Summary of the Parasha
Judah steps forward (Vayigash) to Joseph and pleads for Benjamin. He tells the whole story, his father’s love for Rachel’s son and his own pledge as guarantor: he offers to remain a slave in place of his young brother. Faced with this repentance, Joseph can no longer hold back. He sends all the Egyptians out and reveals himself: “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” He reassures his brothers: “It was not you who sent me here, but God, to ensure your survival”. He falls on Benjamin’s neck and weeps; according to Rashi, he weeps for the two Temples that would be destroyed in Benjamin’s territory, and Benjamin for the Mishkan of Shiloh in Joseph’s.
Joseph sends his brothers to bring Jacob, with wagons and gifts, telling them: “Do not quarrel on the way”. When Jacob hears that Joseph is alive, “the spirit of Jacob revived”. On the way, at Beer Sheva, God appears to him: “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, I will make you a great nation there, and I Myself will bring you up again”. The Torah lists the seventy souls of Jacob’s household who go down to Egypt.
Jacob sends Judah ahead to Goshen, to found, according to the Midrash, a house of study. Joseph harnesses his chariot and meets his father; they weep in each other’s arms. Jacob says: “Now I can die, since I have seen your face”. Five of the brothers are presented to Pharaoh, then Jacob himself, who blesses him and says his years have been “few and hard”. The family settles in the land of Goshen.
The parasha ends with Joseph’s policy during the famine: the Egyptians sell their livestock and then their land to Pharaoh in exchange for bread; only the priests’ land is exempt. Joseph institutes a tax of one fifth of the harvest. Israel settles in Goshen, “takes possession of it, is fruitful and multiplies greatly”.
Summary of the Haftara
“Vayehi D’var Hashem” (“The word of Hashem came”)
Text in Ezekiel 37:15–28
Right after the vision of the dry bones, God tells Ezekiel to take two pieces of wood: on one he writes “For Judah”, on the other “For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim”. He brings them together and they become one in his hand. God explains: He will gather the children of Israel from all the nations, bring them back to their land, and they will no longer be two kingdoms but one nation, with one king, “David My servant”. He will make an everlasting covenant of peace with them and set His sanctuary in their midst.
Parasha-Haftara Connection
The parasha tells of the reconciliation of Judah and Joseph, the two great figures among the brothers. Later, their descendants will form two rival kingdoms, Judah and Israel (Ephraim). Ezekiel announces that their unity will one day be complete. Judah’s step toward Joseph announces the final unity of the Jewish people.