Vayechi: Birchas HaBanim, Ephraim and Menashe, and the Bracha of Achdus

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. This week's parasha, Parshas Vayechi, we have the bracha that Yaakov Avinu gives to his grandchildren, Ephraim u'Menashe. Vayevarechem bayom hahu leimor. He benches them that day, so to say, b'cha yevarech Yisrael leimor, that in you, Klal Yisrael should be mevarech their children by saying, Yesimcha Elokim k'Ephraim v'chiMenashe. The Ribono Shel Olam should make you like Ephraim and Menashe, says Rashi, that when a person comes to bench his children, haba levarech es banav, yevarechem b'virchasam v'yomar ish livno, yesimcha Elokim k'Ephraim u'cheMenashe. Birchas habanim. Every Friday night there's a minhag to bench the children and say, Yesimcha Elokim k'Ephraim u'cheMenashe. The Ramban is me'orer. The Ramban asks, Vayevarechem bayom hahu leimor. Bayom hahu is extra. It happened on that day. When you bench someone in front of you, it's bayom hahu, that day. Why does the Torah HaKedoshah madgish, why does it emphasize that the bracha was bayom hahu? Another ha'arah is the double repetition lashon of leimor, Vayevarechem bayom hahu leimor. בְּרָכָה יְבָרֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל, לֵימָר. יְשִׂמְךָ לֹא קִים כְּאֶפְרַיִם וְכִמְנַשֶּׁה. The Sfas Emes says there's a halachic reason why it says leimar a second time. We bench the child, יְשִׂמְךָ לֹא קִים כְּאֶפְרַיִם וְכִמְנַשֶּׁה. It's the middle of a pasuk. We're taking a half a pasuk and we're saying and repeating it to the child as a bracha. The rule, the halacha: כל פסוק שלא פסקו משה, אנן לא פסקינן. A person can't say, can't quote, can't write half a pasuk. So how are we able to start from the middle of the pasuk, יְשִׂמְךָ לֹא קִים כְּאֶפְרַיִם וְכִמְנַשֶּׁה, and we give the bracha from the middle quote of the pasuk? Says Sfas Emes, that's why it says, וַיְבָרְכֵם בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא לֵאמֹר, בְּךָ יְבָרֵךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמֹר, that you could say it. Torah is telling Klal Yisrael that leimar, from here you should say יְשִׂמְךָ לֹא קִים כְּאֶפְרַיִם, from here, from this part of the pasuk. So you don't run into the problem of dividing a pasuk, because the Torah itself is permitting it by saying בְּךָ יְבָרֵךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמֹר, that from here you could say the quote of the pasuk, and there's no problem of that you need to say the entire pasuk. But there's still a shtikel ahar, rabosai: the two leimars. So why the two? Why a leimar? Okay, בְּךָ יְבָרֵךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל, leimar. One would also suffice for that. And also the first leimar, if you notice, is with a vav. It's a malei. The second leimar is without a vav. So in the context of one pasuk, a few words apart, one leimar with a vav, a malei, one leimar without a vav. What's the pshat? Why one is a malei and one is a chaser? Chazal, Midrashim, as well as Rishonim deal with this question, why the first leimar is a malei and the second one is a chaser. So there's a Medrash HaBiur, the name of a Medrash, Medrash HaBiur. It's brought in the Torah Sheleimah. Leimar malei. The first leimar, Vayevarechim bayom hahu, leimar malei. The first one is a malei. Melamed shebirchem bracha shleimah. He gave them a complete bracha. Leimar malei, full, complete bracha. But the Medrash continues: Amar Yaakov lifnei HaKadosh Baruch Hu, vav shechisarta mishmi, the vav that you took out of my name, hosifu, add it to their name. Yaakov, most of the time in the Torah, is without a vav. There are a few places.

