Parshat Vaychi
Let’s start off with some pronunciation – probably not everyone’s favorite subject.
This week’s sedra name is often transliterated as Vayechi. But that is not a faithful rendering into English.
We have Vav-Yud-Chet-Yud – let’s take it letter by letter: Under the Vav is a Patach, which would sound sort of like the va of vanilla (depending upon how you pronounce the most popular flavor of ice cream in the United States – I never ever understood how bland vanilla could beat out chocolate for first place).
After the Vav, the first Yud has a Sh’va under it. Remember, though, that there are two Sh’vas – a Sh’va Na, which adds a short vowel sound to its letter, and the Sh’va Nach, which has no sound of its own, leaving its letter with its own sound only. If the Sh’va under the second letter of the sedra name were a Sh’va Na – which most people (no actual survey results on that) seem to think it is, then “Vayechi” would work. We’d have Va followed by y’ (usually written as ye, although that conveys too strong a vowel sound for the Yud) and then chi (the ch, of course, sounding like the ch of Chanukah, not the ch of Chicago or cheese).
But the Sh’va is Nach, and the Yud/Sh’va completes the first syllable of this sedra name as Vay (not like Oy Vey, but rather like the beginning of the English word vital). And then the second syllable (there are only two) is chi. So, it’s Vay-chi. Or Vaychi – but not Vayechi.
Does it make a difference? If you mean does it invalidate the reading in the Torah if a baal k’ri’a (rather than the more common, baal korei) reads Vayechi instead of Vaychi? No, he need not be corrected. But there is the technical difference between the precise pronunciation and the [incorrect, careless, sloppy, uninformed – choose your adjective] one.
Okay. Enough with the pronunciation already, right? But on a personal note, I’ll tell you why all of the above matters to me. I came on aliyah from Queens (originally from Brooklyn) at the age of 33. Soon after, I found and bought a sefer called Ein L’Mikra Hashaleim. It is a thorough guide to correct pronunciation of Hebrew, specifically focused on davening and Torah-reading. I was made painfully aware of the sloppiness of my own pronunciation and accenting of many words – in some cases, with the consequence of actually changing the intended meanings. I decided then to be more careful and accurate in my own davening and layning – and to try to teach others as well. (I do recognize that I’ll never succeed with my Chets and Ayins and more, but I do my best with other aspects of proper Hebrew pronunciation.)
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So that’s the name of the sedra. And here are its stats:
Vaychi is the only sedra (of 54) that does not start at the beginning of a parsha – neither the open kind (P’tucha) or the closed kind (S’tuma). It is considered to begin extremely closed, with only the blank space of one-letter’s width between the last word of Vayigash and the word “Vaychi” which starts the sedra.
Why is Vaychi so closed off? Here’s Rashi’s comment, based on Bereishit Rabba: Because, comprising as it does an account of the death of Yaakov, as soon as Yaakov Avinu departed this life, the hearts and eyes of Israel were closed – their eyes became dim and their hearts troubled – because of the misery of the bondage which [the Egyptians] then began to impose upon them. Another reason is because Yaakov wished to reveal to his sons the date of the End of Days, but the vision was closed (concealed) from him.
Vaychi is the 12th sedra of 12 in the Book of Bereishit. It is written on 148.33 lines in a Sefer Torah, ranking 45th among the 54 sedras, meaning that there are only nine sedras shorter than Vaychi; it is also the shortest sedra in B’reishit.
The sedra consists of 12 parshiot, 7 open and 5 closed. In addition, the first part of the sedra is the end of the previous parsha from Vayigash.
Clarification: The word parsha is also commonly used for the 54 weekly Torah readings – as in, Parshat HaShavua. I prefer the term sedra, but parsha is very commonly used. The other meaning of parsha refers to the “paragraph” arrangement in a Sefer Torah – the only breaks in a Torah Scroll. Parshiyot come in two forms: Parsha P’tucha (open), which begins on a new line, leaving a blank space on the line above it, following the end of the previous parsha; and Parsha S’tuma (closed), which begins on the same line as the previous parsha’s end, with a blank space between them on the same line.
With 85 pesukim and 1,158 words, Vaychi rises one position and ranks 44th in length, and with its 4,448 letters, makes it to 43rd place.
It is still a short sedra. And, like most sedras in the Book of Bereishit, it has none of the Torah’s 613 mitzvot.
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Numbers jump out from its first pasuk as the sedra opens with Yaakov having been in Egypt for 17 years. This is very significant in that Yosef was taken from Yaakov at the age of 17. Yaakov’s 147 years – mentioned in that same first pasuk of the sedra – can be broken down (a poignant choice of a word – considering how Yaakov was affected) as follows:
Yaakov was 91 years old when Yosef was born. (Rachel was 28 years old at the time.) He had 17 years with Yosef (Yaakov was 108 when Yosef was sold; Yitzchak was still alive at 168). He then suffered 22 years of agony following Yosef’s presumed death, which Yaakov never accepted. The reunion of Yaakov and Yosef occurred when Yaakov was 130, as he told Paraoh when Yosef presented his father to the king. Yosef was then 39 years old. Yaakov lived 17 more years and died at 147. Seventeen and seventeen. We notice that parallel because the Torah makes a point of telling us (which it doesn’t always do).
