va'eira

The Posuk says ויאמר משה לפני ה' הן אני ערל שפתים ואיך ישמע אלי פרעה. Moshe asked 'ה, I have a speech impediment how will Pharaoh listen to me? Hashem tells him, don't worry you're going to be a lord over Pharaoh & Aaron will be your interpreter.
Why did Moshe have to have a speech impediment and need to have an interpreter? As 'ה told moshe when He first appeared to Him, "who is the one that gave a mouth to a person or made one mute made one see or blind is it not I, 'ה?"
Why didn't Hashem just cure him?
The Posuk says Hashem said to Moshe, tell Aaron to take his staff & stretch his hand over the waters in Mitzrayim to change the waters to blood.
Rashi says Aaron had to hit the water & not Moshe  because the water protected Moshe when his mother put him in the river.
The שיטה מקובצת brings down a Gemara that says, "the well that you drank from, don't throw stones in it". Something that benefited you, don't disparage. Don't pay back kindness with evil.
The ריף says that if that's how we have to treat inanimate objects that have no feelings, how much more so do we have to be cognizant of the feelings of our friends & the people around us whom we benefit from.
Maybe this is how we could understand why 'ה didn't just cure Moshe & let him go to Pharaoh alone. He needed to have Aaron there to do the talking. Moshe grew up in Pharaoh's palace; he lived there, and Pharaoh fed him & took care of him.
The same way he couldn't hit the water that protected him to start the דם, he couldn't be the one to talk to pharaoh, who had cared for him to start the Makos. Even though they're about to destroy his whole country, a Rasha still deserves some Hakaras Hatov. 
It goes without saying how much more so we have to recognize the benevolence of 'ה who gives us all good & who always takes care of us, that we shouldn't do anything that is abhorred by Him, and do only good, to somewhat repay his abundant kindness!

shemos

The Posuk says, ויגדל משה ויצא אל אחיו וירא בסבלתם; that Moshe grew up & went out to see the hardships of his brothers.
Rashi says that he went & saw his brothers' pain & really took it to heart.
The Medrash takes it a step further, and says he felt so bad that he went around helping whoever he could with the backbreaking labor.
The Parsha continues with 'ה telling Moshe that He sees the pain & suffering of the people, hears their cries and it's time to take them out & bring them into the land of Israel.
Hashem tells Moshe, go to Pharaoh & take my nation out of Mitzraim. Moshe says who am I to go to the king and to take the Jews out of Mitzraim?
Rashi says that Moshe was saying, I'm not worthy to be the one to take them out, and even if I'm worthy, what merit do the Jews have to be taken out of Mitzraim?
Hashem answers, it's not coming from you it's from me & I will be with you. As far as the Zechus, when the בני ישראל come out they're going to accept the Torah.
I heard a fascinating insight from R' Shmuel Berenbaum. What's the back & forth between Moshe & 'ה? Hashem just told Moshe he wants to take the בני ישראל out & Moshe, who cared so much about them is now second guessing 'ה when He says He wants to take them out?!? Moshe should have been jumping for joy! Not looking for excuses why they shouldn't be taken out. And what's ה's answer? That they're going to get the Torah.
How is that a Zechus to go out of Mitzraim? Are we rewarded for futures?
R' Shmuel says that what Moshe was really asking was what merit will the בני ישראל have that once they're taken out of Mitzraim they'll still remain Jews? When they were oppressed & forced together they remained Jewish, but if they're free to do as they please who says they'll remain Jews?
On that 'ה said don't worry. When they come out they're going to accept the Torah & the Torah is what is going to keep them as Jews. As we see throughout the ages, the ones who stuck with the Torah through thick & thin remained steadfast as Jews, while the ones who didn't are unrecognizable as Jews. 
So what 'ה is telling us is that the only way to ensure the survival of the Jewish people is by accepting the Torah & really living  it and making it an integral part of our very being!

vayechi

When Yaakov says his final words to his sons,the Shevatim, he tells Reuvain פחז כמים haste like water.  Rashi says on that, just like water flows quickly, Reuvain was quick to get angry, so he lost the 3 main extras that came with the Bechora: פי שנים, כהנה & מלכות the double portion,the kehuna & the malchus. 
The Ohr Hachaim says that immediately the מלכות was given to Yehuda, the פי שנים was given to Yosef, & the כהנה was up in the air until someone deserved it. What was so special about Yehuda & Yosef that they took over the בכורה?
The Posuk says, the ברכה that Yaakov gave to Ephraim & Menasha was that the Bnei Yisroel would bench their children that they should be like Ephraim & Menasha. Why is that? We know when we bentch our daughters we say they should be like the אמהות. Why wouldn't we bentch our sons to be like the אבות? 
The Sefer חכמת המצפון says in the name of רב אברהם זלמנס that being that Menashe was the Bechor, by right he should have had preference in all areas. When it came to the Berachos, Yosef set him up to have Yaakov's right hand on him as he should have. With that came being first for the דגלים, & for the חנוכת הנשיאים. 
But then Yaakov switched his hands & lowered his status to be under his younger brother. Imagine the jealousy that could have caused to have your little brother taking what was rightfully yours. Look at what the jealousy between Yaakov & Eisuv caused, as well as  by Yosef & his brothers. There the brothers' jealousy almost caused Yosef's death! 
But what did Menashe do? Nothing! Not then & not later; he just accepted it without a word! That is why Yaakov wanted us to bentch our kids to be like Ephraim & Menashe. He wanted this Mida to be transmitted to K'lal Yisroel that there shouldn't be jealousy, anger or resentment between us. 
As the Rosh says, "Don't put jealousy in your heart for this is an evil for which there is no cure". What Yaakov wanted was that we should only have love for one another no matter what. 
Chazal say that everyone admitted that Yehuda was fit to be king. Not only that, but we're called יהודים after Yehuda, and he was to have the Moshiach come from him. 
The Targum Yonasan says Yehuda got all of this because he admitted to his wrongdoing with Tamar which was a public Kiddush Hashem.  
Maybe this is why Yehuda & Yosef were chosen. Yaakov is telling us  what's most important:  peace, harmony, & to be able to admit you're wrong or to look the other way when someone hurts you. This is what we want to give over to our children - a ברכה that even though its really hard to ignore when someone hurts you, they should be able to do it because there is no greater ברכה than love & harmony. If we could learn to live like that, then there will be peace and happiness in K'lal Yisroel!

