Open Search form

PARSHA POSTS: VAYIGASH

Apply for a Blog

Rachelli Prawer

Jan 27, 2026, 12:27 AM

No one left behind: What this day means

For the first time since 2014, there are no longer Israeli hostages in the territory of the Gaza Strip.” (Israel News Highlights, Special Update, 4.12pm, 26/1/26) I was reviewing some old journal entries recently, and came across one that I...

Jan 1, 2026, 2:35 PM

Grandchildren in Egypt

Yaakov is old, he has little time left. He has lived with his reunited family in Egypt for seventeen years, in a state of tranquility which had escaped them until now. Yoseph brings his children to visit their ailing...

Lila Shoshana Chertman

Dec 31, 2025, 9:45 PM

When the Lights Go Out – Parshat Vayigash

In last week’s Torah portion we found ourselves behind the scenes of yet another family drama, this time watching the viceroy of Egypt accuse Benjamin of stealing and planning to punish him by enslaving him. The Parsha began with...

Sharona Margolin Halickman

Dec 30, 2025, 5:39 PM

In last week’s Haftara (Yechezkel 37:15-17) we read: The word of God came to me, saying: “And you, Man, take a branch (etz) and write on it, “For Yehuda and the children of Israel associated with him.’ Then take one...

Alexander I. Poltorak

Dec 28, 2025, 3:43 AM

Phase Transitions in Human History

Exodus from Egypt, by GPT-5.2

Metastability, nucleation, and the logic of tipping points Phase-transition language can illuminate not only Joseph’s story but also the history of humanity. To be clear, this is a metaphor, not a reduction. Human history is not governed by thermodynamic laws. Still,...

Richard Diamond

Dec 28, 2025, 12:40 AM

The Vulcan of ‘Secret Jewish Power’

Image by ChatGPT

How a 19th-century phantom planet explains a 21st-century antisemitic reflex. Inspired by The Arc of a Covenant by Walter Russell Mead In the mid-1800s, astronomers faced a stubborn puzzle: Mercury’s orbit didn’t behave exactly as Newton’s equations predicted. The discrepancy...

Reuven Chaim Klein

Dec 27, 2025, 11:39 PM

A Gallery of White – lavan, chivar, and tzochar

While on his deathbed, Jacob gathered his sons to offer them blessings before his demise. In doing so, Jacob prayed that the future territory of his son Judah will yield an abundance, saying that the Tribe of Judah should...

Dec 27, 2025, 11:29 PM

Existential Lessons of Vayigash

Existential Lessons of Vayigash Vayigash is not a parashah of success or easy reconciliation. It is the most dangerous point in the narrative: the place where the past returns with real power—power to destroy or to transform. After Yosef’s ascent...

Dec 27, 2025, 11:28 PM

Joseph and the Birth of Israel: VaYigash

Parashat VaYigash begins in the middle of the BIG drama at the end of the story. Eleven sons of Jacob are all gathered before none other than Egypt’s Prime Minister. But what these eleven brothers don’t know is that the...

Dec 26, 2025, 6:37 PM

Surviving and Thriving in Exile; Vayigash 5786

Why was it necessary for Bnei Yisrael, the Children of Israel to experience enslavement and a brutal exile? Ironically, the experience of exile saved Bnei Yisrael. Being a minority, makes one more aware of one's identity. I experienced this phenomenon...

Load more