Commentary for Genesis 49:22

בן פרת means a graceful son. It is an expression used in Aramaic: אפרין נמטיה “Let us treat gracefully (literally, let us make a triumphal procession for) R. Simeon”, and may be found at the end of Bava Metzia 119a.

‘BEIN PORATH YOSEPH.’ A graceful son. It is an expression used in Aramaic: “Apiryon namtai (Let us gracefully treat) Rabbi Shimon.”²¹¹Baba Metzia 119a. Bein porath alei ayin. His gracefulness attracts the eye that sees him. This is the language of Rashi.
Now it is farfetched to base the interpretation of the word porath upon this Aramaic expression, for such expressions in the Talmud — be they Greek, Persian, or other languages — have no kinship with the Sacred Language. Moreover, each example found of this word is only an expression of blessing and praise, not grace, and the letter nun [in the word apiryon] is a root letter.²¹²Whereas the Hebrew porath has no nun. How then can Rashi explain the word porath as being similar to apiryon in which the nun is a root letter? It is so mentioned in Bereshith Rabbah:²¹³60:13. “And they blessed Rebekah.²¹⁴Above, 24:60. They were depressed and mean. They were m’pharnin (blessing) only with their mouth.”
It appears to me that the meaning of porath is as in the expression, “Purna belongs to the orphans,”²¹⁵Kethuboth 54a. where purna means the improvement in the value [of the orphans’ portion of the dowry which] belongs to the orphans. The Rabbis further called the kethubah (the written marriage-contract) purna, saying, “A woman collects the purna from them,”²¹⁶Ibid., 67a. meaning the kethubah which constitutes the benefit from her father’s house. They similarly said that “mohar²¹⁷Exodus 22:16. (dowry) means pranun.”²¹⁸It is so rendered there in Targum Jonathan.
But bein porath in the present verse is to be interpreted either as Onkelos has it as being an expression of fruitfulness and abundance, or as the grammarians²¹⁹Rabbi Yonah and Rabbi Yehudah, mentioned by R’dak in his Book of Roots, under the root banah. — who derived the word porath from the phrase, And its branches (‘p’orothav’) became long²²⁰Ezekiel 31:5. — would have it. They further said that the word bein is similar in meaning to “a plant” or “branch”, and they bring a similar verse as proof: And of the stock which Thy right hand hath planted, and the branch (‘bein’) that Thou madest strong for Thyself.²²¹Psalms 80:16. Thus the purport of the verse is as if Jacob had said: “Joseph is a planting containing many branches.”
In my opinion, the word bein is to be understood in its ordinary sense, namely, “son,” with the verse stating that Joseph is a son who is similar to a many branched tree, planted beside a spring whose waters fail not, and whose branches in turn gave forth offspring, [i.e., other boughs]. [On account of their heaviness] these tread upon the sky-high walls.²²²For lacking such support they would break under the weight of their abundant fruit. He called the boughs which come forth from the branches as banoth (daughters), for they are “the daughters” of the great branches. This is stylistic elegance for the expression, bein porath. The word bein, accordingly, is not in the conjunctive mode to the word porath, but instead is like: The Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon;²²³Ezekiel 31:3. Naphtali is a hind sent forth;²²⁴Above, Verse 21. Benjamin is a wolf.²²⁵Further, Verse 27. It is for this reason that it is vowelled with a tzeirei — [bein] — for if its interpretation were “a plant of boughs,”²²⁶As “the grammarians,” whose interpretation was discussed previously, would have it. See text above. According to their interpretation, since the two words bein porath are in the constructive mode (“a plant of…”), the word should have been ben and not bein, as is the rule. the word bein should have been vowelled with a segol, [thus rendering it ben rather than bein]. The reason he uses the term bein (son) is to show affection, just as: From the prey, my son, thou art gone up.²²⁷Above, Verse 9.
In general it is proper to interpret Joseph’s blessing as alluding to the two tribes which came from him, and this could be based upon the words porath (branches) and banoth (boughs). However, since he mentioned Levi, and the tribes of Israel number only twelve, he did not treat them as two separate tribes in his blessing, but he does allude to them. Moses our teacher, likewise, in his blessing, compared Joseph to the bullock and the wild-ox, and mentioned “the horns”²²⁸Deuteronomy 33:17. in connection with him as each one constitutes a distinct body from which two horns branch out. There, however, because Moses our teacher did not mention Simeon by name, he explicitly said, And they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Menasheh.²²⁸Deuteronomy 33:17.

