Parashat Vayigash
1-02/03-2009

Torah Portion: Genesis 44:18 - 47:27
1: 44:18-30 (13 verses) 
2: 44:31-45:7 (11 verses) 
3: 45:8-18 (11 verses) 
4: 45:19-27 (9 verses) 
5: 45:28-46:27 (28 verses) 
6: 46:28-47:10 (17 verses) 
7: 47:11-27 (17 verses)

Haftarah: Ezekiel 37:15 - 37:28

First Reading
Gen 44:18-30 (13 verses)

18 Then Praised (Yahudah in Hebrew) came near to him and said: "Please, my master, let your servant speak a word to his master. Do not be angry with your servant, even though you are equal to Big House (Par'oh in Hebrew) himself.
19 My master asked his servants, 'Do you have a father or a brother?'
20 And we answered, 'We have an aged father, and there is a young son born to him in his old age. His brother is dead, and he is the only one of his mother's sons left, and his father loves him.'
21 "Then you said to your servants, 'Bring him down to me so I can see him for myself.'
22 And we said to my master, 'The boy cannot leave his father; if he leaves him, his father will die.'
23 But you told your servants, 'Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.'
24 When we went back to your servant, my father, we told him what my master had said.
25 "Then our father said, 'Go back and buy a little more food.'
26 But we said, 'We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go. We cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.'
27 "Your servant, my father, said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons.
28 One of them went away from me, and I said, "He has surely been torn to pieces." And I have not seen him since.
29 If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in sorrow.'
30 "So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant, my father, and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy's life,

Second Reading
Gen 44:31-45:7 (11 verses)

31 sees that the boy isn't there, he will die. Your servants will bring the gray head of our father down to the grave in sorrow.
32 I, your servant guaranteed the boy's safety to my father. I said, 'If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all of my life!'
33 "Now then, please let me, your servant, remain here as my master's slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers.
34 How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the pain that would come upon my father."

CHAPTER 45

1 Then 'Eternal Has Added' (called Yowceph in Hebrew) could no longer control himself before all his men, and he cried out, "Have every man leave my presence!" Then there were no men with Eternal Has Added when he made himself known to his brothers.
2 And he wept so loudly that all Double Straits could hear him, and all the household of Big House heard about it.
3 Eternal Has Added said to his brothers, "I am Eternal Has Added (Yowceph in Hebrew)! Is my father still living?" But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were in shock in his presence.
4 Then Eternal Has Added said to his brothers, "Come close to me." When they had done so, he said, "I am your brother, Eternal Has Added, the one you sold into Double Straits (called Mitzrayim in Hebrew)!
5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that Mighty sent me ahead of you.
6 For two years now there has been famine in the land and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping.
7 But Mighty sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by this remarkable deliverance.

Third Reading
Gen 45:8-18 (11 verses)

8 "So then, it was not you who sent me here, but Mighty. He made me a father to Big House and master of his entire household and ruler of all Double Straits.
9 Now hurry, go up to my father and say to him, 'This is what your son, Eternal Has Added says; Mighty has made me master of all Double Straits. Come down to me without delay.
10 You shall live in the region of 'the Seer' (Chozen, but commonly rendered as Goshen) and be near me-- you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have.
11 I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come. Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute.'
12 "You can see for yourselves, and so can my brother, Son of the Right, that it is really I who am speaking to you.
13 Tell my father about the many honors accorded to me in Double Straits and about everything you have seen. And then bring my father down here promptly."
14 Then he threw his arms around his brother Son of the Right (or Benyamin) and wept, and Son of the Right embraced him, weeping.
15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his brothers talked with him.
16 When the news reached the palace of Big House that Eternal Has Added's brothers had come, Big House and all his officials were pleased.
17 Big House said to Eternal Has Added, "Tell your brothers, 'Do this: Load your animals and return to the Lowlands (Called Cana' an in many English versions),
18 and bring your father and your families back to me. I will give you the best of the land of Double Straits and you will eat the fat of the land.'

Fourth Reading
Gen 45:19-27

19 "You are also enjoined to do this: Take some wagons from Double Straits for your children and your wives, and bring your father and come.
20 Give no regard to your belongings, because the best of all Double Straits is yours.'"
21 So the sons of Persevere as Mighty did this. The Eternal Has Added gave them carts, as Big House had commanded, and he also gave them provisions for their journey.
22 To each of them he gave new clothing, but to Son of the Right, he gave three hundred .4oz Silver coins and five sets of garments.
23 And this is what he sent to his father: ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Double Straits, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and other provisions for his journey.
24 Then he sent his brothers away, and as they were leaving he said to them, "Don't quarrel on the way!"
25 So they went up out of Double Straits and came to their father Supplanter in the Lowlands.
26 They told him, "The Eternal Has Added is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all Double Straits." Supplanter was stunned; he did not believe them.
27 But when they told him everything ,The Eternal Has Added, had said to them, and when he saw the wagons The Eternal Has Added had sent to carry him back, their father's, Supplanter's, spirit was revived.

