Short, beautiful thought on Vayechi, heard from Rav Yitzchok Gleizel, Rosh Yeshivas Yagdil Torah of Yerushalayim.
Why is Parshas VaYechi a closed Parsha [No break between itself and Parshas Vayegash]? To say that when Yakov passed on,the eyes and heart of the Yidden became closed from the difficulty of the servitude (Rashi).
The nature of difficulty is that it causes one to become completely self absorbed in his own difficulty, to the point that he is oblivious to what happens to his neighbor. That is what is meant by “the closing of the heart and the mind”.
Geula, slavation, is the opposite. By Moshe it says, “he gave his eye and his heart to see the difficulty of his friend”. That is the harbinger to true freedom from Golus.