Places where in Tanach we find Yaakov malei. So the Yaakov, the chaser, when Rabbeinu Shlolem in the Torah writes Yaakov without a vav, he takes the vav out, says Yaakov Avinu, says Yaakov Avinu, take this vav that you took out of my name and add it, hosifu al shmam. Chera, rabosai, the Chamer Dikahara. Ephraim does not have a vav in his name, nor does Menashe. Where is the vav hosifu? Where are we adding this vav? Ephraim, there's no vav; Menashe, there's no vav. So what does it mean, take out the vav, the vav that you took from me and put it into Ephraim and Menashe? The Baal HaTosafos explained the leimar, the vav, the malei, leimar that he gave vav brachos, that Yaakov Avinu gave Ephraim and Menashe vav, leimar, the extra vav, vav brachos. What are the vav brachos? That's in Birchas Kohanim, we find six brachos: Yevarechecha, Yishmerecha, Ya'er, Vichuneka, Yisa, Yasem. So we have six brachos, six different brachos in the Birchas Kohanim: Yevarechecha, Yishmerecha, Ya'er, Vichuneka, Yisa, Yasem, six. Leimar, he gave the children, leimar, vav, these vav brachos, which is interesting. It comes out that there is a connection between Birchas Habanim. And Birchas Kohanim, which answers, l'choira, the shaila: why, when we give Birchas Habanim, Yisimcha Elokim k'Ephraim u'k'Menashe, do we say Yevarechecha Hashem v'yishmerecha? Why Birchas Kohanim? What's the connection between Birchas Habanim and Birchas Kohanim? But the father is not a Kohen, necessarily. Why is he using Birchas Kohanim? If anything, it should say the actual bracha that he gave previously, in the previous pesukim to Ephraim u'Menashe: Hamalach hago'el osi mikol ra, yevarech es han'arim. That should be the bracha of Birchas Kohanim, of Birchas Habanim, and not Birchas Kohanim. Hamalach hago'el is the bracha that he gives in pasuk tezayin. So why is it that we have Birchas Kohanim for Birchas Habanim? And according to the Baalei HaTosafos, it's meyushav, it's mevuar, because actually Yaakov did mention and give Birchas Kohanim to Ephraim u'Menashe. But it comes out in meforshei Chiddush, there's midrashim that say that the author, the mechaber of Birchas Kohanim was Aharon HaKohen. Vayeitzei elam vayevarechem. By the shivas yemei hamiluim, Aharon goes out and he gives them a bracha. Says the Medrash that it was Birchas Kohanim. Aharon authored, Aharon was mechadesh, Aharon created Birchas Kohanim. He was the author of it. Here, l'choira, we see it's already dating back to Yaakov and the bracha that he gave to Ephraim u'Menashe. Al kol panim, rabosai, we're still left with the question: Vayevarechem bayom hahu, leimor. The two leimors — why the first one's a maleh, the second one is not a maleh. Now, if you notice, it says, Becha, becha yevarech Yisrael. What do I mean, becha? We're talking to the children. There are two of them. Vayevarachem — he benched them. So why does it say becha? Becha is singular, you. It should say, Bachem yevarech Yisrael. What is becha? Becha yevarech. The Ramban already speaks about this, and the Ramban says becha is actually referring to Yosef. Becha, you, Yosef, in you yevarech Yisrael, leimor, yesimcha Elokim like your children. And as mefarshim explain, the bracha of the father is, as the Kinderzonen zan gebentsht, it's the greatest bracha, the greatest bracha for a tata, that his children are exemplified as the bracha, as mutzlachim, as people to look up to. Mimeila, it's becha, becha, you Yosef, it's your bracha. There's a Medrash Cheifetz, another one of the different less-known midrashim.

The Medrash Chofit says, Becha is Bechav beis osiyos shebaHaTorah, beis chaf, 22. We know the aleph-beis has 22 osiyos, and that's the osiyos shebahem nichtav Torah. So, Becha, with Torah, the osiyos haTorah, Becha. Very famous Midrash, Nagila v'Nismecha Bach. What is Bach? Happy, I should be happy in You, Bach, is Bechav beis osiyos shebaTorah. And says the Medrash, sheheim shmo d'Kudsha Brich Hu, because those 22 letters that are the letters of the Torah are actually the names of the Ribono Shel Olam. And as the pasuk says, that the Ribono Shel Olam refers to Himself, Ehyeh asher Ehyeh. What is Ehyeh? It's aleph-heh, yud-heh, is gematria 21. With the kolel, you add all of it together, as you add one, you have 22. So the Ribono Shel Olam is 22, and the 22 is because it's the osiyos haTorah, and Becha, that's your bracha, with the osiyos haTorah, with shmo d'Kudsha Brich Hu, I give you a bracha. It's a Medrash chafetz, rabosai. It's one of the Midrashim. So we now hear clearly what the bracha was. So either it was Birchas Kohanim, like Baalei HaTosafos, or it was the bracha of Birchas of Torah, of the Ribono Shel Olam should be with you, Becha, the osiyos haTorah, the osiyos shmo d'Kudsha Brich Hu. Later on, we're going to speak that the Rishonim ask, and the Rishonim question what exactly was the bracha. All it says is Yisimcha Elokim. Kefrayim u'Chimenasheh. And what is the conclusion? What is the hemshech of that bracha? It doesn't say. So we're going to talk about that. But according to these, either the Baal HaTosafos and the Medrash Cheifetz, we at least understand that there is a context, there is a nusach to the bracha that he gives Ephraim and Menasheh, and that is either Birchas Kohanim, and which would explain why Friday nights when we say ... Ephraim u'Menasheh, we give them Birchas Kohanim. Arbecha means Oisiyos HaTorah, oisiyos deKudsha Brichu, the Shem of Hashem. Let's talk more, rabosai, in understanding Birchas HaBanim. And as we build the questions and the answers, we'll have a better understanding of what is Birchas HaBanim. What is this bracha that Yaakov gives his grandchildren, that every father, every father gives his child, Yisimcha Elokim k'Ephraim u'Chimenasheh on different occasions, on different moments of aliyah and kedushah. Yisimcha Elokim k'Ephraim u'Chimenasheh, the question that needs to be addressed, which is the strong question of all the questions: why Ephraim and Menasheh? Why are they chosen? Why do we pick Ephraim and Menasheh more than the rest of the shevatim? What's wrong if someone is like Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yehuda, any one of the shivtei Kah? Why dafka Yisimcha Elokim k'Ephraim u'Chimenasheh? There's a chidah, rabosai. The Chida explains that Ephraim was semel. He was the symbol of Torah. He sat, he learned. He learned by Yaakov. He learned under his grandfather, by the feet of his grandfather. He was by his grandfather's shiurim, as the Midrashim and the Chazal tell us. So he was semel haTorah. Menashe, he did the work in the home, the money. He ran the business, so to speak. So we give a bracha, Yisimcha Elokim k'Ephraim u'cheMenashe, two shulchanos, that every Yiddishe kind should be zoche to have Ephraim and also be zoche to Menashe, Torah gedolah b'makom echad. There's an interesting Ksav Sofer that speaks this pshat. Doesn't bring it from the Chida, but he says it on his own, and he adds, and that's why, if you notice, he puts Ephraim first, and as the pasuk is madgish and continues, after it says, Yisimcha Elokim k'Ephraim v'cheMenashe, Vayosem es Ephraim lifnei Menashe. Why does the pasuk have to emphasize that? It's clear. That's the whole story here, that Ephraim, he is before Menashe. He says Ephraim's name before Menashe.

