Parshat Vayechi 5784 (2023)

This parshah contains the building blocks of one of the most widely practiced weekly Jewish rituals, the blessing over the children, which is traditionally performed on Friday nights around the Shabbat table.  

In the Torah, this ritual is part of the larger reuinion narrative between Joseph and his family. After his brothers threw him into a pit and sold him into slavery, Joseph, being part of God’s plan, eventually rose from slavery to power, becoming the right-hand man of an Egyptian Pharoh before finally reuniting with his family.

“God’s way of doing things is radically different from the way of humans…[God] formulates the solution before inflicting humanity with a problem.”

When Joseph introduces his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh to his father Jacob, Jacob instructs him to bring them closer so that he can bless them. Due to the fact that Manasseh was the eldest, Joseph placed him in front of Jacob’s right hand. This is because in the ancient Near East, and much of the classical Jewish tradition, the right side is considered more valuable, more prestigious. Thus, as Manasseh was the oldest, he automatically got the more coveted spot.

Sorry lefties! Luckily today, we don’t have this view. My mom was a leftie and spoke about the trouble she got into at school as a child, with her teachers trying to force her to become right handed. She was a firery red head from Kentucky, so it didn’t work, but we can see that even recently, this view of left and right has been part of our society.

But, before blessing his grandchildren, Jacob did something unexpected—he crossed them. He crossed them, placing his right hand over Ephraim, the youngest, and his left hand over the older Manasseh.

 Genesis 48:17-20

When Joseph saw that his father was placing his right hand on Ephraim’s head, he thought it wrong; so he took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s. “Not so, Father,” Joseph said to his father, “for the other is the first-born; place your right hand on his head.” 

But his father objected, saying, “I know, my son, I know. He too shall become a people, and he too shall be great. Yet his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall be plentiful enough for nations.” So he blessed them that day, saying, “By you shall Israel invoke blessings, saying: God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.” Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

Joseph, who thought his father was confused, corrected Jacob and told him to uncross his hands, and bless the eldest with his right as it was the proper way to do things. Jacob retorted that he was well aware of the sons’ birth order, but that since “the younger’s descendants will be greater than the elder’s,” the younger deserved the greater blessing of the right hand.

For over a thousand years, our rabbis have found this scene troubling. It seems as though Jacob is playing favorites here, and showing more love to Ephraim than Manasseh. This is particularly problematic due to Jacob’s earlier, similar mistake. It was because of the favoritism that he showed to Joseph over his other brothers that resulted in his family becoming a broken one. The most poignant example of the gift of the “coat of many colors” as we call it in English, that he gave to Joseph, which aroused his brothers’ jealousy. Having caused familial strife, losing his son for over 20 years—thinking that Joseph was dead—and now, as he nears death finding out that his son was alive the whole time, it appears that he is repeating his earlier mistake and sewing the seeds of sibling strife by playing favorites.

Do me a favor and take these characters out of the biblical text for a second, and imagine pulling such a stunt with your own grandchildren, or your parents declaring one of your children more valuable than the other. Doesn’t that make your kisshkehs churn just a little bit?

And here, we’re talking about Jacob, the patriarch, a man whose name we invoke just about everytime we gather to pray! Don’t you think he would have had the sense to learn his lesson the first time!?!??!

To understand this scene, the early Hasidic Master, Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev (1740–1809), brings a teaching from the Talmud, Megillah 15a, that states God’s way of doing things is radically different from the way of humans. Humans, find solutions to problems after the problems arise. God, on the other hand, first formulates the solution before inflicting humanity with a problem.

Jacob the patriarch knew this. He also knew his desscendents were about to become slaves. Thus, he used this blessing as an opportunity to teach them this lesson.

We find the proof for this in the Torah, in Parshat Miketz, which we read two weeks ago:

Genesis 41:51-52  

Joseph named the first-born Manasseh, meaning, “God has made me forget completely my hardship and my parental home.” And the second he named Ephraim, meaning, “God has made me fertile in the land of my affliction.”

We see here that Manassah, the older son, his name was a reference to the hardships that Joseph faced in his life. Ephraim’s name, on the other hand, recalled the fame and fortune he had achieved in Egypt. Thus, the oldest son represented life’s problems while the younger son represented the solution to those problems.

Thus, when Jacob crossed his hands and “placed Ephraim before Manasseh” in the words of the Torah, he was telling us that whatever problems we face, God has already formulated the solutions to them. However, we aren’t able to see it, just as Joseph could not see why his father was crossing his hands. We only see the problem, as we are mere flesh and bone.

We have all been there. We have all had a point in our life where a familial, financial, or some other sort of obstacle has seemed absolutely insurmountable. Perhaps we even lost hope for a bit, before eventually putting our heads down and pushing through. Those moments when we lose hope, however, are dangerous to both ourselves and those around us. If we were able to have a greater perspective and know that God has already formulated the solution—one which we will eventually find—perhaps we can minimize those moments of hopelessness.

It would also help with our resiliance, for hope is definitely one of the main ingrediants to resiliance. It is hope that can fuel that forward momentum as we search for a solution.

When we make the famous blessing found in this parshah, we are not only wanting our children to be upright people like Ephraim and Manasseh; we hope that they will have resiliance by knowing that whatever problems they face in life, there is a solution out there. Perhaps it was this lesson from Jacob crossing his hands that helped our ancestors survive slavery in Egypt, as well as a two-thousand year-long exile. Hopefully, this lesson can help us hold our heads up high when life tries to push us down.

Shabbat shalom.