THERE IS THIS joke about a woman who cried the first time she read the story about Yosef’s kidnapping and how he suffered.

WHICH WAS THE real fight, the one with the “stranger” the night before, or with Eisav the next day?

WHAT A CHANGE of pace. Ya’akov Avinu was forced, due to his mother’s advice to put his life in danger to save the brochos from going to the wrong person (if that is even possible in God’s world), to leave his Torah cocoon for the world of anti-Semites, murderers, and cheats for just about the rest of his life. They certainly took their toll, as a weary and worn out Ya’akov told a wondering Pharaoh:

THE JEWISH PEOPLE have had many enemies over the millennia, but most of them were descendants of either Yishmael or Eisav.

LAST WEEK’S PARSHA was a laugh. This week’s parsha is to cry for. It’s never easy losing a spouse you love, especially if you had something to do with it.