He puts the right hand on Ephraim, and so, yeah, that was the whole story. And Yosef points out, like, Ken avi, why are you making Ephraim first? Why does the Torah end the pasuk and emphasize, Vayosem es Ephraim lifnei Menashe? Ksav Sofer, two beautiful drush pshatim. Pshat one: we're benching the child that he should be like Ephraim and Menashe, Torah and parnassah, Torah gedolah. But which is more important? Which comes first? You have to know Ephraim is more important than Menashe. Torah is more than mamon. It's much more. It's much more. The chashivus that the father has to have when he delivers and when he gives over to the child the bracha, he needs to emphasize. That's what the Ksav Sofer means. The father needs to convey, Vayosem es Ephraim lifnei... give the bracha of Menashe, or Ephraim is ikar and Menashe is secondary. Ksav Sofer says another pshat, and he says, for those that go to work and they're going to be osek all day in parnassah, make sure Vayosem es Ephraim lifnei Menashe, that first you learn. That's the beginning of the day. Afterwards, then you can go Menashe. Aba Vayosem, Yaakov Avinu, his teaching his children, Ich vind shech beide. Aba Freyr, also sits and learns, un nach dem gehn auf parnassah. Not that the parnassah should be more or the parnassah should be first, or unfortunately, today's times, while they're learning with the phone, the parnassah, mistacharayn in the learning. First, learning. Zman Torah l'chud, u'zman avodah u'parnassah l'chud, and Vayosem miSefrayim lifnei Menashe. My question I've always asked on this pshat from the Chidah, Ksav Sofer, so then why don't we give the bracha, Yismach Elokim ki Zvulun, and Yissachar, Yissachar Zvulun? Let's give the bracha of Yissachar Zvulun. Yissachar Zvulun is the semel. They are the symbol of Torah and avodah: Yissachar learning, Zvulun working, and Zvulun supporting Yissachar. So we should give a bracha to every child, Yismach Elokim ki Yissachar u'Zvulun. Now the emes is, the brachos of Yissachar and Zvulun is first: Smach Zvulun b'tzeisecha, v'Yissachar b'ohalecha. It's an interesting ha'arah; l'choira Yissachar should have been first. So there's an interesting Chasam Sofer. Chasam Sofer says it makes an afkamina between two people and one person. In the same person, so then we have Ephraim u'Menashe, and Ephraim comes first, Menashe comes second. In two people, we have Yissachar and Zvulun. And maybe Zvulun, we could talk about the person who is a machzik Torah, who gets the chashivus over the learner, and it's a big discussion how to deal with Yissachar-Zvulun. V'al kol panim, the teretz l'choira, Yismach Elokim k'Ephraim u'cheMenashe is one. It's a bracha of one, in one person, in one unit, you should have Yismach Elokim, and therefore we pick Ephraim and Menashe, as we will soon later explain deeper and more clearer what exactly was the bracha. Of Birchas HaBanim, Yisimcha Elokim k'Ephraim u'k'Menashe. But l'choira, l'choira medavzagin that Ephraim and Menashe was a unit. Yissachar and Zevulun were two separate shevatim. So when we give the bracha of Torah gedolah, we give it through the means of and through the shevatim of Ephraim and Menashe, as we soon will explain. Mefarshim discuss a teretz of why Ephraim and Menashe over Reuven, Shimon, Levi. Reuven, Shimon, Levi grew up in the home of Yaakov. They were in a makom Torah. They were in a house of Torah. They were in a surrounding where they were completely inclusive and secluded from all yetzer haras, being in the home of Yaakov and living around the camp of Yaakov. Ephraim and Menashe in Mitzrayim, with not much good hashpa'ah to learn from and to be involved with, and af al pi kein.