בן פורת יוסף בן פורת עלי עין, the first half of this verse is not to be understood until we have read the second half. The only reason it is written in this manner is in order to help us identify immediately who is the subject in our verse. We have a similar verse in Exodus 15,6 where in the first half of the verse G’d’s attribute of employing His right hand is extolled before we are tolled how this is manifest, i.e. by the manner in which He destroyed the enemy. A very familiar similar construction occurs in Psalms 93,3 a psalm we recite each Friday night, when the psalmist speaks of נשאו נהרות ה' נשאו נהרות קולם, and only afterwards we are told that the rivers raise their voices in response toכי הנה אויביך ה', כי הנה אויביך יאבדו. The verse means: ”The river raise ther “voices” (sounds), O Lord, the oceans sound their thunder and their pounding.” All of this is in response to verse 10 in the previous psalm where G’d’s enemies are described as perishing.” In fact the psalmist in 94,3 asks almost despairingly: “how long are the wicked going to be allowed to carry on successfully before the Just can rejoice when they observe their downfall?” Here too, the words בן פורת יוסף describe an attribute, referring to the tall and handsome person Joseph, before telling us that all the maidens of Egypt were craning their necks to catch a glimpse of him, each one trying to admire his features, trying to do so from a suitable vantage point. He, whose exterior had appealed to the wife of Potiphar at the time, now became a household word in Egypt so that all the women allowed out of their houses tried to catch a glimpse of him. [I paraphrased the author’s words in this paragraph. Ed.] Joseph’s handsome appearance had already inflamed the libido of Potiphar’s wife,

בן פורת יוסף, Joseph is considered the product of a proliferating grapevine. It spreads its protective shade for the benefit of many. In Psalms 80,11 we are told of this function of the grapevine in the words כסו הרים צלה, “the mountains were covered by its shade.” The simile means that Yaakov and his family lived under the protective cover of Joseph, i.e. in his shade.

בן פורת יוסף, בן פורת עלי עין, "Joseph is a fruiful son, fruitful to the eye, etc." The reason Jacob repeated the word פורת, fruitful, may have to do with Joseph's fertility being twofold We have already explained (Sotah 36) that Joseph had originally been intended to father twelve tribes; the second reason was that he resisted the temptation to sleep with Potiphar's wife, i.e. עלי עין, he overcame the temptation to follow his eyes, proved superior to visual allure.

בן פרת יוסף בן פרת עלי עין, the branch סעיף, is referred to as בן, as it is an offshoot of the tree. Seeing that it is called בן in the masculine mode, he word פרת, the adjective modifying it, ought to be in the masculine mode also, but it is not. Suddenly, the Torah changes grammar in mid-stream and speaks of בנות צעדה עלי עין instead of בנים צעדו עלי עין, “his branches spilling (running) over the wall.” The reason is that the word סעיף also occurs as a feminine noun, as in Ezekiel 31,6 בסעפתיו קננו, “in its boughs they made their nest.” Such nouns in a dual role are not that rare, as for instance we find the חמור, male donkey, treated as if it were an אתון, the she-ass in Samuel II 19,27 אחבשה לי החמור וארכב עליה, “I will saddle my donkey and ride on her.” The donkey is both a beast, בהמה, a feminine noun, and a male of its species. We are therefore free to use either gender when referring to it. A similar example is found in Exodus 22,25 where the Torah describes the word שלמה, dress, as masculine although generally we always use it as feminine. The fact is that the specific garment “dress, שלמה,” is at the same time a garment, בגד, a noun describing all garments, a masculine noun. While a bough, פארה, is indeed a feminine noun, referring to a specific type of branch, the word סעיף includes many types of branches and is a masculine noun. There are quite a few examples of this grammatical phenomenon. As to the addition of the letter ת in פרת, it substitutes for the letter ה as it does on many occasions. Look at Deuteronomy 31,29 for instance, where we have וקראת instead of וקראה.

בן פורת יוסף, “Joseph is a charming son;” all other sons of Yaakov are named before any description of their virtues or otherwise is mentioned. Here we find at least one of Joseph’s attributes preceding the mention of his name. The reason why Joseph was not first mentioned by name was that he was as if still a son living at home, so that he did not need any introduction.

