פירוש על בראשית 48:20

בך יברך ישראל IN THEE SHALL ISRAEL BLESS — When one wishes to bless his sons he will bless them by reciting the formula with which they were blessed — a man will say to his son, “God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh.”

AND HE BLESSED THEM THAT DAY. The meaning of that day is that since Joseph had urged him to give Menasheh precedence, the verse declares that Jacob did not wish to remove his right hand from Ephraim’s head to that of Menasheh. Moreover, he expressly reiterated on that occasion, in Joseph’s presence, when he blessed them by saying, As Ephraim and Menasheh. And he put Ephraim before Menasheh in all his blessings.

בך יברך ישראל, each Israelite his respective son.

ויברכם ביום ההוא לאמור, He blessed them on that day, saying, etc. The Torah means that Jacob gave the boys such a full measure of blessings that everybody said that the simplest way to bestow blessings on Jewish children in the future would be to mention that they should be as blessed as Ephrayim and Menashe were blessed by Jacob.

ויברכם. He bestowed an additional blessing on them on the same day, saying: בך יברך ישראל, whenever an Israelite wants to bestow a blessing on his son, he will preface it with the words: ישימך אלוקים כאפרים ומנשה. “May the Lord make you to be like Ephrayim and Menashe.”

ויברכם ביום ההוא, “He blessed them both on that day;” the words “on that day,” are important, seeing that Joseph pressured his father to place his right hand on Menashe and to bless him first. The Torah clearly shows that Yaakov resisted this pressure and did not want to remove his right hand from the head of Ephrayim. Not only that, but when Yaakov eventually pronounced the blessing, he made a point of naming Ephrayim first in his blessing so that when the parents of Jewish children would bless their children in the future they would always mention Ephrayim first when wishing that their children model themselves after these two sons of Joseph.

He will bless them with their blessing and a person will say to his son... Since the term “Yisroel” means the people of Yisroel, which is a plural noun, why does it say ישימך, in the singular form? Thus Rashi adds, “And a person will say to his son...”

ביום ההוא: an jenem Tage ward zuerst ברכה ausgesprochen, die seitdem im Munde aller Kinder segnenden jüdischen Eltern lebt. Daher auch die beiden Worte voll und pathetisch auseinander gezogen: בך יברך וגו׳ .ויבָרֲכם לאמור : deine Kinder sollen so gesegnet werden, dass, wenn Väter in Israel ihre Kinder segnen wollen, sie keinen höheren Segen kennen mögen, als: Gott lasse dich wie Efrajim und Menasche werden.

וישם את אפרים לפני מנשה, “thus he placed Ephrayim ahead of Menashe.” When did this blessing and its order become fulfilled, historically? When you look at the consecration rites for the Tabernacle in the desert, in Numbers 7,48, you will find that the prince of Ephrayim presented his offering ahead of the tribe of Menashe, who did so only in verse 54 of that chapter. In this way the statement in Isaiah 44,26, that G–d fulfils the words of his servant, was fulfilled. (B’reshit Rabbah, 97,5)

וישם את אפרים לפני מנשה, “he positioned (in the blessing) the name of Ephrayim before the name of Menashe.” He had done so already in verse 5, before the sequence of the blessing had become an issue. By making a comparison with Reuven and Shimon in that order, his intention had been unmistakable.

וישם את אפרים AND HE PUT EPHRAIM etc. — i.e. in the blessing he bestowed upon them he put Ephraim’s name before that of Manasseh, so giving him precedence over his brother when the Israelites encamped and marched beneath their banners in the wilderness (cf. Numbers 2:18 and Numbers 10:22), and when at the dedication of the altar by the princes of the tribes each brought his gifts (cf. Numbers 7:48 Numbers 7:54). (see Genesis Rabbah 97:5).

וישם את אפרים לפני מנשה, he did this not physically, but by mentioning Ephrayim’s name in the blessing ahead of the name of Menashe. The expression (verb) שימה, or לשום respectively can be used with words (intangibles) as well as with people and tangible objects. A prominent example of it being applied to intangible concepts is Exodus 21,1 ואלה המשפטים אשר תשים לפניהם, “and these are the laws, judicial concepts, you are to place before them.” Or. In Deuteronomy 4,41 וזאת התורה אשר שם משה, “and this is the Torah which Moses placed, etc.” The reference was not to the Torah scroll, but to what was written in it. Also in Deuteronomy 31,19 the line שימה בפיהם, does not refer to something being placed in the mouth of the people, such as food, but it refers to the words in the written Torah being fed to the people as if food fed through their mouths.

וישם את אפרים לפני מנשה, in this blessing too, Yaakov placed more emphasis on the recipient of the blessing being compared to Ephrayim, the younger of Joseph’s sons, by mentioning his name first. Even the choice of words כאפרים וכמנשה instead of כאפרים ומנשה, indicated clearly that Menashe was considered secondary in Yaakov’s blessing. He was considered the adjunct.

בך יברך ישראל, ”when the Jewish people bless their children they will do so by referring to you, Joseph, to your well turned out children.” They will express the fervent hope that their own children would turn out as successfully.

Insofar as his blessing was concerned. Ahead of Menasheh... [Rashi is explaining] that this was not a literal placing; Yaakov did not take Ephraim and put him in front of Menasheh. Rather, it was a placing [in order] of importance, that Ephraim comes first for the banners, etc.

וישם את אפרים לפני מנשה, He placed Ephrayim ahead of Menashe. This is not to be understood literally. The Torah means that by mentioning Ephrayim ahead of Menashe Jacob had in effect given Ephrayim a measure of precedence over Menashe. What true Jewish father would reverse the formula that Jacob had used when he blessed his grandchildren? We still mention Ephrayim the younger of the two ahead of Menashe the firstborn when we bless our children.

BY THEE SHALL ISRAEL BLESS. Jacob addressed this to Joseph. It means that the nation of Israel will bless with your children and say to those being blessed, God make thee as Ephraim and Menasheh.