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Yaakov, nearing his passing, tells Yosef that Yosef’s two sons, who were born in Egypt before Yaakov’s descent, shall be considered on the same level as Reuven and Shimon. Meaning, the tribes of Israel will include as separate tribes Efrayim and Menashe, rather than a single tribe of Yosef.
It’s a little more complicated in that, most often – but not always – the 12 tribes did not include Levi, and Efrayim and Menashe were counted separately, but sometimes, Levi was counted and Efrayim and Menashe were combined as Shevet Yosef.
There is an interesting gematria (numeric value) about Yaakov’s statement that Efrayim and Menashe will be like Reuven and Shimon to him.
Efrayim = 1 (Alef) + 80 (Pei) + 200 (Reish) + 10 (Yud) + 40 (Mem) = 331.
Menashe = 40 (Mem) + 50 (Nun) + 300 (Shin) + 5 (Hei) = 395.
Efrayim u’Menashe (with the connecting Vav) = 331 + 6 + 395 = 732.
Reuven = 200 (Reish) + 1 (Alef) + 6 (Vav) + 2 (Bet) + 50 (Nun) = 259.
Shimon = 300 (Shin) + 40 (Mem) + 70 (Ayin) + 6 (Vav) + 50 (Nun) = 466.
Reuven v’Shimon (with the connecting Vav) = 259 + 6 + 466 = 731.
So…as Yaakov said: Efrayim and Menashe will be K’ (meaning like, not exactly, but off by 1) Reuven and Shimon.
This is one of those “Wow!” gematrias. They don’t prove anything, but they are nice to see, nonetheless.
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Now let’s play with the calendar a bit. Actually, make that plural – two calendars: our Jewish calendar and the general calendar (you know, the January, February calendar).
This can be done with any date of the year, but let’s start with this coming Shabbat, the 14th day of Tevet, January 3rd.
The earliest 14 Tevet can fall is on the 16th of December, as it was back in 1899 and will next be in 2032. The latest it can be is January 15th, as it was in 1987 and will next be in 2063.
That’s the usual range – approximately a month from earliest to latest.
The last time 14 Tevet was January 3rd was 1980 – 46 years ago.
For those who think that the Hebrew and English dates always coincide every 19 years, please know that it ain’t necessarily so. Close, but not exact. Consider: 19 years ago (2007) and 19 years before that (1988) and 19 years before that (1969), 14 Tevet was on January 4th. All the way back in 1950 (76 years ago – 19×4), 14 Tevet was January 3rd, as it is this year (2026).
Nineteen years from now and another 19 years after that, 14 Tevet will match January 3rd. But don’t look for patterns – they are hard to determine.
Now let’s flip calendars: The 3rd of January can be as early on the Jewish calendar as the 2nd of Tevet, as it last was in 5728 (1968) and will next be in 5823 (2063).
The latest January 3rd can be is the 3rd of Shevat, as it was back in 5660 (1900). That is scheduled to happen again in 5793 (2033).
A final word on this: If someone asks whether Pesach is early or late this year, the facetious (a great trivia word with all five vowels, in order) answer is that Pesach (and all dates) are neither early nor late – they are exactly on time. After all, Pesach always has been and will always be from the 15th to the 21st of Nissan (okay, for Chutz LaAretz, it ends on the 22nd, but that might not be the case after a future Sanhedrin rules on the Yom Tov Sheni issue – might, but not definitely)
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Back to the Book of Bereishit, which we conclude this coming Shabbat (for this year, that is – we never conclude the learning of any of the Books of the Torah).
Bereishit, the Book, has 12 sedras of the 54 in the Torah; the other books have 11, 10, 10, and 11, respectively. That gives Bereishit 22.2% of the Torah’s sedras.
With lines in a Sefer Torah, Bereishit’s 2,521 lines gives it over 24.5% of the Torah’s 10,274 lines.
Counting pesukim, Bereishit’s percentage rises to over 26% of the Torah’s 5,846 pesukim.
For words and letters, Bereishit contains well over 25% of the Torah’s numbers. That’s over a fourth of the Torah for this first Book of the Torah – with 20%, of course, being average.
Alas, the whole Book of Bereishit only has three mitzvot, less than a half of one percent of the Torah’s count of 613.
With Sefer Bereishit concluding with Yosef’s death at age 110, we find that the Book’s timeline spans the first 2,309 years of the world’s existence.
And with the Torah ending with the 30 days of mourning following Moshe Rabeinu’s passing, we calculate that the time frame of the whole Torah is 2,488 years. That means that Bereishit covers almost 93% of the whole Torah’s timeline. I think that’s a Wow!
Shabbat Shalom.