Many daughters climbed — each one... Rashi is answering the question: [Why does it say] בנות, implying there were many, and also say צעדה, implying there was but one? Thus Rashi explains, “Many daughters climbed — each one...”

בן פרת kann nicht heißen: ein blühendes Reis, פרת kann überhaupt hier nicht von פרה sein, wo dann das ת Feminalbezeichnung wäre, da כן entschieden mascul. ist. צעדה kann nicht Prädikat von בנות sein; denn jenes ist Singular und dieses Plural. Der Wortlaut des Textes dürfte vielmehr die folgende Auffassung rechtfertigen. Die Wurzel פרת findet sich rabbinisch geradezu als trennen, sondern z. B. die ja alle eine Trennung ,ברת ,ברד ,פרט ,פרד und ist verwandt mit ,אוכלא דאפרת und Sonderung bedeuten. Dazu kommt das Wort אפרתי, das keineswegs die Abstammung aus Efrajim bezeichnet, so דוד בן איש אפרתי (Sam. I. 16, 12) vielmehr: ,hoffähig, durch Sitte geadelt, somit überhaupt: vornehm ,מוכתר בנימוס ,פלטיאני adlig bedeutet, wie es ריב"ל und ׳ר׳ יהודה ב׳ נחמי erläutern (ילקוט Sam. I. 1, 77).20 Es ist dies ganz der Grundbedeutung: sondern gemäß, "durch Charakter oder Stellung ausgezeichnet, von der gewöhnlichen Welt gesondert". Vielleicht ist selbst der Titel :wäre בן פרת wäre somit adjektivische Pualform, und פ֗רָת .davon gebildet אפרתמים ein edler, für sich stehender, edel hervorragender, durch seine Charaktereigentümlichkeit edel von seinen Brüdern gesonderter Sohn, בן פרת עלי עין, und zwar nicht erst jetzt als Minister durch seine äußere Stellung geadelt, schon als בן, er war schon ein durch Gesinnungs- und Geistesadel geadelter Mensch, als er noch nicht in der Fremde, als er noch als Sohn an dem "heimischen Quell" stand. Dieser Quell, an welchem und aus welchem Josef den Adel der Gesinnung sog, war wohl kein anderer, als seine Mutter Rahel, deren Gedächtnis, wie wir oben gesehen, ja Jakob in seinen letzten Tagen besonders erfüllte: aus der Mutter hat er diesen Adel, schon als Kind und Knabe, gewonnen. בנות, "Töchter!" — oder: Frauen! wie Leas Wort: אשרוני בנות: "auch sie, die der Quell Josefs gewesen, auch sie war über die Mauer geschritten", oder: "auch sie schritt über die Mauer" d. h. auch sie war kein gewöhnliches Weib.

בן פורת יוסף, “the land allocated to the tribe of Joseph is fruitful as a tree planted near a well of water.”

בן פורת יוסף, also a variant of the word ענפים, “branches.” Joseph is viewed as the son whose branches grow profusely as if planted along abundant waters.

בן פרת עלי עין means his gracefulness attacks the eye that looks at him.

The word פורת derivative of פוריה, fruitful, implies the proximity of a spring, a well of water. בנות, branches. The grapevine brings forth many branches.

בן פרת עלי עין, its leaves will not wilt and it will prove to be very fruitful as per Psalms 1,3 והיה כעץ שמול על פלגי מים, “he will be as a tree planted by springs of water, etc.” The reason for this apparent duplication is that Joseph would be split into two of the twelve tribes, hence the blessing had to be twofold.

בן פורת, Rash’bam comments that we find a similar construction to that in our verse in Psalms 93,3 נשאו נהרות ה' נשאו נהרות קולם , the rivers raise their voice, etc,” and only afterwards are we told in response to what these rivers raised their voice, i.e. in response to כי הנה אוביך ה', etc, “here G’d’s enemies are described as perishing.” A similar construction is found in Moses’ song after the splitting of the sea of reeds, i.e. ימינך ה' בכח ימינך ה' תרעץ אויב, instead of ה' ימינך תרעץ אויב, “Lord You smash the enemy with Your right hand.” (Exodus 15,6) The expression בן פורת parallels the expression in Ezekiel 19,10 פוריה וענפה, where it describes being fruitful. Some commentators view the word פורת as related to פארות as in ותעש פארות, in Ezekiel 17,6 where it means “it brought forth branches.” (Additional verses are quoted to show that this is not so far-fetched).

