Torah Classes

Chp. 48 verses 29 -33 Chp. 50 verses 1 - 13: Yaakov finishes blessing his sons. He instructs them once again to bury him in the Cave of the Machpelah in the land of Canaan. He expires and is gathered to his people. Chp. 50 Yosef has his father embalmed for forty days and then the Egyptians mourn for him for thirty days. He then asks Pharaoh for permission to take his father to Canaan to be buried. Pharaoh agrees and he and his brothers and families accompanied by Egyptian dignitaries and an army take his father to the Machpelah. They mourn for their father for seven days at Abel-mizraim. Then they carry him to the cave of the Machpelah for burial.

Chp. 50 verses 14 -26: Yosef and his brothers return to Egypt after burying their father. The brothers detect a difference in Yosef attitude towards them. They are concerned that now that Yaakov was dead that Yosef would exact his revenge on them or their children for selling him. They send a messenger to tell him that their father on his deathbed had instructed them to say to him that he should forgive them. He assures them that he will continue to support them and their children. Yosef lives to see great grandchildren. He is the first of the brothers to die. Before he dies he makes all the children of Israel swear that they will not leave Egypt without his bones. And with this verse we finish the Book of Bereishit. With the blessings of Hashem may we continue on to the Book of Shemos.

Chp. 49 verses 19 - 28: Continues with Yaakov blessing his sons. He blesses Gad, Asher, and Naphtali with short blessings. However, with Yosef he showers him with special blessings and praise. He concludes with the youngest son Binyamin. The Torah concludes his blessing with the words that "he blessed them," to elude to the fact that they were all included in each others blessings.

Chp. 47 verses 28 - 31: Yaakov lives in the land of Egypt for seventeen years. He will live to the age of 147. Before he dies he calls for Yosef and asks him to take an oath that when he dies he will bury him in the land of Canaan in the Cave of the Macpelah. Yosef agrees to do fulfill his father's request. Yaakov asks him to swear to him and he takes an oath.

Chp. 48 verses 21 & 22. Chp. 49 verses 1 - 4: Yaakov tells Yosef that he is going to die, but that Hashem would be with them and return them to the land of their fathers. He then gives him Shechem as an inheritance over and above that of his brothers. Chp. 49 Yaakov gathers his sons and wants to tell them about the end of time but the Divinity of G-d leaves him. He then begins to bless his sons. He begins with the eldest Reuvain, whom he criticizes as being unstable as water.

Chp.48 verses 10 -20: Yosef places his two sons between the knees of his father so that he can bless them. He places Manasseh, the first born, on his right and Ephraim, youngest, on his left. Yaakov crosses his hands so that his right hand in on the youngest and his left hand on the eldest. Yosef protests but Yaakov insists that he knows what he is doing. He blesses his grandsons with the famous blessing used to this day to bless Jewish boys.

chp. 45 verses 12 - 28: Yosef instructs his brothers on what to tell his father. He hugs Binyamin and the they cry on each others shoulders. He then kisses his brothers and cries with them. Pharaoh and the people are happy to hear that Yosef and his brothers have been re united. Pharaoh commands Yosef to send wagons to bring his father and all the family to live in Egypt. The brothers return home and they tell Yaakov all that Yosef had said, but he did not believe them. However, when he saw the wagons he realized that Yosef was alive and his spirit was revived and he wanted to go down to Egypt and see Yosef before he died.

Chp. 46 verses 28 - 34 Chp. 47 verses 1 - 27: Yosef harnesses his own chariot, goes out to greet his father, and crys on his neck. He tells his family that he is going to tell Pharaoh that they have arrived, and that they should tell him that they are shepherds. Chp. 47, Yosef takes five of the weakest brothers to meet Pharaoh. He is then introduced to Yaakov who blesses him that the Nile should rise whenever he approached it. With Yaakov's arrival the famine ceased. The people were forced during the first two years of the famine to sell everything they owned to yosef. Now that Yaakov came they needed seed and so they sold themselves and their land to him. He made them sharecroppers to Pharaoh taking 1/5 of their produce, and the people were given to him. He moved the people from one city to another so that his family wouldn't feel like strangers. They dwelt in Goshen and there they were fruitful and multiplied.

Chp. 44 verses 18 - 34: Yehudah makes an impassioned plea to the viceroy to save Binyamin from servitude. He expresses his concern that leaving Binyamin in Eygpt would kill his elderly father. He goes so far as to offer himself as a slave instead of his younger brother.

Chp. 46 verses 1 - 27: Yaakov visits B'eer Sheva on his way to Egypt. He brings sacrifices to Hashem, who comes to him in a vision at night and tells him that he will be with him and his descendents and that they will be a great nation. He promises him that Yosef will close his eyes when he dies and that he will be buried in the land of Canaan. Yaakov leaves with his whole family of seventy individuals. The Torah then lists them by their mothers.