-witnessed his brothers eating eiver min ha'chai, degrading the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, and doing gilui arayos. If these claims were true, how could we understand that the shevatim did such things and why was Yosef punished? And if not true, then how could Yosef say such things about them?

2. Yaakov grew up in a house of brother rivalry between him and Eisav. So, why does he anyway do so many things to single out Yosef over his brothers?

3. As we know, the Torah is written on many levels. When Yosef is telling Yaakov his dreams, Yaakov responds, “What is this dream that you dreamt? Are we to come – I and your mother and your brothers – and bow down to the ground to you?” Rashi explains that Yaakov was essentially saying that Rachel was dead and was not coming back to bow down to Yosef. Where is this hinted to in the passuk itself in what Yaakov said?

4. Who sold Yosef? (Read the passukim carefully).

5. Where in the parsha is there a hint to the concept we say in lecha dodi of “sof ma'aseh b'mach'shava techillah”?

6. Who cares that the caravan was selling nice smelling spices? Yosef was just thrown into a pit and is now being sold as a slave. Does he really care what it smells like in the caravan? Why is this so significant?

7. The meforshim explain that Yosef was “taken away” from Yaakov for 22 years just as Yaakov was away from his house. Why should Yaakov be punished this way? His parents told him to leave home?

8. Yosef told the Sar HaMashkim and Sar HaOfim that, “Do not interpretations belong to Hashem?” Doesn't the Gemara in Brachos (56a) say that “Dreams go after the mouth (I.e-the interpreter)”?

9. Who was the first one in the Torah to have a birthday party?

10. The last few passukim and Rashi describe that Yosef was punished for asking the sar hamashkim to “remember him to Paroah”. What was wrong about this? Yosef was just doing his hishtadlus?

Parshas Vayishlach - Parsha Stumpers

פרשת וישלח

Parsha Stumpers

1. Many know the famous Rashi in our parsha which says “with Lavan I have sojourned...and yet I have kept the 613 mitzvos”. However, many do not realize that that is the second explanation Rashi gives. The first is, “I did not become a dignitary or a notable, but rather a mere sojourner. It therefore does not befit you (Eisav) to hate me over the blessings of your father who blessed me, 'Be a lord to your brothers', for it has not yet been fulfilled in me.” Aren't these two explanations in a couple of ways contradictory to each other?

2. The passuk says (32:8), “And Yaakov became very frightened, and it distressed him....” Why was Yaakov afraid? Certainly a yarei shamayim like Yaakov avinu had complete bitachon in Hashem that his encounter with Eisav would be fine. After all, Hashem had promised to be with Yaakov. So, why was Yaakov afraid?

3. What is the difference between the way that Yaakov prepared to go to battle with Eisav and with the malach of Eisav? Why the differences?

4. Rashi explains that from the fact that Yaakov went back to retrieve the pachim k'tanim we see that tzadikkim stay away from stealing. What does going back for pachim k'tanim have to do with stopping from stealing?

5. Yaakov told the malach of Eisav to bless him, and in return the malach asked, “What is your name?” How was this a valid response to the question?

6. The Gemara in Berachos says that after Avraham and Sarah's names were changed, it is assur to call them by their original names. What is different about the name changing of Avraham and Sarah and the name change of Yaakov to Yisroel?

7. The Torah tells us that Yaakov heard what had happened to Dinah, but kept quiet until his children came back from the field. Why?

8. Despite the fact that now-a-days people name kids after deceased relatives all the time, it is pretty rare that you find names repeated in Torah. Why is that? And what are a few names in these week's parsha which are repeated elsewhere in Tanach?

9. Rashi again in this week's parsha says, “I do not know what this is coming to teach us”. Why does Rashi bother telling us that he doesn't know? Just write nothing!
   
   

Parshas Vayeitzei - Parsha Stumpers

פרשת ויצא

Parsha Stumpers

1. Where is there a ראיה in this week's parsha that one should wear a shtreimel? :)

2. Three types of people are called “dead” even while they are alive. All three appear in this week's parsha. What are they and where do they come up in the parsha?

3. How could Yaakov avinu come into a foreign land and start bossing around the shepherds and telling them that, as Rashi writes, “If you are hired workers, you have not yet completed the day's work. And if the animals are yours, there is still time in the day...”?

4. Eliphaz was sent by Eisav to kill Yaakov.

            a. Why is this included in kibud av?

            b. What did Yaakov do to get out of the situation?

            c. Why did this satisfy Eliphaz?

5. Why did Lavan not make a huge wedding for Rachel as he did for Leah?
   
   
   
   
6. There are two times other then the episode with the shepherds by the well that Yaakov seems to go on a rant, so to speak, and “lose his cool”. What is the connection between these three times?

7. Who named the shevatim?

8. Why did Leah only name her fourth son Yehuda? Was she not thankful for the first three?
   
   
   
   
9. How could Lavan continue going to Yaakov after Hashem told him explicitly not to? Who else did a similar thing?
   
   
   
   
10. Rashi (31:39) tells us that Yakkov told Lavan that he was very careful when watching his sheep and whether things were stolen during the day or night, Yaakov paid for it all. What would have been the hava amina to differentiate between things stolen during the day and things stolen at night?

11. Why did Yaakov curse the one who took Lavan's idols?

12. What is the significance of eating in this week's parsha? (continuing the theme from last week)

13. Where do you see in this week's parsha that “stealing” could be said in reference to intangible things which “can't be paid back”?

14. What was the difference between the way Lavan and Yaakov each named the גל? Clearly Lavan and Yaakov shared a language in common because they spoke (or at least argued) often, so shouldn't it have been that at the time of a peace treaty that they agree on what to call the mound - especially since what they ended up doing pretty much mean the same thing anyway? Why couldn't they just agree on a language?