Gen. 47:28 - 50:26
Précis: As the Book of
Genesis ends, Jacob lived (vayechi)
in the land of Egypt for 17 years and dies after giving a final, poetic,
individualized ethical testament to each of his sons. In a great funeral
procession, Joseph, his brothers, and Pharaoh and his court bring Jacob’s body
to Machpelah to be buried. At the end of the parasha, Joseph dies after exacting
a promise to bring his remains to the land of Israel as well.
Gen. 48:20 “He blessed them that day and said, “[In the time to come] Israel will use you as a blessing. They will say, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’”
As I have mentioned before, I’ve adopted the tradition of blessing my sons with these words each Shabbat (sometimes in person, sometimes on Zoom or Facetime or Messenger). Why has this tradition persisted for thousands of years?
One traditional commentator (Yalkut Yehudah) suggested that they were the first two Jewish children born in exile, and they kept their identities (as is evidenced by their Hebrew names) and so later generations were blessed by their names, as a way to continue their identification with the Jewish People. Another suggestion is that the blessing was by a grandfather to his grandsons (the only such instance in the Bible), and while parental/child relationships may be difficult, relationships between grandparents and their grandchildren are more usually marked by love and kindness.
There is one other interpretation which I find particularly moving. Recall that sibling rivalry is a constant theme in Genesis. When Jacob adopts his grandsons as sons and gives them blessings, he places his right hand on the younger brother, Ephraim, giving him “priority” over his older brother Manasseh. Tradition holds that Manasseh and Ephraim remained close and loving, while such a switch caused a great rift between Jacob and Esau. The sons of Joseph were the exemplars of brotherly love.
When we bless our children, it is not only for their health and happiness. We pray that they will love each other like Ephraim and Manasseh.