They ended up like Reuven vShimon. They ended up like Shiftei Kah, and they taka reached levels that they were shvatim. That is a gadlus that the shvatim can't claim. As great as the shvatim were, and that's the bracha we give children, that even in galus, even in galus, even if they're surrounded by all the different nisyonos of a galus, nevertheless, the Yiddishe kind should remain loyal to be Yikarei shmi v'shem avosai. So zayin a Yid. He should remain a Yid, a Yid of Torah like Ephraim, a Yid of tzidkus like Menashe in avodah. And that's why we give the bracha, Yisimcha Elokim k'Ephraim u'k'Menashe, and not the other shevatim, because Ephraim and Menashe were matzliach to reach their gadlus, even though they were in the galus of Mitzrayim, in tumas Mitzrayim. There's another pshat, rabosai, and we have to be magdim another question. Yaakov Avinu says, Ephraim u'Menashe k'Reuven vShimon yihyu li. He tells Yosef clearly, Ephraim u'Menashe is like Reuven vShimon. The Baal HaTurim even says Ephraim u'Menashe is gematria Reuven vShimon. It's a tremendous zach. First, the Baal HaTurim, Ephraim u'Menashe is so much Reuven vShimon that they're gematria Reuven vShimon. So why do we have to go to Ephraim and Menashe? Go to Reuven and Shimon. If Ephraim and Menashe is like Reuven and Shimon, so they're the shpitz. They are like them. So go and give the bracha of the them, not the av. Why are you going to the telda? That itself might be the teretz, as Chassidush sefarim write. The fact that Ephraim and Menashe is the next generation. Normally, generations have yeridas hadoros. Normally, generations, they go down. Doesn't remain. Can't be like the previous olam. We hear people say, ... the Fridike dor. Yeah, Ephraim and Menashe were like the Fridike dor, and that's what we give a bracha, that because they were like Reuven and Shimon, iyli, but still they were Ephraim and Menashe, the next generation. That's klal Yisrael. They should always have aliyas hadoros and not yeridas hadoros. You had the kids, ... the Fridike dor. You know, every generation, we say, All right, what do you expect from the generation? Chazal tell us that a person is supposed to say, Masai yagia ma'asai l'maasei avosai, Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov. You always have to look — ... What is ...? You always have to look to the previous generations and try to compare and try to emulate and try to somewhat be a dugma, somewhat a dugma of the Fridike dor. Shouldn't get lost as the doros move on. We shouldn't lose the Fridike doros. This is the bracha that Tata Yaakov gives the einiklach, Yissachar, Efraim u'Menashe. That they were generation after, but they reached the levels of generations before. And we give this bracha to every Yiddishe kind. There's a third pshat, rabboisai, in why we pick Ephraim and Menashe. And after we explain this pshat, we can go back to answer the previous questions that we asked. Vayasem es Ephraim lifnei Menashe, we asked, chayra, pasuk says clearly, Vayasem es Ephraim lifnei Menashe. So you look at Rashi. Rashi says, Bivrachaso lifnei Menashe, lakdimo b'dgalim, chanukas hanesiim. So the Vayasem es Ephraim lifnei Menashe is not now, here in the bracha, in general, for future generations. And that's how the Ramban learns, that the reason why the pasuk repeats Vayasem es Ephraim lifnei Menashe, we see he put Ephraim first, the answer is not now, not in the bracha and the nusach habracha, that he puts Yismach Elokim k'Ephraim, Ephraim first and then Menashe.

In general, for future generations, for anything that's negeya to these two shevatim, Ephraim always comes first. Eben Ezra doesn't learn like that. Vayosem es Ephraim b'dibur habrachah. L'choira, Eben Ezra, that's what the pasuk is clear. It's self-evident. It's obvious that in the brachah he put Ephraim before Menashe. Rabosai, let's better understand Birchas Habanim. Let's talk to the brachah. Let's delve into the brachah to understand. Vos iz di brachah migit a kin? What's the brachah? You know, rabosai, it's an interesting ha'arah the mefarshim talk about. Yaakov sees the children, Mi eileh? Who are these children? Rashi explains, Mi eileh, they're not ra'ui l'brachah. They're bichlal not ra'ui to get a brachah. Vayomer Yosef, Bnei hem. They're my children, asher nasan Elokim bazeh. Vayomer, kachem na elai va'avarachem. So he gives them a brachah. So how automatically does it switch, Yisimcha Elokim k'Ephraim v'chiMenashe, that we want all children to be like Ephraim and Menashe? One minute Yaakov Avinu is bewildered that not ra'ui l'brachah. One minute we're bewildered that they're not ra'ui l'brachah. And then, and then. Automatically, they became the model roles for Klal Yisroel. ... First, Yaakov looks at them, they're not ראוי לברכה, נסתלקה ממנו שכינה. And then it gives a 360-degree angle turnaround. Oh, these are mamish, ישמח ישראל, ... ... Here, rabosai, there's another shaila that needs to be asked. Yaakov Avinu ... and he puts Ephraim before Menashe, and Yosef is screaming, Lo kein avi. Why would Yaakov repeat, so to speak, the same mistake that he made in his own house by being makdim, by giving preference one child over another? The Gemara says in Megillah that because of that fact that Yaakov gives a little extra to Yosef, a coat, a little extra to Yosef, it caused that we should go down to Mitzrayim into galus. And a lesson is supposed to be learned from this not to play favoritisms and not to show a love of one child over another. All have to be equal. And Yaakov knows that this caused so much churban, so much galus, so much pain. Why is he repeating it and redoing the same thing again? ... Why is he repeating? So to speak, the mistakes of the past. Did he not learn by now, as Chazal clearly tell us, it wasn't a smart idea to give Yosef preference over the others. And here he goes back to do the same thing again. Another shaila, rabboisai, another shaila. He's putting the hands over the children, and he gives them the bracha. Why, by the other shevatim, does he not use his hands? Yismach, laykim, hands. We don't find anywhere else the bracha was given with the hands. Chasam Sofer is me'oir the shaila. Maybe a little bit here. The Chasam Sofer is me'oir the shaila. Why is it that Yaakov gives the bracha to Ephraim and Menashe with seichel as yadav? Why did he use his hands? He brings from the Panim Yafos, the Haflaah, his rebbe, that since they were not roi for bracha, since mi'eilah they were not roi l'bracha.

