Parashat Vayechi ("and he lived") / Why Read Torah?

This week's Torah portion:

Parashat Vayechi - ויחי : “And he lived”
Torah : Genesis 47:28–50:26
Haftarah : 1 Kings 2:1–12
Brit HaDasha / Apostolic Scriptures: 1Peter 1:3-9

Is there Resurrection in the Torah or is that just a New Testament thing?

Why read the Torah? Simple answer: the foundation of both the Jewish and Christian faith is found there. We cannot understand the Apostolic Writing (which begin in approximately the year 1 CE) without having an understanding of the 3000 or so years that preceded the birth of Yeshua. But as Christians we tend to read the Hebrew Scriptures in a detached, piece-mealish manner and in doing so, we miss the basis of our Christian faith, truly we miss a huge part of our faith.

I think about it like this: if you are 60, maybe you'd like to erase the first 40 years of your life. But what would that accomplish? At 60 you would live as if you began life at 40 with no knowledge having been acquired over your youth or adulthood- 40 years as if they never existed. If the idea is to grow wiser as we age, having 60 years of mistakes and successes, loves and hurts shapes us, hopefully informs us, as we make decisions for our remaining years. So in a way, those years are a foundation for our next 1, 10 0r 20+ years of decisions.

And so if it doesn't make sense to erase 40 years of your life (and don't be fooled that we wouldn't make the same mistakes), then it doesn't make sense to ignore the 3,000 or so years that preceded Christ. It's never to late to build the foundation upon which our relationship with God is built and I have found that reading the Torah portions is a great way to start or continue to strengthen the foundation that you have.