The reading of the Book of Bereshiet or Genesis comes to an end with parsha "Vayechi" (Gen. 47:28 through the end) as do the lives of first Yakov, and then Yosef.

"And lived Yakov," the parsha begins, 17 years in the land of Egypt after he brought his family to be there with Joseph. But most of the story is about blessings, and prophecy.

The Erev Shabbat reading tells that story:

https://hebrewnationonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/SSM-12-29-23-Vayechi-And-Lived-Yakov-then-Yosef-teaching-podcast-xxx.mp3

The blessing, and essentially adoption, of Yosef's two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, and the details, and ordering of them, is key to understanding the thousands of years of history that follows.

But the blessing of that other twelve sons, and tribes, that follows is also prophetic, and yet also, at least in places, more enigmatic.

So the Sabbath day midrash this week is a bit more 'speculative' this week than usual, both because of the prophetic nature of much of the subject matter, and the "times and the seasons" today.

"Vayechi: Cycles Prophecy Smoke Deception - and Dot-Connection"/strong>

https://hebrewnationonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WT-CooH-12-30-23-Vayechi-Cycles-Prophecy-Smoke-Deception-and-Dot-Connection-edited-w-QQQs-podcast-xxx.mp3

There is much "food for thought" on the table at this point. As always, Mark welcomes comments, questions, and feedback: [email protected]

The combined two-part teaching is here: