34 | DECEMBER 17 • 2020

SPIRIT

Blessing of Brothers
F

riday evening Shabbat
dinners overflow with
blessings. It’s a wonderful
once-a-week opportunity to
step back from our busy lives,
express gratitude and count our
blessings.
We bless candles, our chil-
dren, spouses, wine and
challah. When we bless
our children, we ask
that our girls grow up to
be like the matriarchs,
Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel
and Leah, and that our
boys grow up to be like
Ephraim and Menashe.
We can understand why
we would look to the
matriarchs as strong role
models for our daugh-
ters; however, by what
merits were Ephraim and
Menashe chosen to be the role
models for our sons?
In this week’s parshah we
meet Ephraim and Menashe,
Joseph’s two sons, born shortly
after Joseph becomes Pharaoh’s
second-in-command. We are
given four reasons why Ephraim
and Menashe are chosen for the
Friday night blessing.
• Ephraim and Menashe are
the first siblings in the Torah
narrative who do not see each
other as rivals. Even when Jacob,
their grandfather, provides
the preferential blessing to the
younger Ephraim over the older
Menashe, there is no jealousy
and the brothers remain friends.
• Though Ephraim and
Menashe grew up in a world sur-
rounded by foreign cultural and
religious beliefs, values and prac-
tices, they were strong enough
to maintain and hold onto their
own unique identity. They didn’t
give in to peer pressure just to fit
in and be like everyone else.

• Ephraim and Menashe
represent continuity of family
heritage and values. On Jacob’s
death bed, when he offers bless-
ings to his sons, he elevates his
two grandsons Ephraim and
Menashe to the same level as
their uncles, the literal children
of Israel. From dor l’dor,
from generation to gen-
eration, the family legacy
continues.
• Ephraim and Menashe
represent two very posi-
tive, yet different types of
personalities. Ephraim is
perceived as being spiritual
and a Torah scholar. On
the other hand, Menashe is
described as more of a man
of the world who cared for
and took care of his com-
munity. Scholarship, spiri-
tuality, worldliness, compassion
and active disposition of caring
for others, all attributes we
would wish for our children.
As parents, we raise up our
children with the hope that they
will grow up not only as siblings,
but as lifelong friends. In a world
of peer pressures to conform, we
hope to raise children who have
the strength to be their best,
unique selves. We model values
and family traditions for our
children with the hope that they
are inculcated and passed down
to future generations.
When we envision the adults
our children will grow up to be,
we hope that they will be wise,
spiritual, worldly and compas-
sionate for others. This is the
heritage, the characteristics of
Ephraim and Menashe, with
which we bless our sons.

Jeffrey Lasday is the COO of the Jewish

Community Center of Metro Detroit and

the acting COO of Farber Hebrew Day

School.

TORAH PORTION

Jeffrey

Lasday

Parshat

Mikketz:

Genesis

41:1-44:17;

I Kings

3:15-4:1.

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