Vayigash or Vaigash (, the first word of the parashah) is the eleventh weekly Torah portion (, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. It constitutes Genesis 44:18–47:27.
In this parashah, Judah pleads on behalf of his brother Benjamin, Joseph reveals himself to his brothers, Jacob comes down to Biblical Egypt, and Joseph's administration of Egypt saves lives but transforms all the Egyptians into serfs.
The parashah is made up of 5680 Hebrew letters, 1480 Hebrew words, 106 verses, and 178 lines in a sefer Torah. Jews read it the eleventh Shabbat after Simchat Torah, generally in December or early January.
Readings In traditional Sabbath Torah reading, the parashah is divided into seven readings, or , aliyot. In the Masoretic Text of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), Parashah Vayigash has no "open portion" (, petuchah) divisions (roughly equivalent to paragraphs, often abbreviated with the Hebrew letter (peh)). Parashah Vayigash has three, lesser, "closed portion" (, setumah) divisions (abbreviated with the Hebrew letter (samekh)). The first closed portion includes the first four readings and part of the fifth reading. The second closed portion includes the rest of the fifth reading. And the third closed portion includes the sixth and seventh readings.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis (Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2006), pages 274–94.
First reading—Genesis 44:18–30
In the first reading, Judah approached Joseph, whom he likened to Pharaoh, and recounted how Joseph had asked the 10 brothers whether they had a father or brother, and they had told him that they had a father who was an old man (Jacob), and a child of his old age who was a little one (Benjamin), whose brother was dead, who alone was left of his mother (Rachel), and whose father loved him.. Judah recalled how Joseph had told the brothers to bring their younger brother down to Egypt, they had told Joseph that the lad's leaving would kill his father, but Joseph had insisted.. Judah recalled how the brothers had told their father Joseph's words, and when their father had told them to go again to buy a little food, they had reminded him that they could not go down without their youngest brother.. Judah recounted how their father had told them that his wife had borne him two sons, one had gone out and was torn in pieces, and if they took the youngest and harm befell him, it would bring down his gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.. Judah began to explain to Joseph what would happen if Judah were to come to his father without the lad, seeing that his father's soul was bound up with the lad's.. The first reading ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, page 276.
Second reading—Genesis 44:31–45:7
In the second reading, Judah told Joseph that if Judah were to come to his father without the lad, then his father would die in sorrow.. And Judah told how he had become surety for the lad, and thus asked Joseph to allow him to remain a bondman to Joseph instead of the lad, for how could he go up to his father if the lad was not with him?. Joseph could no longer control his emotions and ordered everyone but his brothers to leave the room.. He wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard.. Joseph told his brothers that he was Joseph, and asked them whether his father was still alive, but his brothers were too frightened to answer him.. Joseph asked them to come near, told them that he was Joseph their brother whom they had sold into Egypt, but that they should not be grieved, for God had sent Joseph before them to preserve life.. Joseph recounted how for two years there had been famine in the land, but there would be five more years without harvests.. But God had sent him before them to save them alive for a great deliverance.. The second reading ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, page 278.
Third reading—Genesis 45:8–18 In the third reading, Joseph told his brothers that it was not they who sent him to Egypt, but God, who had made him ruler over all Egypt.. Joseph thus directed them to go quickly to his father and convey that God had made him lord of all Egypt and his father should come down to live in the land of Goshen and Joseph would sustain him for the five years of famine.. And Joseph and his brother Benjamin wept on each other's necks, Joseph kissed all his brothers and wept upon them, and after that, his brothers talked with him.. The report went through Pharaoh's house that Joseph's brothers had come, and it pleased Pharaoh.. Pharaoh directed Joseph to tell his brothers to go to Canaan and bring their father and their households back to Egypt.. The third reading ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, page 280.
Fourth reading—Genesis 45:19–27
In the fourth reading, Joseph gave his brothers wagons and provisions for the way, and to each man he gave a change of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave 300 shekels of silver and five changes of clothes.. And Joseph sent his father ten donkeys laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten donkeys laden with food.. So Joseph sent his brothers away, enjoining them not to fall out on the way.. The brothers went to their father Jacob in Canaan and told him that Joseph was still alive and ruled over Egypt, but he did not believe them.. They told him what Joseph had said, and when Jacob saw the wagons that Joseph had sent, Jacob revived.. The fourth reading ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, page 282.
Fifth reading—Genesis 45:28–46:27 In the long fifth reading, Jacob said that he would go to see Joseph before he died.. Jacob journeyed to Beersheba with all that he had and offered sacrifices to God.. God spoke to Jacob in a dream, saying that Jacob should not fear to go to Egypt, for God would go with him, make a great nation of him, and also surely bring him back.. Jacob's sons carried him, their little ones, and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent.. They took their cattle and their goods and came to Egypt, Jacob, and his entire family.. The first closed portion ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, page 284.
