Hidden Treasures

To his son, Reuven, the blessing Yakev spoke:

“Reuven, my son, you are my first-born. I see and know your honest heart. Since you were a child you have obeyed me and you have never touched anything that didn’t belong to you. Therefore, I intended that there should issue from you priests to the Gd of Israel. But because you have sinned, the blessing of the first-born has been taken away from you, the priesthood and the kingship. Your brother Yosef will receive the blessing of the first-born; Levi will receive the priesthood; Yehudah will receive the kingship. Nevertheless, I will bless you that your children be powerful in Torah and heros in war. And although the blessing of the first-born has been taken from you, you will merit to be the first to receive your inheritance of property in the land of Israel, you will have first choice of the Cities of Refuge in the countries of the Tribes, and you will be numbered first among the Tribes. But also, you will be the first Tribe to go into exile and the first to be touched by the enemy at the time of the destruction of the temple.”

Reuven heard his father’s words. He hung his head and left his father’s room in grief.

B’cha y’vareich yisrael leimor, y’simcha elohim k’efrayim v’kimnasheh

with you Israel will bless, saying: May Gd make you like Ephraim and Menashe
(Genesis 48:20)

Why should the Jews bless their children to grow up like Joseph’s children and not like the other tribes of Jacob’s children?

There are two main principles in the Torah. 1)Don’t consider one to be superior to the other. 2)Don’t be jealous of the other. When Joseph made his father aware: “Lo ken, avi, ki zeh habkhor, sim y’mincha al rosho” (Not so, father, for this one is the first-born; put your right hand on his head. — Genesis 48:18) and Jacob answered him: “…gam hu yiyeh l’am v’gam hu yigdal v’ulam achiv hakaton mimenu…” (He too will be a people, he too will be great, but his little brother will be greater than he. — Genesis 48:19) Jacob noticed that despite this, that he assured that younger was greater, he [the younger brother] was not proud of himself and the older brother was not jealous. Both brothers remained the same as before. When Jacob saw this, he passed on the blessing: “b’cha y’vareich yisrael” (with you [Ephraim and Menasheh] Israel will bless), here, with such qualities as Joseph’s children possessed. The Jews should bless their children that they should merit “May Gd make you like Ephraim and Menasheh” — that they should grow up without pride and without envy. These two qualities, Jacob’s sons did not have. When Joseph curled his hair, this was pride. His brothers were jealous, this was envy.

When the Jews were enslaved to Pharaoh and were suffering greatly and waiting for the redemption, there would, from time to time, come along someone from the nation who would conjure up signs and say that he was the emissary of Gd. The Jews would go to Serakh, the daughter of Asher, who had merited to live a long life on the merit of Yakev’s blessing when she divined that Yosef was alive [this would have made her around 300 years old by this time], and they would ask her if those were the signs that her grandfather, Yakev, have given over to his sons, and she immediately knew that this was not the true emissary of Gd. Until Moshe Rabeinu (Moses Our Teacher) came and showed the letter that Gd had shown him. And when they told Serakh this, she immediately said that this was the man whom Gd had sent to liberate the Jewish people from Egypt.

Before Yakev blessed his sons, he required of them that they not forget to take with them the cedar trees that they had planted so that they would have boards with which to build the mishkan (tabernacle) in the wilderness when they would merit to go free from Egypt. His sons said that they would do all that he would command them.

Then Yakev said to his sons before he blessed them: “Know, my children, and always remember that peace is great, and Gd hates discord.  When people fight it comes to blood-shed, and a house in which there is discord will come to ruin. Even a city can be destroyed if it is dominated by fighting and discord, so my dear children, be warned that you should not fight and you should avoid discord.”

יעקב דערציילט זיינע זין וואס וועט זיי פאסירן אין מצרים

Yakev Tells His Sons What Will Happen to Them in Egypt

יעקב’ס קינדער האבען זיך צוזאמען געזאמלט לעבן זייער פאטער’ס בעט כדי צו הערן זיינע לעצטע ווערטער און באקומען זיין ברכה.

Yakev’s children gathered together near their father’s bed to listen to his last words and receive his blessing.

איידער יעקב האט אנגעהויבן צו רעדן זיינע ווערטער צו זיין זין, האט ער מתפלל געווען צו ג-ט און האט געזאגט: “ג-ט מיין ג-ט, מיינע טעג זענען געציילט. איך בעט זיך צו דיר אז דו זאלסט זיין זייער פאטער; זאלסט זיך דערבארמען אויף זיי און זאלסט שטענדיג זיי העלפן.”

Before Yakev began to speak his words to his sons, he prayed to Gd, saying: “G-d, my G-d, my days are numbered. I beg of you that you be their father; be merciful to them and always help them.”

Then, Yakev said to his sons: “You should know, my children, that Egypt is the land concerning which Hashem said to your grandfather, Abraham: Ger yihyeh zar’acha va’avadum v’inu otam arba me’ot shanah. (Your seed shall be strangers . . . and shall serve them . . . four hundred years. – Gen. 15:13) And now my children, you should know that here in this very land you shall have many troubles, but then you will pray to Gd and hope to Gd your father in heaven, not to foresake you, and when the time comes, he will send his trusted servant and take you out of this land. And I am giving you a sign so you will know when the redemption will be: When Gd’s emissary comes to you and says pakod pakadti (I have surely remembered – Ex. 3:16) then you will know that this is the man who, with Gd’s help, will take you out of the land of Egypt.”

While his sons stood listening, Yakev took a staff and threw it to the ground, and it immediately miraculously turned into a snake. And when Yakev held it, it immediately became a stick again. Suddenly the sons saw that their father’s hand was white as snow. He put his hand to his bosom and it once again became an ordinary hand. Their father said to them:
“I know that you will suffer greatly in the land of Egypt, but after the suffering will come the redemption. And after the sign I give you so that you will know when the end of the exile is coming, if a man comes and does the same thing I have just done, you will know that he is the emissary from Gd and you should believed his words.”