Vaychi

[24] In the continuation of the reading, Jacob called Simeon and Levi brothers in violence, prayed that his soul not come into their council—for in their anger they slew men and beasts—and cursed their descendants to be scattered throughout Israel.

[26] In the continuation of the reading, Jacob called Judah a lion's whelp and told him that he would dominate his enemies, his brothers would bow before him, and his descendants would rule as long as men came to Shiloh.

[29] As the reading continues, Jacob called Issachar a large-boned donkey couching between the sheep-folds, he bowed his shoulder to work, and his descendants would dwell in a pleasant land.

[62] Von Rad likened the theology of Joseph's statement to his brothers in Genesis 50:20, “And as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive,” 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.”[63] The parashah has parallels or is discussed in these Biblical sources:[64] Genesis 49:3–27, Deuteronomy 33:6–25, and Judges 5:14–18 present parallel listings of the Twelve Tribes, presenting contrasting characterizations of their relative strengths: Jacob's blessing of Reuben in Genesis 49:4, depriving Reuben of the blessing of the firstborn, because he went up on Jacob's bed and defiled it, recalls the report of Genesis 35:22 that Reuben lay with Bilhah, Jacob's concubine, and Jacob heard of it.

Rabbi Eliezer explained that before the giving of the Torah, the ancients used to swear by the covenant of circumcision, as Jacob said in Genesis 47:29, "Put, I pray you, your hand under my thigh."

[78] Interpreting Genesis 48:1, the Gemara taught that until the time of Jacob, there was no illness (as one lived one's allotted years in health and then died suddenly).

[79] Similarly, the Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer reported that from the creation of the Heaven and earth until then, no person had ever become ill. Rather, they would remain fit until the time they were to die.

The Gemara challenged Rava's interpretation, noting that Numbers 2:18–21 mentions Ephraim and Manasseh separately as tribes in connection with their assembling around the camp by their banners.

According to Rabbi Simeon, Jacob wished to reveal to his sons what would happen in the end of the days, but just then, the Divine Presence (Shechinah) departed from him.

The Rabbis considered that Jews might recite "Blessed be the name of God's glorious Kingdom forever and ever" aloud, but rejected that option, as Moses did not say those words in Deuteronomy 6:4–5.

[93] Interpreting Jacob's words "exceeding in dignity" in Genesis 49:3, a Midrash taught that Reuben should have received three portions in excess of his brothers—the birthright, priesthood, and royalty.

Rava (or others say Rabbi Jeremiah bar Abba) interpreted: "You remembered (ז‎, zakarta) the penalty of the crime, you were grievously sick (ח‎, ḥalita) through defying lust, you held aloof (פ‎, pirashta) from sinning.

[99] It was taught in a Baraita that Issi ben Judah said that there are five verses in the Torah whose meaning they could not decide, including Genesis 49:6–7, which one can read, "And in their self-will they crippled oxen.

And the Gemara read the term "lawgiver" in Genesis 49:10 to refers to the descendants of Hillel in the Land of Israel who taught the Torah in public.

Rabbi Jose ben Ḥaninah taught that the brothers also abstained from wine after they departed from him, for Genesis 43:34 reports, "And they drank, and were merry with him," implying that they broke their abstention "with him."

And the Tosefta interpreted "and in the evening he divides the spoil" to mean that in Bethel produce remained in the fields until late in the seventh year.

Serah told the elders that Moses was the one who would redeem Israel from Egypt, for she heard (in the words of Exodus 3:16), "I have surely visited (פָּקֹד פָּקַדְתִּי‎, pakod pakadeti) you."

[146] Rabbi Jose the Galilean taught that the "certain men who were unclean by the dead body of a man, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day" in Numbers 9:6 were those who bore Joseph's coffin, as implied in Genesis 50:25 and Exodus 13:19.

To support the proposition that assuming airs of authority shortens one's life, the Gemara cited the teaching of Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina that Joseph died (as Genesis 50:26 reports, aged 110) before his brothers because he assumed airs of authority (when in Genesis 43:28 and 44:24–32 he repeatedly allowed his brothers to describe his father Jacob as "your servant").

[151] Ephraim Speiser argued that in spite of its surface unity, the Joseph story, on closer scrutiny, yields two parallel strands similar in general outline, yet markedly different in detail.

When the brothers were on their way home from their first mission to Egypt with grain, they opened their bags at a night stop and were shocked to find the payment for their purchases.

[152] John Kselman reported that more recent scholarship finds in the Joseph story a background in the Solomonic era, as Solomon's marriage to a daughter of the pharaoh (reported in 1 Kings 9:16 and 11:1) indicated an era of amicable political and commercial relations between Egypt and Israel that would explain the positive attitude of the Joseph narrative to Egypt.

That way, a tribal list could omit the Levites, as in Numbers 26:1–51, or the Simeonites, as in Deuteronomy 33, and, by replacing "Joseph" with "Ephraim and Manasseh," still include the names of 12 tribes.

[156] Gunther Plaut considered it likely that at a time when the tribes were already in Canaan, although not yet a nation, the author of Genesis 49:1–27 collected old tribal songs and memories, wove them into a poem, and incorporated the product into Jacob's life story.

[157] Sarna reported that modern scholars deduce from the Genesis listings of Jacob's sons the evolution of the league of Israelite tribes.

Kugel reported that some modern interpreters deduced that the editor responsible for inserting the Dinah story in Genesis 34 was particularly connected with Deuteronomy or at least familiar with its laws.

These interpreters concluded that the Dinah story was a late addition, inserted to account for Jacob's otherwise referentless allusion to the violent tempers of Simeon and Levi in Genesis 49:5–7 by importing and only slightly modifying an originally unrelated tale, probably situated during the time of the Judges.

Rendsburg cited this as further support for the argument that royal scribes living in Jerusalem during the reigns of David and Solomon in the tenth century BCE were responsible for Genesis.

[161] Von Rad and scholars following him noted that the Joseph story bears the particular signatures of ancient Near Eastern wisdom literature.

[162] The wisdom ideology maintained that a Divine plan underlay all of reality, so that everything unfolds in accordance with a preestablished pattern—precisely what Joseph says to his brothers in Genesis 45:5 and 50:20.