THE SEFER IS called Shemos because it is the second word of the first parsha, “These are the names…” But there seems to be more to this than might be the case with the other four books of the Torah, since this week’s parsha begins with an education about God’s names.

The “temperature” drops significantly from the end of last week’s parsha to the beginning of this one. Last week ended with Yosef appeasing his brothers, and spending time with his grandchildren.

This is the last parsha in Bereishis (Chazak!), the first in which there is an overt reference to the end of days:

SOME TIME AGO during the first Persian Gulf War, a major American magazine interviewed Saddam Hussein. Curious, I read the article and was surprised to read a few things.

Shemen zayis—olive oil—and the Jewish people go back a long way, even to before there was a Jewish nation. Before Ya’akov was even married, he anointed a monument he had built after waking up from his dream of the ladder.