Vayigash (And He Came) B’resheet (Genesis) 44-47
Torah Portion: Vayigash (And He Came) B’resheet (Genesis) 44-47
Haftorah Reading: Ezekiel 37:15-28
Tonight we read of the reunion of Joseph and his brothers after 22 years. This is also a fulfillment of G-d’s word to Avraham in Genesis 15:13-14 where He tells him that his descendents would be slaves in a strange land but He, G-d, would bring them out with great possessions. So here we see the beginning of that word from the L-rd. This time in Egypt was foretold to the patriarchs and was possibly passed down to Jacob by his father and grandfather. Evidently G-d saw these years of testing as necessary before the Jewish people could become who G-d planned them to be from the beginning.
Balak B’Midbar(Numbers) 22-2
Torah Portion: Balak B’Midbar(Numbers) 22-25
Haftorah Reading: Micah 5:6-6:8
Today we read a Torah Portion that covers a single event in the account leading up to Israel approaching the border of the Land. There are two main characters in this drama. We read of one of the characters, Balak, who was the King of Moab. If you remember, Moab was the son of one of Lot’s daughters. He was born after the two daughters of Lot became pregnant when they slept with their father after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. In the book of Ruth we also learn that she was a Moabite. So Balak was a distant cousin of the Jewish people who now stood at his borders seeking passage on to the Land. Balak was overcome with fear and sought the help of a well-known seer, Bilaam, to help him repel the Jews by invoking a curse. We can hear the fear in his words in Numbers 22:4,6. He knew his only help lay in the occult.