Isaac’s Parsha Corner – Vayechi 2023
Isaac Shulman
What Is Yours Is Mine
“And now, your two sons who have been born to you in Egypt prior to my arrival in Egypt, they are
for me (alt. belong to me), Ephraim and Menashe will be like Reuven and Shimon are to me. And
myself (what happened to me), when I came from Padan, Rachel died (alai) on me, in the land of
Canaan on the way to Efrat, and I buried her there on the road to Efrat known as Beit Lechem. (Gen.
48:5&7)
According to Rashi, since the land of Israel was divided according to the census, there was no land
gain resulting from being “like Reuven and Shimon.” He suggests that the benefit was in being
named a unique tribe. When dividing up the land of Israel, “the tribe of Ephraim and the tribe of
Menashe” replaced the “tribe of Joseph.” When enumerating and blessing his children in this
parsha, Jacob blessed Joseph and did not bless Joseph’s children individually. Neither Reuven nor
Shimon received a positive end-of-life blessing from Jacob so to be like them would be a negative!
Moshe did the same in his end-of-life blessing. The tribes of Menashe and Ephraim did however each
have their own leadership and flag. Understanding Jacob’s declaration this way argues for the
benefit of self-rule and of autonomy generally. It is interesting that Menashe was so autonomous
that it split itself up into two sections with one group joining Reuven and Gad in the East Bank.
According to the Ramban the tribes each received equal portions of land. Therefore, by making
Ephraim and Menashe into individual tribes, the result was a doubling of tribal land for Joseph. In
that way Joseph replaced Reuven as first born.
Whether you agree with Rashi or the Ramban, the repeated use of “Me” and “You” in these p’sukim
needs interpretation. In addition, we need to understand the relationship between the death of
Rachel and Jacob’s re-designation of Ephraim and Menashe.
Rachel’s death was felt personally by Jacob and was certainly felt even more by young Joseph. The
interpretive reading of the p’sukim is as follows: “My beloved Rachel, who you barely knew, died so
young. I know you would have loved to have known her more. You have two sons, who I also barely
know, having been born before I arrived; “And Israel saw the children of Joseph and said, ‘Who are
these?’” (Ibid. 8) I bring your two sons closer to me, making them mine, that way bringing you closer
to me as well reminding me of my beloved Rachel. I know you will understand and appreciate the
love I had for your mother Rachel.
* Dedicated to the memory of my father R. Chaim ben Pinchas Eliyahu z”l whose yahrzeit is next week.
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