Since they were not roi l'bracha, so therefore he gave them with the hands, ki'ilu like a tzinor for the kedusha to go through him to the children because they were not roi and they were not kli kibul. So by somehow putting his hands, he was able to convey, he was able to relate the bracha. You know, rabosai, there's a big ha'arah that needs to be asked about Birchas Habanim. Yesimcha Elokim k'Ephraim u'ch'Menashe. What's wrong if they're like Avraham, Yitzchak v'Yaakov? You should give a bracha, yesimcha Elokim k'Avraham, Yitzchak v'Yaakov. I say, ein eilu harim, eilu harim. Avraham Yitzchak v'Yaakov, maaseh avos l'maaseh, Avraham Yitzchak v'Yaakov. You want that they should be like Avraham, Yitzchak v'Yaakov. The meforshim even point out, shteit es in Rashi, v'nivrechu b'cha kol mishpechos ha'adamah, adam omer l'bno, tehei k'Avraham. A person tells his child, you should be like Avraham, so you see clearly v'nivrechu b'cha, v'nivrechu, that already it was designated that people should say, so zayin vi Avraham. Why do we give a bracha, yesimcha Elokim k'Ephraim u'ch'Menashe, and not k'Avraham, Yitzchak v'Yaakov? And notice by the girls we give a bracha, yesimeich Elokim k'Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel v'Leah, and there's the imahos. Mezakeh befen Chofetz Chaim that the Chofetz Chaim actually did give a bracha. To the children, Yisimcha Elokim k'Efrayim, but first, Kavrom, Yitzchak v'Yaakov, and then Efrayim u'Menashe, that he would give a bracha, they should be like Avraham, Yitzchak v'Yaakov. Shteit a chumash pasuk, V'nivrechu v'cha kol mishpechos ha'adamah. So I'm reading a chiddush. Dr. Mordechai Zuckerman in the sefer brings this, that when you give the birchas habanim and you say that you should be like Efrayim, first say Kavrom v'—we want to be like Avraham, Yitzchak v'Yaakov. Now the truth is, in the Rashi, mekemnaf Ephraim, V'nivrechu v'cha—adam omer l'bnoi doesn't mean that you have to say it. That's what was done. People would say, people would say, You should be like Avram. Does it say that that's what should happen? Maybe V'nivrechu v'cha, he was kovea, the Ribbono Shel Olam was kovea that this should be the bracha. But here, rabosai, we see that Ephraim and Menashe is chosen, l'choira, not Avram, not Yitzchak, not Yaakov, and not the shvatim, till Ephraim and Menashe. I saw Rav Hutner in the maamarim, Rav Hutner zecher tzaddik livracha, in the maamarim asks an interesting question: if Menashe is not as great as Ephraim, and that's what Yaakov tells Yosef, Yadati, b'ni, yadati, right? Yadati, b'ni, yadati. Ephraim is bigger than Menashe. So why bichlal we give you a bracha, you should be like Menashe? It should be a bracha only like Ephraim. If you have the A student and the B student, you don't give a bracha, you should be like the A student and the B student. You should give a bracha, you should be like the A student. בכלל מסייע מנה. If you say Ephraim, it has already been nasha. Why do we give a bracha, Yisimcha Elokim k'Ephraim u'cheMenashe? Nacha acher, rabosai. What was the bracha? It doesn't say. Vayevarecham bayom hahu leimor, Yisimcha Elokim k'Ephraim u'cheMenashe. You should be like... and what is the bracha? It doesn't say. Rabbi Rucham, the mashgiach of the Mir, used to say that he gave them the bracha that they should be mekor habracha. They should be the mekor of all bracha. Anyone who mentions their name, anyone who has anything to do with them, natz v'nivrchu v'cha, like Avraham Avinu, that he should be the mekor habracha. So, ein hachanami, there is no nusach. Remember, we spoke from the Baal HaTosafos that he gave them the bracha, Birchas Kohanim, or like the Medrash, the bracha of Torah, he gave them the bracha of the Shemos Hashem. Rabbi Rucham is learning that that itself is the bracha, that you should be a bracha, v'hayei bracha. You should be the mekor habracha. Another interesting ha'arah, rabosai. The Targum says, b'cha yevarech.

