This week’s parashat is the 12th parashat in the book of B’reisheet also called Genesis, and is
called Vayechi which means ‘And He Lived’.
Bullet Point Summary
– Ya’akov’s time to die drew near and he asked Yosef to promise to not bury him in Mitzrayim but with his fathers
– Yosef is told his father is sick and goes to him and Ya’akov recounts the promises of Elohim
– Ya’akov tells Yosef that Efrayim and Menasheh shall be like sons to him
– Yisra’el tells Yosef he didn’t think he would even see Yosef’s face and now he has seen his seed also
– Yosef presented his sons to Yisra’el to be blessed with Menasheh on right hand and Efrayim on the left but Yisra’el switched them
– Yosef tried to correct his father but Yisra’el told him that Efrayim would be greater than Manesheh
– Yisra’el tells Yosef he is going to die but Elohim will bring Yosef back to the land of his fathers
– Ya’akov calls his sons to tell them what will happen to them in the last days
– Re’uven the firstborn will not excel because he went up to his father’s bed
– Shim’on and Levi are cruel and violent and will be divided and scattered
– Yahudah your brothers bow and praise you and your hand will be upon your enemies
– Zevulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea
– Yissakhar is a strong donkey laying between two burdens he shall become a servant of tribute
– Dan shall judge his people and shall be a serpent by the way
– Gad shall have a troop overcome him but he shall overcome in the end
– Asher, his bread is fat and he shall give the king pleasure
– Naftali is a female deer set free, he has goodly words
– Yosef is a fruitful son, by a well and his daughters run over the wall, he shall be blessed
– Benyamin shall tear into pieces like a wolf, eating his prey in the morning and dividing his spoil at night
– Ya’akov finished speaking and asked if they would bury him where his fathers were buried
– Ya’akov died and Yosef had him embalmed
– After he finished mourning Yosef asked Par’oh if he could go and bury his father and he said yes
– Yosef and a great multitude went to bury his father and Yosef mourned for 7 days
– Yosef’s brothers fearing him sent a messenger to tell Yosef their father wanted him to forgive them
– Yosef cared for his brothers and told them Elohim will surely visit you and bring you out of Mitzrayim and he died at 110 years old
– Haftarah – Dawid gave his final advice to Shlomo before he died and Shlomo was king
Parashat Text with Readers and Daily Portions (Reader 1 Starts on Saturday Evening)
Vayechi “And he lived”
Gen 47:28 – 50:26 , 1 Kings 2:1 – 2:12
Reader 1 (Saturday Evening Portion)
Gen 47:28 And Ya’akov lived in the land of Mitzrayim seventeen years: so the whole age of
Ya’akov was a hundred forty seven years.
Gen 47:29 And the time drew near that Yisra’el must die: and he called his son Yosef, and said
unto him, If now I have found favor in your sight, put, I pray you, your hand under my
thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray you, in Mitzrayim:
Gen 47:30 But I will lie with my fathers, and you shall carry me out of Mitzrayim, and bury me
in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as you have said.
Gen 47:31 And he said, Swear unto me. And he swore unto him. And Yisra’el bowed himself
upon the bed’s head.
Gen 48:1 And it came to pass after these things, that one told Yosef, Behold, your father is sick:
and he took with him * his two sons, * Menasheh and Efrayim.
Gen 48:2 And one told Ya’akov, and said, Behold, your son Yosef comes unto you: and Yisra’el
strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed.
Gen 48:3 And Ya’akov said unto Yosef, El Shaddai appeared unto me at Luz in the land of
Kena’an, and blessed me,
Gen 48:4 And said unto me, Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make
of you a multitude of people; and will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting
possession.
(Sunday Morning Portion)
Gen 48:5 And now your two sons, Efrayim and Menasheh, which were born unto you in the
land of Mitzrayim before I came unto you into Mitzrayim, are mine; as Re’uven and
Shim’on, they shall be mine.
Gen 48:6 And your issue, which you beget after them, shall be yours, and shall be called after
the name of their brethren in their inheritance.
Gen 48:7 And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Kena’an in
the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Efrat: and I buried her there in the
way of Efrat; the same is Beit’lechem.
Gen 48:8 And Yisra’el beheld Yosef’s sons, and said, Who are these?
Gen 48:9 And Yosef said unto his father, They are my sons, whom Elohim has given me in this
place. And he said, Bring them, I pray you, unto me, and I will bless them.
Reader 2 (Sunday Evening Portion)
Gen 48:10 Now the eyes of Yisra’el were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought
them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.