The letter ת is added for stylistic purposes. I.e., it is not the ת of the feminine form, as it is speaking of a masculine subject.

Jacob continued with בנות צעדה. According to Tanchuma the wife of Potiphar called all the wives of the Egyptian elite and had Joseph perform personal valet services for them. Being surrounded by all these ladies was equivalent to this אצעדה, bracelet, Jacob describes here. עלי שור, the point of the exercise was to ogle Joseph. The Torah testifies that in spite of all this Joseph refrained from looking at all these provocative women. Seeing that Joseph did not make improper use of his eyesight he and his descendants in turn were rewarded by remaining immune to the evil eye.

שור. Mauer, von שור: schauen, was andere nicht schauen: geistiges in die Ferne schauen, daher auch שיר, das schauende Wort, der begeisterte Gesang, insbesondere das Schauen der unsichtbaren Waltung Gottes in den konkreten Erscheinungen. Daher שור: Mauer, die das sieht, was durch sie den Blicken anderer entzogen ist, die den häuslichen Kreis einschließt und abschließt. Dass dies kein spitzfindiges Spiel ist, beweist der andere Name für Mauer: חמא ;חומה ist chald. sehen.

בנות צעדה עלי שור, (normal translation) “girls stepped atop the wall.” Our author prefers to understand the word בנות here as being derived from the root בנה, “to build,” i.e. the land of Joseph is so fruitful that it extends right up to the built up areas of the cities. (Compare Joshua15,45 עקרון, ובנותיה וחצריה, “Ekron with its dependencies and villages.”) [Yaakov used such flowery metaphors that it is easy to understand that our sages had difficulty in being certain of their meanings. Ed.] (Attributed to a Rabbi R. David.)

עלי עין, “by a fountain; it is the custom of poetry in the Holy Tongue to engage in such (apparent) repetitions of similar sounding words. Examples are Psalms 93,3 נשאו נהרות ה', נשאו נהרות קולם, “the oceans sound, o Lord; the oceans; sound their thunder.” Or, Judges 5,3: אנכי לה', אנכי 1“ ;אשירה will sing; I will sing to the Lord;” (Victory hymn by Devorah). There are many more such examples in the Bible.

בנות צעדה עלי שור DAUGHTERS TREAD ON THE WALL — The daughters of Egypt used to climb up to gaze at his beauty בנות is plural — many daughters, whilst צעדה is singular, but the words should be translated thus: many daughters climbed, each of them to any place from which she could best obtain a glimpse of him.

צעדה עלי שור, describing how these branches even grow beyond the wall surrounding the orchard. Alternatively, what is meant is that the branches extend beyond the fence surrounding the well. Prior to its prolific growth it could not be seen from the far side of the wall. People living on that side of the wall did not even have an idea that something was growing there. Once the branches had topped the wall, its presence suddenly became noticeable and provoked reactions on the other side. The other side of the parable, are, of course, Yaakov on the one hand, and Joseph and his sons, who had developed in Egypt without their father even being aware that they were alive. Suddenly, what had been hidden from him for 22 years had become revealed. This is what he meant when he said on meeting him: ראה פניך לא פללתי והנה הראה אותי אלוקים גם את זרעך, I did not even expect ever to see your face again, and now G’d has shown me not only you but also your offspring. (48,11)

בנות צעדה עלי שור, these two branches (from the בן above) would grow and branch out so much until they would spillover the protective wall around the orchard, just as grapevines are in the habit of doing when they require trellises to support them..

עלי עין, “when it is planted near a spring of water.”

פרת meaning, being fruitful and multiplying... Rashi is answering the question: How did Onkelos know that it should be translated so? Thus Rashi explains, “פרת meaning, being fruitful and multiplying.”

Das Walten der Frauen ist den Blicken entzogen, überschreitet gewöhnlich nicht die Grenzen des heimischen Kreises, — כל כבודה בת מלך פנימה ,אשתך וגוי בירכתי ביתך — eine ungewöhnliche Frau zieht, ohne dass sie es will, die Blicke der Welt auf sich, oder strebt mit ihrem Geist über den beschränkten Kreis der gewöhnlichen Häuslichkeit hinüber.

