Parshas Shemos

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R'Yisroel Menachem........ In perek alef posuk vav the posuk says "Vayamas Yosef vchal echav vchal hador hahu. The Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh says, as long as any of the brothers were alive, the mitzrim respected Bnei Yisrael, and even after they died, as long as there was one person from that generation still around, Bnei Yisrael were still chashuv in the eyes of the mitzrim, and the mitzrim couldn't bring themselves to enslave them. He also says, that when Yosef passed away, Bnei Yisrael were lowered from their stature. Originally, they were greater than the mitzrim, and when Yosef died, they became equal. When the brothers passed away, they became lower than the mitzrim, yet they still did not enslave them. Only after the entire generation was gone did they begin to enslave Bnei Yisrael. Reb Chaim Shmulevitz ztl says that even though the mitzrim were
 terrible risha'im, they were unable to enslave klal Yisrael, as long was Klal Yisrael was Chashuv in their eyes. Only after they began looking at them as lowly beings were they able to enslave them. Reb Chaim says, that there are two sides to this. One mitzad the mitzrim themselves. They just couldn't enslave someone who they believed was great. Two, mitzad Bnei Yisrael themselves. As long as they themselves felt that they were chashuv, as long as they felt confident that they were great, the mitzrim could not get to them. Only once they began to feel that they were not chashuv, were they capable of being enslaved.  This is the derech of the yetzer harah, at first he tries to make us believe things are muttar, when that fails he tries to convince us that we are not worth so much, we are not so great. If we keep in mind how great we are and how much each and every one of us is worth to
 Hkbh, how great all of our actions are to him, then we will all Iyh be zoche to guard ourselves from aveiros, and the traps of the yetzer harah..... Good Shabbos