Vayechi is the final parashah in the book of Genesis (47:28-50:26) and it is unusual in a specific way that bears on the State of Israel’s new “Anti-Infiltration Law” aimed at containing 55,000 ...

Rabbi Shlomo Zarchi is the rabbi of Congregation Chevra Thilim, the oldest Orthodox synagogue in San Francisco. He comes from a Hasidic family of rabbis that goes back many generations. Growing up in ...

I believe in the power of brachas. My father’s favorite way to end a conversation is “many blessings” – and I’ve adopted it for myself, trying to say it a few times a week to different people and say ...

Contrary to the common perception that the reconciliation between Yosef (Joseph) and his brothers is fully realized in Parashat Vayigash, a deeper examination in this week's parsha (Torah portion) ...

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The word vayechi, “and [Jacob] lived,” seems paradoxical, for this parsha deals with Jacob’s preparations for death – his death – and the return of his body to the Land of Israel to be buried in the ...

Parshat Vayechi has always been a special Parsha for me as it was my older brother’s Bar Mitzvah portion. I was in 4th grade for the weekend spectacular at the Washington Hotel (may its memory be for ...

Parashat Vayechi unfolds as a charged farewell scene. Jacob’s family gathers for the final act of a long and turbulent journey, a journey marked by exile and return, dreams and betrayal, rupture and ...

This week’s Parshah concludes the Sefer of Bereishit; the initial generations of our ancestors have coalesced into the Hebrews\Israelites, and after 210 years in the iron furnace of Egypt, will emerge ...

Why does Jacob, in his blessings to Simon and Levi, say that they will be achalkem (separated) and afitzem (scattered) among all of Israel? (Genesis 49:7). Rashi notes that as teachers of Torah, the ...