B"H

Friday, Tevet 11, 5778 / December 29, 2017

With this week’s Parsha, Vayechi, in which we read about the passing of the last of the patriarchs, Yaakov (Jacob) and the passing of his twelve sons, the Torah concludes the Book of Genesis (Breishis). This concludes the stories about the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Jewish people. The next Book of the Torah, Shemot, will begin with the enslavement of the Jewish people in Egypt and their subsequent liberation.

In Parshat Vayechi Yaakov blesses his sons and two of his grandchildren, Ephrayim and Menashe. Yaakov singles them out from the rest of his grandchildren as only they were born in Egypt before Yaakov came there. In the Parsha, Yaakov makes his son, Joseph, swear that after Yaakov’s passing he will not bury him in Egypt, but take him to buried in the family burial plot in Hebron.

Q. How many years did Yaakov (Jacob) live in Egypt?

A. 17 years. He came to Egypt when he was 130 and passed away at the age of 147.

Q.  How many years was Joseph in Egypt?

A.  93 years. Joseph was 17 when he was brought to Egypt and passed away at the age of 110.

Q. Why did Yaakov insist to be buried in Israel?

A. There are a few reasons. One reason is that the great famine which Joseph predicted was supposed to last seven years. However, when Yaakov moved to Egypt after two years of famine, the famine stopped in his merit. Yaakov was afraid that because of this the Egyptians would idolize and worship him after his passing. Thus, he made Joseph swear not to bury him in Egypt.

Q. Where were Yaakov’s twelve sons buried?

A. They were buried in Egypt. But when the Jewish people left Egypt at the time of the Exodus, they took their bones with them to be buried in Israel. Joseph was later buried in the city of Sh’chem.

Q. Which of Yaakov’s wives was buried with him in the Me’arat Hamachpeila in Hebron?

A. Leah. His wife, Rachel, who died about 48 years before Yaakov, was buried near Bethlehem. Yaakov knew by Divine inspiration that the Temple would one day be destroyed and his descendants, the Jewish people, would be exiled from Jerusalem. He deliberately buried Rachel at the side of the road, so when they pass by there Rachel would pray for them and invoke G-d’s mercy upon them.     

SHABBAT SHALOM

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