Parsha Talk Vayehi 2021 – Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky

Any time one can reference “The Princess Bride” it is sure to bring a smile to one’s face, so we are pleased that Parashat Ve-yehi [Genesis 47:28-50:26] provided us with that opportunity. We spend our time talking about Jacob at the end of his life, there are a couple of deathbed scenes, and Joseph at the end of his life. Genesis began with such hope, the Creation of a perfectly ordered world, and ends practically in despair, with the death of Joseph who can only make his brothers and descendants promise that when the people leave Egypt they will take his bones with them for burial in the Promised Land, underscoring the different experience after the death of Jacob, when the brothers at least were able to bury their father’s remains at the Cave of Machpelah. We have successully concluded our journey through the book of Genesis which began 11 weeks ago with the first of the 12 parashiyot that make up the book. Even as we linger, we are looking forward to beginning the Book of Exodus. Shabbat Shalom!