Gen 48:11 And Yisra’el said unto Yosef, I had not thought to see your face: and, lo, Elohim has
showed me also your seed.
(Monday Morning Portion)
Gen 48:12 And Yosef brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his
face to the earth.
Gen 48:13 And Yosef took them both, Efrayim in his right hand toward Yisra’el’s left hand, and
Menasheh in his left hand toward Yisra’el’s right hand, and brought them near unto him.
Gen 48:14 And Yisra’el stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Efrayim’s head, who was
the younger, and his left hand upon Menasheh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for
Menasheh was the firstborn.
Gen 48:15 And he blessed Yosef, and said, Elohim, before whom my fathers Avraham and
Yitzchak did walk, the Elohim which fed me all my life long unto this day,
Gen 48:16 The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be
named on them, and the name of my fathers Avraham and Yitzchak; and let them grow into
a multitude in the midst of the earth.
Reader 3 (Monday Evening Portion)
Gen 48:17 And when Yosef saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Efrayim, it
displeased him: and he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Efrayim’s head unto
Menasheh’s head.
Gen 48:18 And Yosef said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put your
right hand upon his head.
Gen 48:19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a
people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and
his seed shall become a multitude of nations.
Gen 48:20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Yisra’el bless, saying, Elohim
make you as Efrayim and as Menasheh: and he set Efrayim before Menasheh.
(Tuesday Morning Portion)
Gen 48:21 And Yisra’el said unto Yosef, Behold, I die: but Elohim shall be with you, and bring
you again unto the land of your fathers.
Gen 48:22 Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brethren, which I took out of
the hand of the Amori with my sword and with my bow.
Reader 4 (Tuesday Evening Portion)
Gen 49:1 And Ya’akov called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell
you that which shall befall you in the last days.
Gen 49:2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, you sons of Ya’akov; and hearken unto Yisra’el
your father.
Gen 49:3 Re’uven, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the
excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:
Gen 49:4 Unstable as water, you shall not excel; because you went up to your father’s bed; then
defiled you it: he went up to my couch.
Gen 49:5 Shim’on and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.
Gen 49:6 O my soul, come not you into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honor, be not
you united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they dug down a wall.
Gen 49:7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide
them in Ya’akov, and scatter them in Yisra’el.
(Wednesday Morning Portion)
Gen 49:8 Yahudah, you art he whom your brethren shall praise: your hand shall be in the neck
of your enemies; your father’s children shall bow down before you.
Gen 49:9 Yahudah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, you are gone up: he stooped down,
he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
Gen 49:10 The sceptre shall not depart from Yahudah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet,
until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
Gen 49:11 Binding his foal unto the vine, and his donkey’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed
his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:
Gen 49:12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.
Gen 49:13 Zevulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for a haven of ships; and
his border shall be unto Tzidon.
Gen 49:14 Yissakhar is a strong donkey couching down between two burdens:
Gen 49:15 And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his
shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.
Gen 49:16 Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Yisra’el.
Gen 49:17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that bites the horse heels, so
that his rider shall fall backward.
Gen 49:18 I have waited for your salvation, O YHWH.
Reader 5 (Wednesday Evening Portion)
Gen 49:19 Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.
Gen 49:20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.
Gen 49:21 Naftali is a female deer let loose: he gives goodly words.
(Thursday Morning Portion)
Gen 49:22 Yosef is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the
wall:
Gen 49:23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:
Gen 49:24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the
hands of the mighty of Ya’akov; (from there is the shepherd, the stone of Yisra’el:)
Gen 49:25 by the Elohim of your father, who shall help you; and by Shaddai, who shall bless
you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies under, blessings of the
breasts, and of the womb:
Gen 49:26 The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors
unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Yosef, and on the
crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.
Reader 6 (Thursday Evening Portion)
Gen 49:27 Benyamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night
he shall divide the spoil.
Gen 49:28 All these are the twelve tribes of Yisra’el: and this is it that their father spoke unto
them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.
Gen 49:29 And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury
me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Efron the Chitti,
Gen 49:30 In the cave that is in the field of Makhpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of
Kena’an, which Avraham bought with the field of Efron the Chitti for a possession of a
buryingplace.
Gen 49:31 There they buried Avraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Yitzchak and Rivka
his wife; and there I buried Le’ah.
Gen 49:32 The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of
Chet.
Gen 49:33 And when Ya’akov had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his
feet into the bed, and yielded up the spirit, and was gathered unto his people.
Gen 50:1 And Yosef fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.
Gen 50:2 And Yosef commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the
physicians embalmed Yisra’el.
