Ra'anana Community Kollel - Parshat Vayechi 5766

Two Become One

Rabbi Dovid Horwitz

When Ya'akov blessed Ephraim and Menashe, he gave them a very unusual blessing. “Through you (singular tense) the Jewish people will bless their children saying, “Hashem should make you (singular tense) great like Ephraim and Menashe.” From the use of the singular tense of the word “you”, Rabbi Shimon Shwab deduces that Ya'akov was actually referring to both of Yosef’s sons as one man. From the second usage of the singular form of the word “you”, Rashi comments that even when a father blesses one child, he should bless him to be like both Ephraim and Menashe. Rabbi Shwab understands that although Ephraim and Menashe were very different in their strengths and achievements, and they embodied two very different paths in life, nevertheless, the ultimate blessing is only realized when the two are joined together within each and every Jew.

The Midrash tells us that Menashe was Yosef’s right hand man in running the affairs of Egypt. He aided Yosef in taking care of the physical needs of society. Ephraim on the other hand, was more like his grandfather Ya'akov in that he dwelled in the tents of Torah. While each of his sons excelled in one of these characteristics or the other, Yosef himself embodied a synthesis of these two paths. First and foremost he was Yosef Hatzaddik, and secondly, he was the viceroy of Egypt.

By instructing us to bless our children with both of these traits, Ya'akov was teaching us an important lesson in educating our children. Just as it is inadequate to teach a child a trade without teaching him to excel in Torah, so too, it is inadequate to only teach a child Torah, without giving him the ability to integrate productively into the outside world. Ya'akov is instructing us that successful chinuch is to give the child a balance of both; Torah study, along with “derech eretz”, social and worldly skills. According to this interpretation, when we bless our children, we are actually blessing them to be like Yosef who embodied both of these traits simultaneously. This is the goal of every Jew.

However, from the fact that Ya'akov placed his right hand on Ephraim's head, requiring him to unnaturally cross his hands, we see that although we must teach our children to excel in both the physical and the spiritual, the latter is by far the more important of the two. Clearly, there is little value in worldly achievement in its own right if ultimately it does not serve a higher spiritual purpose. By giving Ephraim precedence over Menashe although he was the younger of the two, Ya'akov tells us clearly that one must develop one’s physical talents and strengths in order to help one to reach his spiritual goals and become a more complete and G-dly person.
It is said of the Vilna Gaon that he mastered all forms of science except the science of medicine. When asked why, he replied that knowledge of science can help one to serve Hashem properly. The study of medicine, however, would surely take time away from Torah study since once having learned it, he would feel compelled to practice it as well.

The Gaon understood that Torah study is of primary importance, yet he was a giant who mastered all areas of secular knowledge. He was a Jew who knew how to balance the physical and the spiritual worlds and combine them into one. This is what all parents should wish for their children!