Mikeitz-Vayigash-Vayechi
1) Going down to Egypt
a) Joseph as viceroy
b) Revelation of Joseph, Jacob comes to Egypt
c) Lineage of Jacob
d) Jacob in Egypt
2) Blessing to Ephraim and Menashe
3) Blessing to Reuven
4) Blessing to Shimon and Levi
5) Blessing to Judah
6) Blessing to Zevulun
7)
a) Blessing to Yissachar
b) Blessing to Dan
c) Blessing to Gad
d) Blessing to Asher
e) Blessing to Naphtali
f) Blessing to Joseph
8) Blessing to Benjamin, death of Jacob
P' Miketz ends with a s'tumah and P' Vayigash ends with an additional space of a single letter, so that the first section spans from Pharoah's dreams - which led to Joseph becoming viceroy, which led to the sons of Yaakov going down to Egypt to buy grain, which led to Yaakov's entire family going down to Egypt to wait out the famine - until Yaakov makes Yoseph swear that he will bring his body back up to Canaan for burial. From the time that Yoseph rises to power in a foreign country, the section is not considered to reach a conclusion until Yaakov ensures that his body will return to Canaan, thereby providing assurance that his descendants will strive to return there also. When Yoseph is a slave or a prisoner, there is no reason to believe that an equilbrium has been reached, being that he's in Egypt against his will. However, once he's a free man and can be considered to be in a foreign country willingly, a dissonant situation is created that is not resolved until Yaakov ensures that he and his brothers will return to their homeland.
Sections 2-6 describes the blessings to Ephraim and Menashe, Reuven, Shimon and Levi, Yehudah, and Zevulun, respectively. The verses that introduce the blessings to the tribes are subsumed in the section of Reuven.
Section 7 describes the blessings to Yissachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naftali, and Yoseph. A strange assortment, to be sure. Why is Yissachar separated from Zevulun, of all tribes? And why is Yosef buried under so many other tribes (and placed last, to boot)?
Section 8 describes the blessing to Benjamin, and does not conclude until the end of the book. In this way, the book of our fathers truly ends on a note of blessing - that no matter how good the morning is, the evening can be even better.
a) Joseph as viceroy
b) Revelation of Joseph, Jacob comes to Egypt
c) Lineage of Jacob
d) Jacob in Egypt
2) Blessing to Ephraim and Menashe
3) Blessing to Reuven
4) Blessing to Shimon and Levi
5) Blessing to Judah
6) Blessing to Zevulun
7)
a) Blessing to Yissachar
b) Blessing to Dan
c) Blessing to Gad
d) Blessing to Asher
e) Blessing to Naphtali
f) Blessing to Joseph
8) Blessing to Benjamin, death of Jacob
P' Miketz ends with a s'tumah and P' Vayigash ends with an additional space of a single letter, so that the first section spans from Pharoah's dreams - which led to Joseph becoming viceroy, which led to the sons of Yaakov going down to Egypt to buy grain, which led to Yaakov's entire family going down to Egypt to wait out the famine - until Yaakov makes Yoseph swear that he will bring his body back up to Canaan for burial. From the time that Yoseph rises to power in a foreign country, the section is not considered to reach a conclusion until Yaakov ensures that his body will return to Canaan, thereby providing assurance that his descendants will strive to return there also. When Yoseph is a slave or a prisoner, there is no reason to believe that an equilbrium has been reached, being that he's in Egypt against his will. However, once he's a free man and can be considered to be in a foreign country willingly, a dissonant situation is created that is not resolved until Yaakov ensures that he and his brothers will return to their homeland.
Sections 2-6 describes the blessings to Ephraim and Menashe, Reuven, Shimon and Levi, Yehudah, and Zevulun, respectively. The verses that introduce the blessings to the tribes are subsumed in the section of Reuven.
Section 7 describes the blessings to Yissachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naftali, and Yoseph. A strange assortment, to be sure. Why is Yissachar separated from Zevulun, of all tribes? And why is Yosef buried under so many other tribes (and placed last, to boot)?
Section 8 describes the blessing to Benjamin, and does not conclude until the end of the book. In this way, the book of our fathers truly ends on a note of blessing - that no matter how good the morning is, the evening can be even better.
posted by Josh M. at 4:14 PM
5 Comments:
I have been teaching Tanach based on the division of the parshiyot for many years (not this year b/c I am not teaching Tanach). When I was teaching parashat haShavua I would have my students write summaries for every one of the parashiyot. Sometimes it can get difficult when there are a large number of them in a parasha (like Parashat Mishpatim). I have worked through almost the entire Chumash using this methodology.
I think it is also important to consider the larger divisions of the Chumash (namely, the books). I just made a post which discusses the unity or theme of the entire Chumash and I plan on making some more posts on the theme of each book of the Chumash.
Thanks for your support; it's nice to see that this method of looking at Tanach is also utilized in the outside world.
Sadly, I think we are a very small group. Do you know the quote from the sifrei that explains why there are parshiyot?
Found it:
בתורת כוהנים פרשה א: "ומה היו הפסקות משמשות? ליתן רווח למשה להתבונן בין פרשה לפרשה ובין עניין לעניין"
Ki ata ha-m'at mikol ha-amim.
Thanks for the reference.
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