Caravan to bury Yakov
Vayechi
Summary: This parsha closes out both the life of Yakov and of Yosef. First, we see Yakov’s remaining 17 years. He blesses Ephraim and Menashe and each of his sons–not equal blessings, but something unique to each. Then he dies and his body is carried in a long processional and buried in the Cave of Machpelah (back from Chayei Sarah). Yosef reminds the Israelites that they will be brought out of Egypt, and then he dies, too, at the age of 110. He also requests that his body be brought back to the Holy Land (but that isn’t done until the Israelites leave Egypt years later).
This is the last parsha of sefer Bereshit!
Links: Here are the Aish, Torah.org, and Chabad pages on Vayigash. Here are some coloring sheets, a parsha song, and a fun video from Itche Kadoozy (my older boys love this silly series).
Other ideas:
Here’s a cool parsha cake (Yaakov’s casket)
A fun (and delicious) choshen creation (graham crackers, frosting, and jelly beans!)
and a cool choshen (breastplate) idea from a Jewish Homeschool Blog – using baby wipe tops!
We focus a lot on the tribes and their individual blessings in this parsha – you could make a banner, a series of flags, a “book,” or puppets of each son and highlight their own attribute.
Parsha puppets you can buy
Do a hand switching activity, like that happened when Ephraim and Menashe’s bracha (top left photo below, scroll down a little until you see the MONTESSORI ACTIVITIES FOR CHUMASH BEREISHIT button down the right side)
Link to tons of ideas!
A matching game with pictures of the symbols of the shevatim and namecards (I got my clipart here)
Clip art from chinuch.org
Family tree and/or family portrait (yours or theirs)
Or this cool “Chazak, chazak” pop-up activity from Jennifer at Adventures in Mamaland.
Maybe a Beresheit trivia quiz (see chinuch.org for some good Parsha sheets and questions) – something like jeopardy might be fun! Or do a Beresheit parsha sequencing activity
Bereshit parsha sequencing
I’d love to hear about anything creative you are doing this week!
