Class One. Why is the Jewish people’s coming to Egypt repeated twice? Answer: because the descent has two levels, one lower than the other and there are two levels of ascent. However, the second ascent won’t happen until Moshiach but we never the less include it in the Exodus account because what will happen is…

A four part series of oral lectures on pesach. Class One. 1) Shana (The hebrew word for year connotes both change and repetition. 2) Growth and change vs. consistency. 3) The world of the individual (before Mattan Torah) and the Nation (from Mattan Torah). Class Two. Golus (Exile). It’s outer and inner dimensions. Class Three….

The entire Chumash Shmos means names because it explains how we go into Galus and how we survive and thrive.

The idea is that in Golus the good is forever and the bad will pass making it unreal even before it’s been eliminated. The lesson: all good is good and don’t let the not so good discourage you. Page 86-7.

This class explains the unique place of Yosef in Galus: he is both a part of it (not like Yaakov) but altogether above it (not like his brothers). As a result he can initiate it and he can predict it’s end.

Ya’akov tells his children to get ready to be dependent on the Non-Jews in the time of famine and that this is how God’s miracle would reach them, because he senses that Golus is coming. In Golus we get our food and knowledge (from Hashem, but) through the non-Jew. This is the meaning of ‘Lama…

Three personalities, three Galus perspectives: 1) Yaakov, he was not in the Galus at all. 2) The Shvatim, they are a part of the Galus and only survive it by being in (relative) isolation, as Shepherds. 3) Yosef, he is in the Galus and very much at it’s epicenter, but it makes no difference on…