Gen 50:3 And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are
embalmed: and the Mitzrayim mourned for him seventy days.
Gen 50:4 And when the days of his mourning were past, Yosef spoke unto the house of
Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found favor in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of
Pharaoh, saying,
Gen 50:5 My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have dug for me in
the land of Kena’an, there shall you bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray you, and
bury my father, and I will come again.
Gen 50:6 And Par’oh said, Go up, and bury your father, according as he made thee swear.
Gen 50:7 And Yosef went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of
Par’oh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Mitzrayim,
Gen 50:8 And all the house of Yosef, and his brethren, and his father’s house: only their little
ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.
Gen 50:9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great
company.
Gen 50:10 And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Yarden, and there they
mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father
seven days.
Gen 50:11 And when the inhabitants of the land, the Kena’anim, saw the mourning in the floor
of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Mitzrayim: wherefore the name of it
was called Avel’mitzrayim, which is beyond Yarden.
Gen 50:12 And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them:
Gen 50:13 For his sons carried him into the land of Kena’an, and buried him in the cave of the
field of Makhpelah, which Avraham bought with the field for a possession of a buryingplace
of Efron the Chitti, before Mamre.
Gen 50:14 And Yosef returned into Mitzrayim, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him
to bury his father, after he had buried his father.
Gen 50:15 And when Yosef’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Yosef will
peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.
Gen 50:16 And they sent a messenger unto Yosef, saying, Your father did command before he
died, saying,
Gen 50:17 So shall you say unto Yosef, Forgive, I pray you now, the trespass of your brethren,
and their sin; for they did unto you evil: and now, we pray you, forgive the trespass of the
servants of the Elohim of your father. And Yosef wept when they spoke unto him.
Gen 50:18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we
be your servants.
Gen 50:19 And Yosef said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of Elohim?
Gen 50:20 But as for you, you thought evil against me; but Elohim meant it unto good, to bring
to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive.
Reader 7 (6th Day Friday Morning Double Portion)
Gen 50:21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted
them, and spoke kindly unto them.
Gen 50:22 And Yosef dwelt in Mitzrayim, he, and his father’s house: and Yosef lived a hundred and
ten years.
Gen 50:23 And Yosef saw Efrayim’s children of the third generation: the children also of
Makhir the son of Menasheh were brought up upon Yosef’s knees.
Gen 50:24 And Yosef said unto his brethren, I die: and Elohim will surely visit you, and bring
you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Avraham, to Yitzchak, and to Ya’akov.
Gen 50:25 And Yosef took an oath of the children of Yisra’el, saying, Elohim will surely visit
you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.
Gen 50:26 So Yosef died, being a hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he
was put in a coffin in Mitzrayim.
Haftarah (Evening Portion)
1Ki 2:1 Now the days of Dawid drew near that he should die; and he charged Shlomo his son,
saying,
1Ki 2:2 I go the way of all the earth: be you strong therefore, and show yourself a man;
1Ki 2:3 And keep the charge of YHWH your Elohim, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes,
and His commandments, and His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the law of
Moshe, that you may prosper in all that you do, and wheresoever you turn yourself:
1Ki 2:4 That YHWH may continue his word which he spake concerning me, saying, If your
children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all
their soul, there shall not fail you said he a man on the throne of Yisra’el.
1Ki 2:5 Moreover you know also what Yo’av the son of Tzeru’yah did to me, and what he did to
the two captains of the hosts of Yisra’el, unto Aviner the son of Ner, and unto Amasa the son
of Yeter, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon
his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet.
1Ki 2:6 Do therefore according to your wisdom, and let not his hoar head go down to the grave
in peace.
1Ki 2:7 But show kindness unto the sons of Barzillai the Gil’adite, and let them be of those that
eat at your table: for so they came to me when I fled because of Avshalom your brother.
1Ki 2:8 And, behold, you have with you Shim’i the son of Gera, a Benyamini of Bachurim,
which cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Machanayim: but he came
down to meet me at Yarden, and I sware to him by YHWH, saying, I will not put you to
death with the sword.
1Ki 2:9 Now therefore hold him not guiltless: for you art a wise man, and know what you
should to do unto him; but his hoar head bring you down to the grave with blood.
1Ki 2:10 So Dawid slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of Dawid.
1Ki 2:11 And the days that Dawid reigned over Yisra’el were forty years: seven years reigned he
in Chevron, and thirty three years reigned he in Yahrushalayim.
1Ki 2:12 Then sat Shlomo upon the throne of Dawid his father; and his kingdom was established
greatly.
Review Torah Summaries (Shabbat Morning Portion)