Vaychi
Vayechi or Vayehi (ויחי – Hebrew for “and he lived”) is the twelfth weekly parshah or portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the last in the book of Genesis. It constitutes Genesis 47:28–50:26. Jews in the Diaspora read it the twelfth Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in December or January.
Summary
When Jacob felt the approach of death, he sent for Joseph and made Joseph swear not to bury him in the land of Egypt. (Gen. 47:28–31.) Sometime afterward, Joseph took his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, to see their ailing grandfather, and Jacob blessed them and received them among his own sons. (Gen. 48.) Then Jacob called his sons to his bedside and revealed their future to them. (Gen. 49.) Jacob died. Joseph and his brothers solemnly interred Jacob’s remains in the family tomb at Machpelah. (Gen. 50.)
Thereafter, Joseph’s brothers grew concerned that Joseph would now bear them a grudge, but Joseph reassured them, saying: “Have no fear! Am I a substitute for God? Besides, although you intended me harm, God intended it for good, so as to bring about the present result — the survival of many people.” (Gen. 50:19–20.)
Joseph lived to see his great-grandchildren. (Gen. 50:23.) On his deathbed, Joseph exhorted his brethren, when God should remember them and lead them out of Egypt, to take his bones with them. (Gen. 50:24–25.) As the book of Genesis ends, Joseph's remains were embalmed and placed "in a coffin in Egypt." (Gen. 50:26.)
Commandments
According to Maimonides, there are no commandments in the parshah.
Haftarah
The haftarah for the parshah is 1 Kings 2:1–12.
References in classical sources
The parshah is cited or discussed in these classical sources:
- Philo, On the Migration of Abraham 5:22, 29:159–161; On Dreams 2:15:107–108; On Joseph 42:255–44:270.
- Josephus, Antiquities 2:7:5–2:8:2.
- Mishnah Sotah 1:9.
- Tosefta Shebiit 7:12; Sotah 10:9.
- Qur'an 12:94–101.
- Genesis Rabbah 96:1–100:13.
- Zohar 1:216a–251a.