Parashat Vayechi 5782

by Rabbi Ellen S. Wolintz-Fields

The haftarah that goes b’yachad, together with Parashat Vayechi is I Kings 2:1-12. As we conclude Sefer Bereshit, the Book of Genesis, our patriarch Jacob prepares for his death. The Torah reading and haftarah use similar terminology to refer to death. Genesis 47:29 states, “The days of Israel drew near that he die.”  I Kings 2:1 states, “The days of David drew near that he die.” There is another example of similar terminology in the Torah and haftarah readings. When Joseph’s brothers tell Jacob that Benjamin has to go with them to Egypt to get food, Jacob states that he will die if Benjamin were lost. Jacob states “you will send my white head down to Sheol in grief.” In I Kings 2:9, King David states in anger that Solomon should punish Joab and “send his gray hair down to Sheol in blood.”  The dying father in the Torah and haftarah readings demonstrate the dying father “commanding” his descendants about how to act after his death (Genesis 49:33, I Kings 2:1).  In the Torah reading, the instructions are given to all of Jacob’s children as they gather around his deathbed. King David in the haftarah only speaks to Solomon.  Parashat Vayechi ends with the promise that God will rescue the children of Israel from exile in Egypt. In the haftarah, Solomon is promised an everlasting dynasty as long as the children of Israel follow God’s laws.