Fifth Reader
Gen 45:28-46:27
28 Then Persevere as Mighty (Yisrael in Hebrew) said, "It should be enough to hear that my son, Eternal Has Added, is still alive, now yet more, I should go now and see him, before I die."

CHAPTER 46

1 So Persevere as Mighty set out with all that he had, and came to The Well of Oath, and offered sacrifices to the Mighty of his father, Laughter, (who was called Yitschaq in Hebrew).
2 And Mighty spoke to Persevere as Mighty in visions of the night and said, "Supplanter, Supplanter." And he said, "Here I am."
3 And He said, "I am Mighty, the Mighty of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Double Straits, for I will make you a great nation there.
4 "I will go down with you to Double Straits, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Eternal Has Added will, by his own power, open your eyes."
5 Then Supplanter arose from The Well of Oath; and the sons of Persevere as Mighty carried their father Supplanter and their little ones and their wives, in the wagons which Big House had sent to carry him.
6 And they took their livestock and their property, which they had acquired in the Lowlands, and came to Double Straits, Supplanter and all his descendants with him:
7 his sons and his grandsons with him, his daughters and his granddaughters, and all his descendants he brought with him to Double Straits.
8 Now these are the names of the sons of Persevere as Mighty, Supplanter and his sons, who went to Double Straits: Supplanter's first-born Behold a Son (or Re'uwben in Hebrew).
9 Now the sons of Behold a Son: Initiated and Distinguished and Walled Court and My Vines.
10 And the sons of Heard: Day of Mighty and Unity and He Will Establish and Blanched and Desired the son of a Zealous a Lowlander woman.
11 And the sons of Attached (or Levi): Exile, Assembly, and Bitter.
12 And the sons of Praised: Awake and Strong and Petition and Breach and Rising (but Awake and Strength died in the Lowlands). And the sons of Breach were Walled Court and Spared.
13 And the sons of There Is Recompense: Worm and Splendid and Persecuted and Guardian Height.
14 And the sons of Exalted: Fear and Mighty Oak and the Mighty Waits.
15 These are the sons of Weary, whom she bore to Supplanter in High Field, with his daughter Judgment; all his sons and his daughters {numbered} thirty-three.
16 And the sons of Troop: Lookout and Festive, Rest and Quick to Perceive, Watchful and Tame and Lion of Mighty.
17 And the sons of Happy: Prosperity and Equalizer and He Resembles Me and With a Friend and their sister Breath of Nobility. And the sons of With a Friend: Community (or Heber) and Mighty's King (or Malchiel).
18 These are the sons of Droplets of Myrrh, whom Whitey gave to his daughter Weary; and she bore to Supplanter these sixteen offspring.
19 The sons of Supplanter's wife Ewe (or Rachel): Eternal Has Added and Son of the Right.
20 Now to Eternal Has Added in the land of Double Straits were born Amnesia (or Menashsheh) and Doubly Fruitful (or Ephraim), whom Devoted to 'Neith' (or Asenath), the daughter of Gift of Ra, priest of Strength (or 'On'), bore to him.
21 And the sons of Son of the Right: Destruction and Young Camel and Skirt of the Lord, Kernel and Pleasant, My Brother and Head,
Serpent and Protected and I shall Overcome.
22 These are the sons of Ewe, who were born to Supplanter; {there were} fourteen persons in all.
23 And the sons of Judge: Quick.
24 And the sons of Anxious: Mighty Divider and Guni and Conceptualize and Recompense.
25 These are the sons of Troubled, whom Whitey gave to his daughter Ewe, and she bore these to Supplanter; a total of seven souls.
26 All the persons Mighty Oak to Supplanter, who came to Double Straits, his direct descendants, not including the wives of Supplanter's sons, (a total of) sixty-six souls,
27 and the sons of Eternal Has Added, who were born to him in Double Straits were two; all the souls of the house of Supplanter, who came to Double Straits, (were a total of) seventy.

Sixth Reader
Gen 46:28-47:10
28 Now he sent Praised before him to Eternal Has Added, directing him to the 'Seer'; and they thence came into the land the 'Seer'.
29 And Eternal Has Added prepared his chariot and went up the 'Seer' to meet his father Persevere as Mighty; as soon as he appeared before him, he fell on his neck and wept on his neck a long time.
30 Then Persevere as Mighty said to Eternal Has Added, "Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive."
31 And Eternal Has Added said to his brothers and to his father's household, "I will go up and tell Big House, and will say to him, 'My brothers and my father's household, in the Lowlands, have come to me;
32 and the men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock; and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have.'
33 "And it shall come about when Big House calls you and says, 'What is your occupation?'
34 that you shall say, 'Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers,' so that you may live in the land of the Seer because every shepherd is loathsome to the citizens of Double Straits.

