Watch a special Torah study for the New Year from Shabbat of full moon, Saturday, January 3, 14 Tevet. This Shabbat – Parashat Vayechi – is the first Shabbat of 2026 — a new beginning — and it also marks the conclusion of the Book of Genesis.
We read of the deaths of our patriarch Jacob and his son Joseph – the Viceroy of Egypt, signaling the end of a generation and the closing of an era. The Torah then moves forward, almost silently, to the Book of Exodus next week, to what comes next: some 250 years later, the Israelites are no longer free and flourishing people in Goshen, but slaves in Egypt.
As America enters its 250th year of freedom, this contrast invites deep reflection. The Torah challenges us to ask how this transformation happened — how a people can lose its freedom gradually, quietly, almost unnoticed.
At the same time, the Torah reminds us that every ending also contains the seed of a new beginning. Even as Genesis closes, the story of redemption is already beginning to unfold.
Rabbi Gadi Capela