Rebbe Henoch of Alexander zt'l told the following story:
There was a simple, unlearned person who lived in a village where there was no minyan. Once, he travelled to the city for Shabbos Chol HaMoed. He wasn't accustomed to davening with a minyan, but he figured that the Shemonah Esrei for Shabbos-chol-hamoed should be the same as for Yom Tov. So, at Shacharis, he davened a Shemonah Esrei for Yom Tov. At chazaras hashatz, he heard the chazan say the Shemonah Esrei of Shabbos. The simple person realized he had made a mistake. It was Shabbos, after all, and the tefillos should be for Shabbos. So, at Mussaf, he said the Shemonah Esrei of Shabbos. At chazaras hashatz, he heard the chazan say the Shemonah Esrei for Yom Tov. The villager said to himself, "So I was right the first time. The tefillah should be of yom tov." So, at Minchah, he davened the Shemonah Esrei of Yom Tov. But then there was chazaras hashatz, and he heard the chazan say a Shabbos tefillah. He said, "I see that the chazanim here are just out to get me. Whatever I do, they will do the opposite."
The lesson is that people blame others for their problems. They don't realize that they have no one to blame but themselves. The same applies when you feel that others are bothering you, for whatever reason. Instead of placing the blame on others, focus on yourself. Realize that if you were a better person, you would be able to get along much better with others.
Because they gave food to others. Yosef is called a tzaddik as it states (Amos 2:6) מכרם על צדיק בכסף, "For selling a tzaddik for money.' [Yosef received this title because] he supported others, as it states (Bereishis 47:12) יוסף ויכלכל, that Yosef supported his family." Noach also supported others, because he and his family fed the animals in the teivah. This is the reason the Torah calls Noach "Tzaddik," as it states (Bereishis 6:9) צַדִּיק אִישׁ ַנֹח.
It states (Tehillim 89:3) יבנה חסד עולם, and the Zohar (Matos) notes that the pasuk is written in future tense "The world will be created due to kindness." The Zohar explains that the pasuk should be read in two tenses, present and future. Hashem created the world with His חסד, and the continuation of the creation of the world is dependent on the merit of the chesed that people do with others.
Hashem told Kayin (Bereishis 4:7) תֵּיטִיב אִם הֲלוֹא רֹבֵץ חַט ָּאת לַפ ֶּתַח תֵיטִיב לֹא וְאִם שְׂאֵת. The Ruzhiner translated it as תֵּיטִיב אִם הֲלוֹא, if you are a good person, a person with good middos, שְׂאֵת, you are able to tolerate your fellow man. Some people are bothersome, inconsiderate, irritating, etc., but a kind person will be able to tolerate them. A kind person can even like them and focus on their good qualities. However, תֵיטִיב לֹא וְאִם, if you aren't a kind, good person, רֹבֵץ חַט ָּאת לַפ ֶּתַח, you have complaints and bad feelings towards others.
The Zohar (vol.1 205b) discusses the reason why the Torah begins with the letter 'ב (בראשית), and not with the letter 'א. The Zohar explains that the letter 'ב stands for ברוך, a blessing, and it is proper for the Torah to begin with a brachah. 'א stands for ארור, a curse. The Torah doesn't begin with an 'א, because it alludes to a curse.
We can offer another approach to explain why the Torah begins with a 'ב. The letter 'ב is gematria 2. The Torah begins with a 'ב, and it tells each person that he must remember that he isn't alone in the world. There is someone else, and he should seek to help him. If the Torah were to begin with an 'א, gematria 1, a person might be self-focused and forget about everyone else.
The Midrash (Bereishis Rabba 1:10) states, "For twenty-six generations, the letter 'א was complaining before Hashem's throne. It said, 'Ribono Shel Olam, I am the first letter. Why didn't you create the world with me?' Hakadosh Baruch Hu replied, "The world with everything in it was created in the merit of Torah. Tomorrow, I will give the Torah on Har Sinai, and I will begin with you, as it states (Shemos 20:2) אלקיך 'ה נכיא."
The Aseres HaDibros begin with an 'א. But how can that be? As we wrote above, the 'א represents ארור, curse!
