Parashat Vayechi: Everything in a name
The Torah describes Jacob in his last days, blessing his sons. He leaves behind him a record of life marked by dramatic episodes: he was despised by his brothers when he was young and later elevated to the highest position in the Egyptian kingdom. His main concern at that time was how to preserve the tradition of his father’s house in an idolatrous environment like Egypt, where the family resided. In other words, his challenge was transforming biological descendants into continuators of Israel’s religious legacy.
Joseph appears as the most notable and responsible heir in this transmission of ideals from one generation to the next. Interestingly, the patriarchal blessing is given not to Joseph himself but to his sons Menashe and Ephraim. Perhaps Joseph sensed that these children, the first in our history to be born abroad and therefore vulnerable to the influence of their environment, required more significant support to cultivate their formation and attachment to ancestral values.
Joseph did not choose their respective names by chance. Each reflects the crucial vicissitudes he had to endure and resist.
Menashe, his firstborn, received a name associated with forgetfulness: “Since Elohim has made me forget all my affliction and all my father’s house,” his second son was called Ephraim, a name associated with fruits: “Since Elohim has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
Joseph himself reveals the profound allegorical meanings behind his sons' names. The first, Menashe, symbolizes his recognition of the past and the imperative to rise above it to overcome his afflictions. The second, Ephraim, is a testament to his gratitude toward God for the prosperity and honor he has attained in foreign lands.
Forgetting and remembering, remembering and forgetting, are intertwined in Joseph’s memory, just as the hands of the patriarch Jacob, his father, are purposely reversed, as he blessed the young Ephraim first before Menashe, the elder. This reversal suggests that the past and its wounds cannot limit the infinite possibilities of the present. These possibilities include the potential for growth, learning from past mistakes, and creating a more fortunate future. Ephraim represents the promise of growth and liberation beyond the negative influence of past traumas.
The poignant scene of the grandfather bestowing his blessings upon his grandchildren, immortalized by artistic geniuses like Rembrandt and Marc Chagall, stands as a testament to the enduring beauty of Jewish customs. This tradition, where parents bless their children at the onset of the Shabbat dinner on Friday night, “so that they may be like Ephraim and Menashe,” is a cherished part of Jewish life.
Through Jacob’s blessing, we articulate our hope that our children will embody the inherent virtues of Ephraim and Menashe: a reverence for the past and a commitment to shaping a brighter future.
RABBI DANIEL KRIPPER is the spiritual leader of Temple Shalom in Middletown.
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