Happy 2026! It’s wild to me that we’ve not only finished up the holiday season — a particularly hectic and full one for our family this year (a birth, a death, and a broken bone) — but that this is also the last week with the beautiful book of Genesis. From the Jewish New Year, when I first decided to embark on this project, through the Gregorian New Year, I have learned so much by sitting with the text, going line by line. This project has truly been a gift.
The plan is to continue on through the book of Exodus, as it’s Dennis Prager’s favorite and the first in his series. I really hope you’ll join me, as I plan to post each Sunday morning going with the motions of the parsha.
Chapter 47:28 – 47:31 | And He Lived
Seventeen years after settling in Egypt, Jacob’s life is coming to an end at the age of one hundred and forty seven years. He summons Joseph to his bedside and makes him promise not to bury him in Egypt, making Joseph swear he will take him to his father’s burial-place. Joseph agrees and swears by it.
Two interesting things about this:
- Jacob spends the first seventeen years of Josephs life with him, looses him for a significant period of time, then spends the last seventeen years of his life with his son Joseph again, reunited in Egypt.
- Lifespans in Genesis have a significance beyond their literal number. For instance, Abraham lived to 175, which is x 7, Isaac lived to 180, which is x 5, Jacob lived to 147, which is
x 3.
Do you see the pattern? Also, if you add the sum of the factors in each case, you reach the number seventeen (5+5+7, 6+6+5, 7+7+3).
Chapter 48 | God Make you Like Ephraim and Manasseh
At Jacobs deathbed, Joseph brings with this two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Jacob adopts them as his own heirs, granting them a full share in the family inheritance. When he blesses them, he crosses his hands—placing his right hand (the traditionally favored hand) on Ephraim, the younger son, and his left on Manasseh, the firstborn. Joseph tries to correct him, but Jacob insists that he knows exactly what he is doing. As Dennis Prager notes, this continues the recurring theme in Genesis of the younger child being elevated over the older.
His blessing to them 48:20 So he blessed them that day, saying, “By you shall Israel evoke blessings, saying: God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.” And to this day, Jewish fathers bless their sons on Shabbat by placing their hands over their son’s heads and reciting this very prayer. My husband does this every Friday night for our boys, which is incredibly moving, giving how ancient this tradition is.
Chapter 49 | Lion of Judah
Jacob called all his sons to come together, so he could tell them what is to befall them in the days to come. He speaks to them one by one in somewhat of a poem of a final goodbye. Addressing each of his twelve sons, one by one. Though a popular thought is that this chapter reads as a blessing by Jacob to his sons, his words seem more like a prophecy and constructive criticism if anything. Especially to the older three sons, Reuben, who slept with Jacobs concubine, Simeon and Levi who allowed their anger after the rape of Dinah to murder an entire town.
And then Judah. 49:8-49:12 You, O Judah, your brothers shall praise; Your and shall be on the nape of your foes; Your fathers’s sons shall bow low to you. Judah is a lion’s whelp; On prey, my son, have you grown. He crouches, lies down like a lion, Like the king of beasts – who dare rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet; So that tribute shall come to him And the homage of peoples be his. He teeters his ass to a vine, His ass’s foal to a choice vine; He washes his garment in wine, His robe in blood of grapes. His eyes are darker that wine; His teeth are whiter than milk.
As commentator Gunther Plaut notes, Jacob’s words to Judah are future-oriented. Leadership and destiny will emerge from Judah’s line. Even after the destruction and exile, the tribe of Judah survives—and it is from Judah that we ultimately derive the name “Jew.”
Chapter 50 | When God Has Taken Notice of You
After Jacob returns to his kin, Joseph asks Pharaoh for permission to go and bury his father in his own land. Egypt’s dignitaries, chariots and horsemen go with Joseph and his brothers to bury Jacob. After they return and complete the mourning period, Joseph’s brothers grow fearful. Now that Jacob is gone, will Joseph finally seek revenge for what they did to him? Instead, Joseph reassures them tenderly and promises to provide for their families. His faith and emotional restraint really shine here. Joseph lives to the perfect Egyptian age of 110 years old, he lives long enough to see children of the third generation of Ephraim. Joseph: 1+ + + = 110
It is interesting to me that Joseph is not considered on of the patriarchs, but his lifespan strongly indicates that he is intimately linked to his family line. The closing of the book of Genesis sets the stage for Exodus, when God has taken notice, and decides to bring us up out of the land of Egypt and make a proper nation of our the Jews.
Takeaways for the Week
- God’s timing is perfect, even when life feels chaotic.
- Forgiveness heals, but reassurance makes love whole.
- The first isn’t always the greatest; the youngest may lead.