Rabbi Frand on Parshas Vayechi
These divrei Torah were adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher
Frand's Commuter Chavrusah Tapes on the weekly portion: Tape # 399 - Baruch
Shem K'vod Malchuso L'Olam Voed. Good Shabbos!
The Blessing of Exceeding Ones Potential
In this week's parsha our patriarch Yaakov blesses Yosef's children with
the words "By you shall Israel bless saying, 'May G-d make you like
Ephraim and like Menashe'" [Bereshis 48:20]. This has become the blessing
that fathers give to their children [for girls, using "... Sarah, Rivkah,
Rachel and Leah"]. Jews of German descent -- and others as well -- bless
their children with this blessing every Friday night. Even communities
that do not have the custom of blessing children every Shabbos evening,
use this formulation when blessing children on Erev Yom Kippur.
There have been many attempts to explain why it is that of all the great
personalities from the Torah and of all the illustrious personages of
Jewish history, it is specifically Ephraim and Menasheh who were chosen to
be the eternal role models for Jewish male children. Why not Avraham,
Yitzchak, and Yaakov? Why not Moshe and Aharon?
Rav Yaakov Weinberg, zt"l (of blessed memory) once said that every parent
hopes to see the blessing that their children reach their full potential
in life. But Ephraim and Menasheh did something that was better than that.
They exceeded their potential. They became more than that which their
father could have reasonably expected from them. They achieved a status
equal to that of the twelve children of Yaakov.
Part of Yaakov's blessing to these grandchildren was that the two of them
would replace Yosef, and assume a status equal to that of Yaakov's other
sons in the Tribal divisions of the Jewish people. This affected the
encampments in the wilderness, their representation among the Spies sent
to investigate the Land of Israel, their geographical allocation in the
Land of Israel, and a variety of other issues. All these things happened
because of this anomaly that Yaakov gave Ephraim and Menasheh the status
of his own sons.
Rav Weinberg taught that the meaning of the blessing "May G-d make you like
Ephraim and Menasheh" is "may you exceed your potential beyond anyone's
wildest expectations."
Unfortunately, most of us live our lives not only without exceeding
expectations, but without even meeting them. I recently saw a frightening
thought from the Zohar. The Zohar teaches that immediately before a
person's death, his soul gives a scream that can be 'heard' (spiritually)
from one end of the world to the next. What is the soul screaming about?
At that moment, G-d shows the soul an image of what it was supposed to
become during its sojourn on earth. The soul is traumatized by the gap
between what it was supposed to become and what actually became of it. The
Soul lets out this shriek which is heard through the entire universe: "Woe
is me. I did not even come close!"
Ephraim and Manasseh did not have to let out that scream when they left
this world. Not only did they become that which they were supposed to
become, they even became members of the Tribes of G-d (Shivtei Kah). The
biggest blessing a father can wish to his children is exceeding their full
potential in life.
This write-up was adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher
Frand's Commuter Chavrusah Torah Tape series on the weekly Torah portion.
The complete list of halachic topics covered in this series for Parshas
VaYechi are provided below:
Also Available: Mesorah / Artscroll has published a collection
of Rabbi Frand's essays. The book is entitled:
