CHASSIDIC PEARLS BY RABBI LAZER BRODY PARSHAS VAYECHI

May Hashem help you become like Ephraim and like Menashe (Bereishit 48:20). It is a very beautiful custom for the father to bless his when he returns home from the synagogue on Shabbat. There's a slight difference, however, in how a father blesses his daughters and how he blesses his sons. We bless our daughters that they should become like our matriarchs, namely, "May Hashem help you become like Sarah, Rivka (Rebecca), Rachel, and Leah." Correspondingly, we would expect to bless our sons in the name of our patriarchs, that Hashem help them to become like Avraham (Abraham), Yitzchak (Isaac), and Yaakov (Jacob). Surprisingly, our forefather Yaakov himself ordered all subsequent generations to bless their sons in the following fashion: "May Hashem help you become like Ephraim and like Menashe." Why? Menashe was Yosef's (Joseph's) firstborn son. According to the Halacha, the firstborn enjoys a number of advantages, such as a double portion in the inheritance of his father's estate. In addition, younger siblings are required to respect the firstborn son. Menashe therefore symbolizes the son who is advantaged from birth. As opposed to Menashe, who pursued a career in government as assistant to his father Yosef (Joseph), the vizier of Egypt, Ephraim remained in Goshen, learning Torah under the tutelage of his grandfather Yaakov. Although Menashe lived his life in holiness, Ephraim's strong desire to learn and grow in his service of Hashem, combined with plenty of hard work and effort enabled him to attain an even higher spiritual level than his older brother. Ephraim, as the younger brother, symbolizes the disadvantaged son whose dedication and toil overcome the advantaged brother's head start in life. Through Ephraim and Menashe, the Torah conveys that relative advantage or disadvantage from birth does not seal a person's fate, for excellence in Torah and in the service of Hashem depends on dedication and hard work.