When? When is this supposed to happen? So Rashi says, Becha yevarech. So Rashi, Becha yevarech, haba levarech hisbanav. The one who comes, which means there is no time when you must or should. It's optional. When the person comes, he should say. When he wants to give the bracha, he should say, Yesimcha Elokim k'Ephraim v'chaMenashe. Targum Yonason, when is Becha yevarech? B'yom hamilah, on the day of the milah. Mefarshim, Baalei Drush speak why b'yom hamilah. Why is the bracha, Yesimcha Elokim k'Ephraim v'chaMenashe, meyuchad for the day of milah? Habaisai, let's learn pshat in Birchas Habanim, and then we can go back to answer all the questions and ha'aros that we asked. There's a sefer, Gevilei Esh. Gevilei is parchments of fire. It's a sefer that's melaket all the Torah of the kedoshim of the Vardike yeshiva. There were 36 Novardiker yeshivas, and kedoshim. Gevilei Esh, parchments of fire, burned in fire. Appropriately, the name of the sefer, Gevilei Esh, should be a zechus l'neshama, what we would say over there, Torah. So they bring over there from one of the kedoshei Novardik a pshat: What's Yesimcha Elokim k'Ephraim u'cheMenashe? Because Menashe had a moyridike, moyridike ma'alah, and that is that he sees Ephraim is being put before him. He sees Ephraim is being elevated and being treated better. And it's right in front of his face, and yet he says nothing. So he has no kinah. That is a maila she'ein kamoihu, that we bench our children, Yisimcha Elokim k'Ephraim v'chiMenasheh. Why Ephraim? So he doesn't speak it out, but it's a Bnei Yissaschar. The Bnei Yissaschar in Iggeres d'Kallah says, Ephraim has the maila that even though he was placed before Menasheh, he was given the honors over Menasheh, yet he wasn't misgayeh. He didn't become boastful over Menasheh. So together, Ephraim and Menasheh is a unit of brotherhood, which is so unique. It's so beautiful and perfect. Ephraim is elevated, is respected in front of Menasheh, and he's the younger brother. Yet Menasheh is not jealous, and at the same time, Ephraim is not boastful. He's humble. And together, they're one unit. This is the bracha that we give, Yisimcha Elokim k'Ephraim v'chiMenasheh. You should have the shleimus of not being a rodef the kavod and not being a mekaneh if you don't get that kavod, because that's the formula of achdus, of unity. Whenever there's pirud, it's either based on a want of kavod, a desire for kavod, or a kinah from those that don't have the kavod. Yisimcha Elokim k'Ephraim v'chiMenasheh, the mekor habracha. As Reb Yerucham says, he gave them the bracha that they should be the mekor. What is the mekor of all bracha? Ein kli machzik bracha yoser min hashalom. The greatest kli of bracha is shalom, and shalom is a prayim of Menasheh. And this is the formula: to be like Ephraim, to not want the kavod; to be like Menasheh, and not be miskaneh for those that have the kavod. And then you can have the shalom, the shleimus, b'chai yevarech Yisrael, gantz Klal Yisrael, yeder Yid a shekin benchment mit dem. With this we can explain the shakla v'tarya, the du-siach, the conversation, the back and the forth. First, we see that Yaakov looks at Ephraim and Menasheh and he says, Mi eileh? They're not roi l'bracha. Nistalkah mimenu Shechinah. Yosef says, Banai heim. Says Yaakov Avinu, Hamalach hago'el osi mikol ra. Maybe they're bad. Maybe they're lacking shemi v'shem avosai. Nistalkah Shechinah. Maybe they're not roi, so I give them, Hamalach hago'el osi mikol ra, hu yevarech es hane'arim v'yikarei בהם shmi v'shem avosai, Avraham.

They should have Shem Yisrael. They should be b'nam shel avos, Avraham, Yitzchak, v'Yaakov. And it should be goyl mikol ra. Who knows what the ra they were lost in in Mitzrayim. Then he goes to give them this bracha, and he sees, he puts Ephraim before Menashe, and yet Yosef jumps in, and he says, Lo kein avi. What's the pshat that Yosef is so adamant? Yosef is moicheh b'chol ha'tokef, Lo kein avi. You have to know even halacha, shaila halacha. How and why was he allowed to say this? He allowed to tell your father, Lo kein avi? And the fashteitzach, the pashut pshat we could say is Yosef saw firsthand, he experienced firsthand what happens when you give preference one child over another. Yosef says, I'm the living example of that, of that problem, all the suffering I suffered. Lo kein avi, please, tata, don't repeat this. As they say, there's an expression, Ruyim hadvarim l'mi she'amram. Yosef, Yosef is the one yelling, Lo kein avi, tata, what? What is it that you're doing? Isn't this exactly what happened in our home? And look how much suffering and how much tragedy and how much galus came from it. Answers Yaakov, Yadati, b'ni, yadati. Chofetz Chaim used to say pshat, Yadati, a double lashon. Why Yadati, b'ni, yadati? A lot of times we look at our parents, and we say they simply don't know what they're doing. They're old, they make mistakes, they reach a certain age, they don't... Then there are times that they know what they're doing, but they don't know what they're doing. What are you doing, right? If only he understood, if only he knew, if only he was more with it and he was more worldly. זאָגט דער הייליגער חפץ חיים, Yaakov is telling Yosef, Yadati, I know what I'm doing. And even in what I know, yadati, I know more than you think I know. I know exactly what I'm doing. It's oisgecheshbened, that I'm putting Ephraim before Menashe. Why? Because I want the shleimus ha'achvah. I want to see, because I believe that they're able to have this shleimus, that Ephraim could be before Menashe, and they could still remain united. Yadati b'ni, yadati. Ephraim is big, Menashe is big. Ephraim is bigger, and Menashe will accept it, and Ephraim won't boast over Menashe. And this is the shleimus that I was searching in mitosai shleimah of Yaakov, of shvatim, of Klal Yisrael. The perfection, the beauty of Klal Yisrael. Yaakov sees it in front of his eyes at this moment, in the behavior of Ephraim and Menashe. So, eino chanami, at first he thinks, Mi eileh, they're not ra'ui. So he gives them the bracha, Hamalach hago'el osi mikol ra, that they should be yireiim u'shleimim v'yekarim, shem v'shem avosai. After he gives him the bracha, he starts to realize there's something special about Ephraim and Menashe. And therefore he puts Ephraim before Menashe, and it works, and nobody complains, and everyone is happy about it except for Yosef. Yosef is saying, Lo kein avi. Yadati, beni, yadati. I know in Ephraim and Menashe, this shleimus. You didn't see it. You don't maybe see it the way I see it. I finally see something that I worked my whole life for. Mitaasi shleima comes to fruition. It comes to its tachlis in Ephraim and Menashe, and as the pasuk says, Vayevarechem bayom hahu. Bayom hahu, that day, Yaakov finally sees what's a Klal Yisrael, the achdus, the unity, to form a klal, to form a Klal Yisrael. That day, Yaakov finally sees. Yes, yes, and I see it in Ephraim and Menashe. Avada, Avram, Yitzchak, Yaakov. Avram had a son Yishmael. Yitzchak has a son Esav. Yaakov, the brothers were fighting. All of this.

