child of the deceased is present, the deceased's child should do it, giving preference to the firstborn son. In the liturgy The Passover Haggadah, in the magid section of the Seder, reports that Israel "went down to Egypt—forced to do so by the word [of God]," and some commentators explain that this statement refers to God's reassurance to Jacob in to "fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of you a great nation. I will go down with you into Egypt." Shortly thereafter, the Haggadah quotes for the proposition that Israel did not go down to Egypt to settle, but only to stay temporarily. Haftarah A haftarah is a text selected from the books of Nevi'im ("The Prophets") that is read publicly in the synagogue after the reading of the Torah on Sabbath and holiday mornings. The haftarah usually has a thematic link to the Torah reading that precedes it. The specific text read following Parashah Vayigash varies according to different traditions within Judaism. In general, the haftarah for the parashah is . Summary God's word came to Ezekiel, telling him to write on one stick "For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions," to write on a second stick "For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and of all the house of Israel his companions," and to join the two sticks together into one stick to hold in his hand. When people would ask him what he meant by these sticks, he was to tell them that God said that God would take the stick of Joseph, which was in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions, and put them together with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick in God's hand. Ezekiel was to hold the sticks in his hand for people to see, telling them that God said that God would gather the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they had gone, bring them into their own land, and make them one nation with one king, no longer two nations with two kings. No longer would they defile themselves with idols or transgressions, but God would save them and cleanse them, so that they would be God's people, and God would be their God. David would be king over them, and they would have one shepherd and observe God's statutes. They and their