CHAPTER 47

1 Then Eternal Has Added went in and told Big House, and said, "My father and my brothers and their flocks and their herds and all that they have, have come out of the Lowlands; and behold, they are in the land of the 'Seer'."
2 And he took five men from among his brothers, and presented them to Big House.
3 Then Big House said to his brothers, "What is your occupation?" So they said to Big House, "Your servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers."
4 And they said to Big House, "We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants' flocks, for the famine is severe in the Lowlands. Now, therefore, please let your servants live in the land of the 'Seer'."
5 Then Big House said to Eternal Has Added, "Your father and your brothers have come to you.
6 "The land of Double Straits is at your disposal; settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land, let them live in the land of the 'Seer'; and if you know any capable men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock."
7 Then Eternal Has Added brought his father Supplanter and presented him to Big House; and Supplanter blessed Big House.
8 And Big House said to Supplanter, "How many years have you lived?"
9 So Supplanter said to Big House, "The years of my sojourning are one hundred and thirty; few and unpleasant have been the years of my life, nor have they attained the years that my fathers lived during the days of their sojourning."
10 And Supplanter blessed Big House, and went out from his presence.

Seventh Reader

Gen 47:11-27
11 So Eternal Has Added settled his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Double Straits, in the best of the land, in the land of Son of Ra, as Big House had ordered.
12 And Eternal Has Added provided his father and his brothers and all his father's household with food, in proportion to (the number) of their little ones.
13 Now there was no food in all the land, because the famine was very severe, so that the land of Double Straits and the Lowlands languished because of the famine.
14 And Eternal Has Added gathered all the silver that was found in the land of Double Straits and in the Lowlands for the grain which they bought, and Eternal Has Added brought the silver into the custody of Big House.
15 And when the silver was all exhausted in the land of Double Straits and in the Lowlands, all the citizens of Double Straits came to Eternal Has Added and said, "Give us food, for why should we die in your presence, because the silver is gone."
16 Then Eternal Has Added said, "Give up your livestock, and I will trade for your livestock, since silver is no more."
17 So they brought their livestock to Eternal Has Added, and Eternal Has Added gave them food in exchange for the horses and the flocks and the herds and the donkeys; and he fed them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year.
18 And when that year was ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, "We will not hide from my master that our silver is all spent, and the cattle are my master's. There is nothing left for my master except our bodies and our property.
19 "Why should both and our property, die, before your eyes? Exchange us and our property for food, and we and our property will be slaves to Big House. So give us seed, that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate."
20 So Eternal Has Added acquired all the property of Double Straits for Big House, for every citizen of Double Straits sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. Thus the land came to belong to Big House.
21 And as for the people, he removed them to the cities from one end of the border of Double Straits to the other.
22 Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had an allotment from Big House, and they lived off the allotment which Big House gave them. Therefore, they did not sell their land.
23 Then Eternal Has Added said to the people, "Behold, I have today bought you and your land for Big House; now, {here} is seed for you, and you may sow the land.
24 "And at the harvest you shall give a fifth to Big House, and four-fifths shall be your own for seed of the field and for your food and for those of your households and as food for your little ones."
25 So they said, "You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my master, and we will be Big House's slaves."
26 And Eternal Has Added made it a statute concerning the land of Double Straits {valid} to this day, that Big House should have the fifth; only the land of the priests did not become Big House's.
27 Now Persevere as Mighty lived in the land of Double Straits, in Chozen or 'Seer', and they acquired property in it and were fruitful and became very numerous.


Haftarah

Ezek 37:15-28

15 The word of ETERNAL came to me:
16 "Son of man, take a single stick of wood, then write on it, 'This belongs to Praised and to the ones who Persevere as Mighty as well as those that are associated with him.' Then take another single stick of wood, write on it, This is the stick of Doubly Fruitful, and belongs to Eternal Has Added and to all the house of those who Persevere as Mighty and to those who are associated with them.'
17 Join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand.
18 "When your countrymen ask you, 'Won't you tell us what you mean by this?'
19 say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign ETERNAL says: I am going to take the stick of Eternal Has Added-- which is in the hand of Doubly Fruitful and of the tribes who are associated with Persevere as Mighty, then join it to the single stick of Praised, making them a single stick of wood, and they will become one in My hand.'
20 Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on
21 and say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign ETERNAL says: I will take the sons of Persevere as Mighty out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land.
22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Persevere as Mighty. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms.
23 They will no longer defile themselves with their filthy idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all the houses in which they fall short, and I will cleanse them. They will be My people, and I will be their Mighty.
24 "'My servant Beloved (David) will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow My laws and be careful to keep My decrees.
25 They will live in the land I gave to My servant Supplanter, the land where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children will live there forever and Beloved, My servant, will be their ruler forever.
26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put My sanctuary among them forever.
27 My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their Mighty, and they will be My people.
28 Then the nations will know that I, ETERNAL, make Persevere as Mighty, holy, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.'"

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