When does it become to a perfection of all the dairos to create a klal? So when is it? Yismcha Elokim k'Efrayim v'chaMenashe, bayom hahu. It was that day. With this we can understand, b'cha yevarech Yisrael. The Rabbanan says, b'cha, you and Yosef. Why Yosef? So we could say pshat: when children are able to have this maila, that they're not misgayeh, and they're not mekaneh—not their friends and not their neighbors, not their peers and not their people who are on top of them—they live b'shleimus within themselves. It's b'cha; it comes from the father. Their maila, their shleimus, is the shtub. It's from the home. B'cha yevarech Yisrael. Y'simcha Elokim k'Efrayim v'chaMenashe, is a din in the shtub. And maybe, possibly, that's why Birchas HaBanim is done Friday night in the home. We could say possibly because Friday night in the house there can be a lot of fighting: who sits where and who gets what portion, and who gets to talk and who does not get to talk around the table. It's very lebedik. So we give a bracha, Y'simcha Elokim k'Efrayim v'chaMenashe, zos al zayin b'shalom. But we could say a little bit deeper, rabosai. We could say an emes'ye yesod, that Birchas HaBanim is the Birchas HaBayis. It's the shleimus of the bayis. When the family sits around the table, the house, the home, the Shabbos, as the malachim come and say that there should be b'Shabbos habo, this bayis, it's about the bayis. Where is the shleimus of the children? It's in the chinuch of the father and what he talks about at the table and how the hashpa that he gives off at the table, not to be mekaneh and not to be misgayeh. A lot of the talk of the table, table talk, is about people and who and what, the neighbors and the friends. This is where the hashpa, rabosai, you'll see it in the children. Az me'redt gutte zachen, me'redt sheine zachen vegn andere. You speak proud about your neighbors and about your friends; they have kavod. Be happy for them. Don't be miskaneh. And at the same time, if you have and someone else doesn't, don't boast. The children pick that up. Yaakov Avinu is saying, B'cha, you Yosef, I give you the credit of Yismach Elokim k'Efrayim u'cheMenashe. With this, rabosai, we could give a gevaldige pshat: Yismach Elokim k'Efrayim u'cheMenashe. Give each one a separate bracha. Why is he taking them together? You have five children, you take all five of them together and give each one separately. Can you imagine Friday night if you didn't give each one his own? The whole story, the Teretz is that's gufa what Yaakov is trying to bring out. It's one bracha. It's the bracha of the unit, the unit of the brothers. It's a unit of the home. It's a unit of Ephraim u'Menashe. This is why we give the bracha of Ephraim u'Menashe as one, and maybe that's the pshat becha also, in you as one. Even though it's vayevarechem, plural, could be it's becha yevarech Yisrael, in the unit. Bechol, Ramban learns it's Yosef, and maybe the pshat in the becha is becha, you as a group, as a unit. The two becomes one when it's Ephraim u'Menashe, becha. With this, rabosai, we can understand why seikel es yadav. What's the idea of seikel es yadav? The idea is the chibur. He was taking them both together, and he was telling them as one, I'm giving you a bracha. So what he did was was seikel es yadav, because each one is the ma'alah of the other one. The way achdus works is if someone has a ma'alah...

