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Bereishit 39:2 "Hashem was with Yosef, and he became a successful man."

Harav Bunim M'Peshischa notes the Torah's emphasis on Yosef's "remembering" the source of his success. He realized that the success he had achieved was only because "Hashem was with Yosef." All too often, we pray to Hashem for various favors. Shortly after Hashem grants us His good will, we seem to forget the source of our benefaction.

Along these same lines, the Chofetz Chaim explains that in the tefillah that we say on the Shabbat prior to Rosh Chodesh, we implore Hashem to grant us a life replete with yirat Shamayim, fear of Heaven, and yirat chet, fear of sin. Once again, at the end of the tefillah, we ask for ahavat Torah v'yirat Shamayim, love of Torah and fear of Heaven. Why do we ask Hashem to grant us yirat Shamayim twice?

The Chofetz Chaim relates that after our first request for yirat Shamayim, we ask for a life of osher v'kavod, wealth and honor.  Once a person has "tasted" a life of wealth and honor, he seldom retains the yirat Shamayim he once had developed. Consequently, it is necessary to request yirat Shamayim a second time. (Peninim on the Torah)

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Parashat Vayeshev

Vayeshev Pardes

Five miracles occurred with Jacob when he left Be'er-Sheva:

1. The day was cut short, and the sun set before its time, because G‑d wished to talk to him
2. When he awoke in the morning, he found that the four stones (depicting the four wives that he was destined to marry) that he had placed under his head when he lay down, had turned into one stone
3. He rolled the stone from the well - with one hand, although normally, it required the combined effort of all the local shepherds to remove it
4. The well began to flow and the water rose to meet him, and it continued to flow for the entire duration of Yaakov's stay in Charan (in verse 10, the Targum will add that it flowed for twenty years)
5. The earth 'jumped' before him, and on the same day that he left home he arrived in Charan.
   

Parashat Toledot

Toledot Pardes