NAALEH.COM and YU TORAH Conferring Clarity By: Mrs. Shira Smiles

As Yosef is notified that his father has fallen ill and undoubtedly death is approaching, he rushes over to Yaakov’s bedside with his two sons, Menashe and Ephraim. Yaakov blesses Yosef and elevates the two sons to the status of full tribes. Then, after a short conversation, Yaakov seems to suddenly notice the two boys actually standing there and asks, “Mi eileh – Who are these?” What could the question mean? Certainly Yaakov knew Yosef’s sons. He had studied Torah with them probably daily over the last seventeen years. Although one could argue that the sons, having hurried over to Yaakov’s bedside, were still in their ceremonial garb as officers of Pharaoh’s and Yosef’s court and had not changed into the family clothing they usually wore in their grandfather’s presence, that explanation is but one approach. It behooves us to delve more deeply both into Yaakov’s concerns and Yosef’s responses. Even Rashi’s explanation that Yaakov wanted to verify their legitimacy and Yosef showing Yaakov the ketubah, the Jewish marriage contract, requires more analysis. Click here Summary by Channie Koplowitz Stein.