After 17 years in Egypt, Yaakov senses his days drawing to a close, so he summons Yosef and has him swear to bury him in the Machpela Cave, the burial place of Adam and Chava, Avraham and Sarah, Yitzchak and Rivka.

Yaakov falls ill and Yosef brings to him his two sons, Ephraim and Menashe. Yaakov elevates Ephraim and Menashe to the status of his own sons, thus giving Yosef a double portion, which removes the status of firstborn from Reuven. As Yaakov is blind from old age, Yosef leads his sons close to their grandfather, who kisses and hugs them. Yaakov had not thought to see his son Yosef again, let alone Yosef's children. Yaakov begins to bless them, giving precedence to Ephraim, the younger, but Yosef interrupts and indicates that Menashe is the elder. Yaakov explains that he intends to bless Ephraim with his strong hand because Yehoshua, who descends from Ephraim, will be both conqueror of Eretz Yisrael and teacher of Torah to the Jewish People.

Yaakov summons the rest of his sons in order to bless them all. Yaakov's blessing reflects the unique character and ability of each tribe, directing each in its unique mission in serving G-d. Yaakov passes from this world at age 147. A tremendous procession accompanies his funeral cortege up from Egypt to his resting place in the Cave of Machpela in Chevron.

After Yaakov's passing, the brothers are concerned that Yosef will now take revenge. Yosef reassures them, even promising to support them and their families. Yosef lives out the rest of his years in Egypt, seeing Efraim's great-grandchildren. Before his death, Yosef foretells to his brothers that G-d will redeem them from Egypt. He makes them swear to bring his remains out of Egypt with them at that time. Yosef passes away at the age of 110 and is embalmed. Thus ends Sefer Bereishet, the first of the five Books of the Torah. Chazak

PARSHA INSIGHTS

A Good Innings?

“And Yaakov lived…” (00:00)

I just got up from sitting shiva for my mother who passed away three months short of 102. Many people said to me, kindly and sincerely, “At least she had a good innings.” I think the Torah teaches us the opposite.

The longer someone lives, the more deeply they enter your inner world. Over decades, they don’t just accompany you — they shape you. Their values quietly become your compass. Their presence becomes so much part of you that you don’t even notice it anymore.

And that makes the loss greater, not smaller.

Yaakov Avinu’s life is shorter than the other Avos. And precisely because of that, the Torah seems to ‘slow down’, as it were, at his death. The Torah records every word, every blessing, every gathering of the family. Yaakov Avinu’s life was full of relationships - and so the pain of parting is correspondingly profound and more extended.

Grief, the Torah is telling us, is not about how short a life was. It’s about how close that life was.

Parashas Vayechi teaches that a long life doesn’t soften loss — it deepens it. The ache we feel is the echo of love built patiently over time. And in that pain itself is testimony to a life lived with meaning, presence, and enduring connection.

That was my mother.

May I be an atonement for my mother. Hareini Kaporas Mishkavoh