page_title: Vaychi
section_title: First reading — Genesis 47:28–48:9
hierarchical_section_title: Vaychi / Readings / First reading — Genesis 47:28–48:9
context_page_description: Vaychi, Vayechi or Vayhi is the twelfth weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the last in the Book of Genesis. It constitutes Genesis 47:28–50:26. The parashah tells of Jacob's request for burial in Canaan, Jacob's blessing of Joseph's sons Ephraim and Manasseh, Jacob's blessing of his sons, Jacob's death and burial, and Joseph's death.
  It is the shortest weekly Torah portion in the Book of Genesis. It is made up of 4,448 Hebrew letters, 1,158 Hebrew words, 85 verses, and 148 lines in a Torah scroll. Jews read it the twelfth Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in December or January.
context_section_description: In the first reading (עליה, aliyah), Jacob lived in Egypt 17 years, and lived to be 147 years old. When Jacob's death drew near, he called his son Joseph and asked him to put his hand under Jacob's thigh and swear not to bury him in Egypt, but to bury him with his father and grandfather. Joseph agreed, but Jacob insisted that he swear to, and so he did, and Jacob bowed. Later, when one told Joseph that his father was sick, Joseph took his sons Manasseh and Ephraim to see him. Jacob sat up and told Joseph that God appeared to him at Luz, blessed him, and told him that God would multiply his descendants and give them that land forever. Jacob adopted Joseph's sons as his own and granted them inheritance with his own sons. Jacob recalled how when he came from Paddan, Rachel died on the way, and he buried her on the way to Ephrath, near Bethlehem. Jacob saw Joseph's sons and asked who they were, and Joseph told him that they were the sons whom God had given him in Egypt, so Jacob asked Joseph to bring them near so that he might bless them. The first reading (עליה, aliyah) ends here.
caption: Jacob Blessing Joseph's Sons (painting circa 1635 by Jan Victors)
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