- The opening pasuk which paradoxically alludes to both the death and life of Yakov relates also to the dual nature of setimah which characterizes the parsha as a whole. On one hand, the parsha closes with the establishment of the nation of Yisrael, completing the beginning of Bereishis in which the world is created “for the sake/path of Yisrael.” On the other hand, the parsha contains anything but closure – the divisions between Yosef and his brothers, with all their future implications, remain in sharp relief. These divisions fuel the continued derech towards ge’ulah, the extended story of “The book of the toldot of Adam…” Yet, it is a derech that twists and turns beneath the surface – an invisible period of dormancy, but brimming with activity, growth, and development. These two elements – the ultimate achievement of Yisrael and the derech towards it – are manifested in the two identities of the Av himself: Yisrael and Ya’akov.

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