The End of Sibling Rivalry

And he blessed them on that day saying:

With you shall Israel bless saying, may

God make you as Ephraim and Menashe …

                                       Genesis 48:20

          Netziv comments that there were other worthy grandsons of, such as Yehuda and Tamar’s twins Peretz and Zeraḥ. The reason Jacob chose Ephraim and Menashe is the fact that they represent two different spheres of activity. Ephraim was great in Torah, and dealt with Israel’s spiritual needs. Menashe busied himself with the tangible needs of the People. The blessing Israel gives to its children combines the spiritual and the mundane. This, essentially, is the ideal of Torah: imbuing even the most ordinary things with a spiritual dimension. It is for this reason that Jacob chose Ephraim and Menashe over his other worthy grandchildren.

There is an additional explanation of Jacob’s preference for Ephraim and Menashe over his other grandsons. The Book of Genesis is replete with sibling rivalry, from Cain and Abel to Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau through Joseph and his brothers. When Jacob gave Ephraim, the younger brother, prominence over Menashe, Menashe willingly accepted his reduced status. Ephraim and Menashe represent the end to sibling rivalry. Rather, they accept their brotherhood without fighting over status.

          Because Ephraim and Menashe represent the ultimate in brotherly love, upon which the future of Israel is based, Israel chooses to bless its sons "as Ephraim and Menashe."