Shabbat Parashat Vayechi - 5781

Shabbat Parashat Vayechi - 5781

Rabbi Hal Miller

And Yosef said to his father, "They are my sons whom God has given me with this."

[Bereishit 48:9]

The passages about Yaakov asking who Ephraim and Menashe are bring on much

discussion. These young men had been with him for the past 17 years, why did he

just now need to ask who they were? But another question, seemingly hidden, pops

up here. When Yosef replies, what is that last word doing there? His reply makes

sense without the word 'bazeh', so what does it add? Literally, it translates as "in

this" or "with this". But neither seems to belong here.

Rashi says that Yaakov was actually asking whether his grandsons were really Jews,

and Yosef is here telling his father that they are. "With this" means that Yosef showed

Yaakov his ketubah, proving that his wife converted correctly before marriage. Others

say something similar but instead of a ketubah, they call it some other document

proving the validity of Yosef's marriage, and thus the Jewishness of his sons. In this

argument, 'bazeh' comes with the implied word 'ketubah'.

Onkelos, Rashbam, and Radak say it means "in this" and they tack on the word "place",

that Yosef meant, these sons were born to him in Egypt. Ramban, though, says that

Yaakov obviously knew that, so there was no need for Yosef to say so, rather Yosef

was telling Yaakov that God gave him these sons before Yaakov came, presumably

to assist in settling the entire family of Israel for the future, thus he adds the implied

word 'zman', time.

If we note the point in time when this verse occurs, when Yaakov was about to die

and was preparing his final legacy, it seems that Yosef might have been setting up

the final lineup of the tribes. When Yaakov blessed Menashe and Ephraim, calling

them his own, the twelve tribes that would inherit the land were now listed. Perhaps,

instead of adding the word 'makom', place, we should read in 'inyan', matter, that

Yosef meant God gave him these two sons to be included "in this matter" of the

inheritance of the land of Israel.