The continuation of the fifth reading lists the names of Jacob's family, 70 men in all, including Joseph and his two children.. The long fifth reading and the second closed portion end here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, page 286.
Sixth reading—Genesis 46:28–47:10
In the sixth reading, Jacob sent Judah before him to show the way to Goshen.. Joseph went up to Goshen in his chariot to meet Jacob, and fell on his neck and wept.. Jacob told Joseph that now he could die, since he had seen Joseph's face.. Joseph told his brothers that he would go tell Pharaoh that his brothers had come, that they kept cattle, and that they had brought their flocks, herds, and all their possessions.. Joseph instructed them that when Pharaoh asked them their occupation, they should say that they were keepers of cattle, for shepherds were an abomination to the Egyptians.. Joseph told Pharaoh that his family had arrived in the land of Goshen, and presented five of his brothers to Pharaoh.. Pharaoh asked the brothers what their occupation was, and they told Pharaoh that they were shepherds and asked to live in the land of Goshen.. Pharaoh told Joseph that his family could live in the best of the land, in Goshen, and if he knew any able men among them, then he could appoint them to watch over Pharaoh's cattle.. Joseph set Jacob before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.. Pharaoh asked Jacob how old he was, and Jacob answered that he was 130 years old and that few and evil had been the years of his life.. Jacob blessed Pharaoh and left.. The sixth reading ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, pages 290–91.
Seventh reading—Genesis 47:11–27 In the seventh reading, Joseph placed his father and brothers in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded, and sustained them with bread while the famine became sore in the land.. Joseph gathered all the money in Egypt and Canaan selling grain and brought the money into Pharaoh's house.. When the Egyptians exhausted their money and asked Joseph for bread, Joseph sold them bread in exchange for all their animals.. When they had no more animals, they offered to sell their land to Joseph and become bondmen in exchange for bread.. So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh—except for that of the priests, who had a portion from Pharaoh—and in exchange for seed, Joseph made all the Egyptians bondmen.. At harvest time, Joseph collected for Pharaoh a fifth part of all the people harvested..
In the maftir () reading that concludes the parashah,See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, page 294. it continued as a statute in Egypt that Pharaoh should have a fifth of all produced outside of the priests' land.. And Israel lived in Egypt, in the land of Goshen, accumulated possessions, and was fruitful and multiplied.. The seventh reading and the parashah end here.
Readings according to the triennial cycle Jews who read the Torah according to the triennial cycle of Torah reading read the parashah according to the following schedule:See, e.g., Richard Eisenberg, "A Complete Triennial Cycle for Reading the Torah," in Proceedings of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative Movement: 1986–1990 (New York: Rabbinical Assembly, 2001), pages 383–418. Year 1Year 2Year 3Dec. 2023, Dec. 2026, Dec. 2029 . . .Jan. 2025, Jan. 2028, Jan. 2031 . . .Dec. 2025, Dec. 2028, Dec. 2031 . . .Reading44:18–45:2745:28–46:2746:28–47:27144:18–2045:28–46:446:28–30244:21–2446:5–746:31–34344:25–3046:8–1147:1–6444:31–3446:12–1547:7–10545:1–746:16–1847:11–19645:8–1846:19–2247:20–22745:19–2746:23–2747:23–27Maftir45:25–2746:23–2747:25–27
In ancient parallels The parashah has parallels in these ancient sources:
Genesis chapter 45 Gerhard von Rad argued that the Joseph narrative is closely related to earlier Egyptian wisdom writings.Gerhard von Rad, "The Joseph Narrative and Ancient Wisdom," in The Problem of the Hexateuch and Other Essays (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966), page 300. Von Rad likened the theology of Joseph's statement to his brothers in Genesis 45:5–8, “And now be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. . . . So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and [God] made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt,” to that of Amenemope, who said, “That which men propose is one thing; what God does is another,” and “God’s life is achievement, but man’s is denial.”Gerhard von Rad, "Joseph Narrative and Ancient Wisdom,” in Problem of the Hexateuch, pages 296–98.
In inner-Biblical interpretation The parashah has parallels or is discussed in these Biblical sources:For more on inner-Biblical interpretation, see, e.g., Benjamin D. Sommer, "Inner-biblical Interpretation," in Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler, editors, The Jewish Study Bible, 2nd edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), pages 1835–41.
Genesis chapter 44 In Genesis 44:19–23, Judah retells the events first told in Genesis 42:7–20.