vayigash

ויאמר יוסף אל אחיו- אני יוסף-ולא יכלו אחיו לענות אותו כי נבהלו מפניו
The Medrash says on this Posuk, woe is the Day of Judgment; woe is the day of rebuke. Just as the brothers weren't able to answer Yosef who was the youngest of the Shevatim, how much more so will we be unable to answer Hashem when He will rebuke us.
Rav Isaac Sher asks where do you see that Yosef gave them any Tochacha? All it says is that he raised his voice and cried. Not only didn't he give them Tochacha, he had everyone else leave the room so his brothers wouldn't be embarrassed. Where do you see the rebuke that the Medrash says they couldn't answer him?
The Posuk says later on that Yosef sent his father 10 donkeys laden with all the good of Mitzrayim. Rashi says the best of Mitzrayim is referring to aged wine.
Egypt isn't known for its wine, so what was Yosef trying to tell Yaakov by sending him aged wine?
The Mayana Shel Torah says he was trying to relieve his father’s worries, that just like the wine in the jug is old & unchanged, so too Yosef even though his outside looks different since he's now the viceroy of Egypt. He still retained his upbringing and is unchanged on the inside.
R' Shloima Alter says that wine ages & gets better as it gets older, but that's only if the wine starts out good. If you use bad wine to begin with, it will just spoil. So too an older person who is good now it’s because he started out good and got better with time.
Maybe that's what the lesson was for the brothers too. We see that over time Yosef remained good & steadfast in his service of Hashem. Just like aged wine, therefore it must be that he started out good too, and what the brothers thought he did wrong obviously wasn't wrong. Yosef was right!! As now they realized that his dreams did indeed come true. Therefore, even though the Shevatim were so convinced to begin with that what they did was right, with the two words, "Ani Yosef" their world of self righteousness was shattered. Yosef didn't have to rebuke them or even say anything but those two words. Everything was clear to them at that moment. So too says the Chafetz Chaim, at the time of Moshiach, when Hashem says the words, "Ani Hashem" for all the world to hear, the reasons for all our sufferings & long standing Golus will be crystal clear with just the two words of “Ani Hashem."

mikeitz / chanuka

Yaakov tells his children,שמעתי כי יש שבר במצרים רדו שמה ושברו לנו משם ונחיה ולא נמות " I heard that there is food in Mitzrayim; go down & buy some so we will live & not die."
The Orach Chaim says that the reason for the double lashon of "we will live & not die" is to instruct them of the importance of effort; if they won't go down, then they will die here & not live in Olam Haba as well, for not even trying to save themselves. However, if they put in the effort to go down & get food then they will live here & in the next world.
The Parsha starts with ויהי מקץ שנתים ימים " It was at the end of 2 years".
The Klai Yakar says, being that the Torah doesn't tell us when these 2 years started, Chazal say they started from when Yosef asked the wine maker to remember him to Pharaoh. After that Yosef was stuck in jail for another 2 years for not relying on 'ה.
Why was Yosef punished for trying to save himself while the brothers would have been punished for not trying to save themselves?
The Gemara says מאי חנכה & goes on to explain how the Yevanim came into the Heychal & were Mitamai everything. After the Chashmonaim won the war, they found one jar of oil that lasted for 8 days instead of 1, so the next year they made a Yom Tov to commemorate the נס.
The Maharal asks why this is the only time you find that we make a Yom Tov because 'ה made a נס that enabled us to do one Mitzvah. Normally we make a Yom Tov when we were saved from being destroyed. Even as we see in Al Hanisim, there's no mention of the oil, only the miracle of the war.
He answers that the miracle of Chanuka was really of the Chashmonayin winning the war, but since that could have been attributed to normal means 'ה made the נס of the oil which you could only interpret as a נס, to show that the whole war too was won by a נס.
So maybe its the same thing here too. There are 2 different types of Hishtadlus. One is when you make an effort, & even though you know that all you get is coming from 'ה, it looks like the norm. You can't just sit & wait for the bread to come to you - you have to put in some effort & then 'ה will make it happen. The other way is by doing something that would never happen without an open miracle, like asking a Mitzry who hates jews to put his life on the line to get him out of jail!! That would never happen without 'ה pulling the strings.
Like the Medrash says that the only reason the winemaker even spoke up at all was because he thought Pharaoh was going insane & with another king he didn't know if he'd be replaced, so he spoke up only for his own benefit!
Maybe this is how we could understand what Yosef did wrong; relying on someone like that is an act of desperation says the Chazon Ish & someone like Yosef who has complete faith in 'ה should never act out of desperation, but should wait for 'ה to perform the miracle for him. It's only in normal times that we have to put in our Hishtadlus, but in desperate times all we need to do is have absolute faith in 'ה!