It's your ma'alah, because he has it. So Ephraim is Menashe's bracha, and Menashe is Ephraim's bracha. Moiridik. When we feel we're separate, and each is to his own, each to his own, so my bracha is not your bracha. But if we look at it as Klal Yisroel, we look at ourselves as a unit, my bracha is yours and your bracha is mine, and together we have mekor habracha. When we unite the brachos together and the ma'alos together, seichel, and that's the seichel. The Rishonim say it's a lashon of haskalah. There's a wisdom to uniting the bracha, to uniting the koiches, to putting it together. Tovim hashnayim min ha'echad, especially if the shnayim turn into echad. And that is what Yaakov Avinu is doing with his hands. He's giving the bracha, and could be he bedavka wants to show Ephraim before Menashe, and that's why the pasuk says, Vayosem es Ephraim lifnei Menashe, that there could be such a bracha, that Klal Yisroel could have an Ephraim before Menashe. Ephraim doesn't boast, and Menashe is happy for Ephraim. This is the ma'alah of the bracha. That is the bracha. We ask the question, the Rishonim say it says Ephraim before Menashe, so why does it say, Vayosem es Ephraim lifnei Menashe? And we also ask, what was the bracha? That is the bracha. The bracha is that Klal Yisroel could produce that there could be harmony even though Ephraim is before Menashe, Vayosem. And that's the Vayevarechem. That itself is the greatest bracha. That each one could be happy for the other. Could look at Yanam's bracha, be an eigen, that it's his own bracha. With this, we can explain why we give this bracha b'yom ha'milah, b'yom ha'milah. We set out from the Targum that this bracha is unique for the day of the milah. Why? Why is it for the day of the milah? Milah, we know, is suppression of taiva. The Rambam says that the milah gives the koach to suppress the taiva. You know, a person can have tremendous mailos, right? But if he doesn't have the kli machzik, if the kli for those mailos has holes, they're all going to go out. So the orlah that we cut is not only orlah of physical, the orlah, but it's the orlas halev. It's in the middos. Yismach Elokim k'Efrayim u'cheMenashe. Reuven, Shimon, Levi, tremendous mailos, tremendous koiches. But what's the machzik of all those koiches in Klal Yisrael? The keli, which is Efrayim u'Menashe. Ein kli machzik bracha ela ha'shalom. So the day of the milah, we give you a bracha, taharas halev. Not only should you suppress the actual physical taiva, but you also need a taharas halev, which is from kinah and kavod. And now it goes around the about circle. Hakinah v'hataiva v'hakavod motziin es adam min ha'olam. So on the morning of the milah, in the maiseh hamilah, we give a child a bracha: he should be exempt. He should be cut off from kinah, taivah, and kavod, which is motziin es ha'adam min ha'olam. B'yom hamilah, on the day of the milah, when we cut the orlah—what is orlah? Orlah is a physical thing, yes. And the Rambam says it's there to—by cutting off the orlah, we suppress taivah. Yeah, but we also have to suppress kinah and kavod. Yismach Elokim, kefraim u'cheMenasheh. They were perfected not to have kinah, taivah, and kavod. Mitzrayim, remember we said that even though they were Mitzrayim, which was shtufei zimah, they remained kadosh, they remained tahor. Harei lo hishtarei ersin, right? Rashi says that they were—banaihem, they were still kedushah, even though they were Mitzrayim. And they had no kinah, Menasheh, and they had no kavod, Ephraim. Hakinah, taivah, kavod motziin es ha'adam min ha'olam. So therefore, b'yom hamilah, on the day of the milah, we give this bracha of Yismach Elokim keEphraim u'cheMenasheh. Now we can go back to answer.

And explain, what is the leimar, the extra vav? Vav? Vav shechsarta mishmi? The vav that you took out of my name, put it into their name. But Ephraim and Menashe do not have a vav, and the Torah says yes, they do. They have a vav hachibur. Ephraim u, the vav, u-Menashe. That's mechaber them together. That's what Yaakov means. The Medrash Cheifetz that says that the leimar was the vav, vav that you took out of my name. The vav that you took out of my name, put it into their name, because Ephraim and Menashe is one. It's two, which is a shevet of one. And how do you turn the two into the one? By the vav. So the vav that was taken out of my name, hosifu, put it into Ephraim u, u-Menashe, to make them one unit. And that's the greatest bracha. That was the bracha that Yaakov meant, malei, that it was a full bracha. We could end with the following observation. Notice we don't make the bracha, Yismach Elokim k'Ephraim u-Menashe, but rather k'Ephraim u'k-Menashe. U'k means separate also. Ephraim u-Menashe would mean literally one, Ephraim and Menashe. K'Ephraim u'k-Menashe is really making it two entities. And the truth is, because that's also part of the achdus of chibur. When each one knows his... Koiches. When each one respects his individuality, his mailos, and I respect your individuality and mailos, and you respect my individuality and mailos, that creates chibur. The greatest chibur is the unification of the two parts that make a whole. It's not one part; it's two parts. One part is not chibur. One part is one part. Two parts that turn into one part, that's chibur. So it has to be with the understanding of two parts. Yid has his maila. Every Jew has his individuality. Every shevet in Klal Yisrael has their maila. Every kehillah in Klal Yisrael has their maila and individual koiches. And when we understand, and when we accept, and we realize their koiches is different than my koiches, yet both of our koiches are to be admired, and to be respected, and to be appreciated. That doesn't cause pirud. That then and only then starts achdus. Yismcha Elokim. The Ribono Shel Olam should put you, ke'Efrayim, u—chibur, but ki, with understanding the individuality, ki. Menashe is separate, Efrayim is separate, yet united with the vav hachibur. This is the hashkafah. Of what Yaakov Avinu, this is the ultimate, the goal of what Yaakov Avinu his whole life was working for in mitasei shleimah. He tried with Yosef. He wanted that Yosef should be the ben, the zikunim and nikunim, and he should be... Now all of a sudden, in the ben of Yosef, in the banim, he sees this ma'alah. Sovea vorchim bayom hahu, yasimcha Elokim k'Efrayim v'chiMenashe. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.