בנות, the branches growing out of the trunks of trees. Yaakov is saying that they grow beyond the highest points of the walls surrounding them, i.e. צעדה עי שור, “girls stepped up to the wall” (to get a glimpse of him).

עלי שור means for the purpose of looking at him, similar to (Numbers 24:17) I behold him (אשורנו) but not nigh”. There are many Midrashic explanations but this inclines nearest to the literal sense of the verse פרת — The ת in this word is added for elegance of style (i.e. it is not a sign of the feminine), as the ת in דברת which is instead of דבר in (Ecclesiastes 3:18) “It is because of (על דברת) the sons of men”.

בנות צעדה עלי שור, “girls stepped atop the wall.” Here Yaakov compares the leaves sprouting forth from the afore-mentioned branches to the daughters who are offspring of mature women, describing them as the rich fruit of these branches, all having deep roots from which to draw nourishment. They require walls to support them and to ensure them against being trampled and broken, seeing they are so heavy with fruit; hence the mention of עלי שור, “along the wall.” Nachmanides writes that Yaakov mentioned daughters, thereby alluding indirectly to the two tribes Joseph would become. He could not do so directly, seeing that there could not be more than twelve tribes altogether, and he had already blessed Levi. Moses, when he blessed the Israelites at the end of his life, did something similar when instead בנות he employed the simile of שור, ox, and the simile of קרנים, horns, horns, as being projections emanating from the same body, but suggesting through this smile that each is a body in its own right. Seeing that Moses did not extend a blessing to the tribe of Shimon at all, he could name Ephrayim and Menashe separately, without upsetting the total number of twelve tribes. He therefore referred to the “tens of thousands of Ephrayim, and the thousands of Menashe,” describing how fruitful Joseph would become.

צעדה, plural form of the feminine mode of the verb צעדו in the parallel masculine version. Another example of a similar construction can be found in Isaiah 59,12: וחטאתינו ענתה בנו, “and our sins testify against us;” or in Exodus 17,12: ויהי ידיו אמונה, “His hands remained steady.” A third such example would be in Exodus 9,31: והפשתה והשעורה נוכתה, “but the flax and the barley had been struck” (by the hail.) The parable here deals with Joseph increasing more so than his brothers, seeing that both his sons became recognised as fully fledged tribes. The sons of Joseph are quoted as saying to Joshua: “And I have become a numerous people as the Lord has blessed me that much” (Joshua 17,14.)

שור is an infinitive the same as לשור, to look.

In accordance with this Midrash the words בנות צעדה עלי שור mean they climbed up to get a good view of you when you went forth in the procession as Viceroy over Egypt. They (the Rabbis) gave a further interpretation of it, taking עלי עין as עוּלֵי עין ,“raised above the eye”, in the sense that the Evil Eye would have no effect on his children (Berakhot 20a). So, too, when he blessed Manasseh and Ephraim he blessed them, praying that they should become as fishes on which the Evil Eye has no effect.

עלי שור consequently means in order to look (i.e. עלי, a poetical form of על, means “for the purpose of”). The translation of Onkelos of בנות צעדה עלי שור is: two tribes will come out of his sons etc., and according to this Scripture writes בנות (though one would expect בנים) with reference to the women of Manasseh — the daughters of Zelophehad — who received a portion of land on both sides of the Jordan (Midrash Tanchuma, Pinchas 9). And in accordance with this paraphrase the Targum translated the preceding words בן פרת by ברי דיסגי יוסף, Joseph is a son who shall increase and become, two tribes connecting פרת with the expression [פריה [ורביה “fruitfulness and increase”. There are Midrashim (Genesis Rabbah 78:9) that fit in with the text: When Esau came to meet Jacob all the other matriarchs walked in front of their children to prostrate themselves but of Rachel it states (33:7) “[and afterwards] came Joseph near and Rachel (i.e. Joseph before Rachel) and they bowed down”. Joseph said, “This wicked man has a haughty look (is bold and impudent) he may set his fancy upon my mother”. He therefore stepped in front of her, drawing himself up to his full height, in order to hide her from Esau’s eyes. It was in reference to this that his father when blessing him called him a בן פורת, a son who grew in size: You, Joseph, stretched yourself to a great height to protect your mother against Esau’s glance, therefore you deserved to become great. (This has reference to the distinguished position he attained in Egypt.).