Jacob spends his final 17 years of life in Egypt. He asks Joseph to swear an oath that he will bury him in the Holy Land before he dies. He blesses Joseph’s two sons, Menashe and Ephraim, elevating them to the status of his own sons as progenitors of tribes in Israel.
The patriarch wishes to expose the end of the world to his children but is unable to do so.
Jacob blesses his sons, assigning roles to each tribe: Judah will produce leaders, legislators, and kings; Levi will produce priests, Issachar will produce scholars, Zebulun will produce seafarers, Simeon will produce schoolteachers, Gad will produce soldiers, Dan will produce judges, Asher will produce olive-growers, and so on. Simeon and Levi are chastised for the murder of Shechem and the plot against Joseph, while Reuben is chastised for “confusing his father’s marital bed.” Naphtali is blessed with the speed of a deer, Benjamin with the ferocity of a wolf, and Joseph with beauty and fertility.
A massive funeral procession of Jacob’s descendants, Pharaoh’s ministers, influential Egyptian citizens, and Egyptian cavalry accompany Jacob on his final journey to the Holy Land, where he is buried in the Machpelah Cave in Hebron.
Joseph passes away in Egypt at the age of 110 as well. He also gives the order for his remains to be removed from Egypt and interred in the Holy Land, but this wouldn’t happen until the Israelites’ departure from Egypt many years later. Joseph delivers the promise to the Children of Israel just before he dies: “God will surely remember you, and bring you up out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” This promise will serve as the Children of Israel’s source of hope and faith during the trying times to come.
Parashat Vayechi is the shortest weekly Torah portion in the Book of Genesis (although not in the Torah). In a Torah scroll, there are 4,448 Hebrew letters, 1,158 Hebrew words, 85 verses, and 148 lines. Unlike other parashiyot, Vayechi does not begin with a space or on a new line. We read it on the twelfth Sabbath after Simchat Torah, which is usually in December or January.
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