Mei HaShiloach, Volume I, Genesis, Vayechi/מי השלוח·חלק א·ספר בראשית·ויחי

2“… guiding his hands intentionally [Yaakov moving his right hand over his left to place it on Efriam for the blessing] ….” (Bereshit, 48:14)Since the attribute of Yitzchak Avinu was that of Gevurah (strength), he wanted to bless Eisav, because the attribute of Gevurah teaches of the Torah, as it is written (Megillah 31b), “[at Sinai] Moshe heard from the mouth of Gevurah.” Therefore it says, “let the judgment [Din, Gevurah] cut through the mountain [meaning to follow the judgment under all circumstances].” This is why it was not in Yitzchak’s power to go against the judgment, and he wanted to give the blessing to Eisav since he was the elder son. Yet since God supports the pure of hand, for the hands are branches of the heart, and his heart was pure and refined, then the result was that Yaakov would bless without (or independent of) his own knowledge. Therefore it is written (Tehilim, 16:5), “You support my fate,” yet Yaakov Avinu always looked towards the understanding and God’s will. Therefore he said, “I knew, my son, I knew,” “guiding his hands intentionally,” placing Efriam before Menashe.

3“… God before whom my fathers walked … who guided me all my life ….” (Bereshit, 48:15)Yaakov Avinu made himself small before his fathers, Avraham and Yitzchak. He said that their wisdom and understanding was so great that they could by themselves cause an expansion of God’s will. Even if God created a small opening for them, in their wisdom they would expand and extend it in order to do the will of their Creator, and would understand even what God had not explicitly illuminated to them. This is the meaning of “before whom my fathers walked,” meaning that they went by means of their own power. But as for me, “E-lohim who guided me all my life until this day,” meaning that for every action I do, no matter how small, I need God to illuminate His will into me. I even need it with this action (blessing Menashe and Efriam), where I saw how it is His will to change it (to bless the younger before the older), nevertheless I need to see even the second time how it is His blessed will. Truly in this matter Yaakov was the greatest of the Patriarchs, for to have God constantly lead one’s actions is a great level. This was the prayer of King David (Tehilim, 23:1), “God is my shepherd, I will lack nothing,” meaning that for me the Providence of God will not be lacking, He will always guide me, and I will be ever aware that God is guiding me. In His goodness He conducts everything, it is only man who turns his face away, not wanting to behold and pray. Yet at a time when a man prays a complete prayer he is answered immediately, and he will see that God is the Shepherd. This is the meaning of “I shall not lack,” meaning that he will not turn his face from Him.

4“And Yaakov called to his sons ….” (Bereshit, 49:1)It is written on this in the Midrash (Tanchuma, Vayechi, 8), “I shall call to the supernal E-lohim, to God who does all for me” (Tehilim, 57:3). Now that Yaakov Avinu wanted to bless his sons, he was unsure as to whether he needed to bless them after the anguish they caused him with the sale of Yosef, and, “any talmid chocham [Torah scholar] who is not vengeful and grudge-bearing like a serpent is not a talmid chocham” (Yoma, 22b). Therefore it says, “and he called,” which is an expression of crying out and longing of the heart, for he gave over his eyes and heart to the heights (to God) and let himself say whatever God put in his mouth. This is why the Midrash mentions this verse, as he asked God to complete the action for him. The word “blessing” is not used first (it does not say “he called his sons to bless them”) as it was still not yet clear to him what he was going to say. However, with Moshe Rabeynu, he began immediately by saying “this is the blessing,” since it was immediately clear to him what he was going to say when he began to speak.With Yaakov, it only says “he blessed them” after he finished speaking (in verse 28), for only after he finished speaking, and not before, was it clear to him that all his blessings were from God. At first, God placed words of rebuke in his mouth, to chide the first three tribes, for “a talmid chocham must be vengeful and grudge-bearing.” Then when he arrived at the tribe of Yehuda, God showed him from Heaven that he needed to be forgiving, for in the letters of “Yehuda” are the four letters of God’s blessed name, YHVH. These four letters in his name hint at the verse (Yesahya, 66:2), “I will look to this one, to the poor and contrite of spirit, and he will tremble at my word.” This means that there was nothing from Yehuda’s own initiative (he was an instrument of God), as it says (Zohar, Bereshit, 244b), “the dalet gathers up.” (Meaning that the dalet in Yehuda’s name [signifying Malchut, reception] would gather up whatever God’s name would give him.) Therefore there was no room to bear any anger against him, so when Yaakov began to bless Yehuda with the attribute of compassion, this attribute took over with the rest of the tribes and they were all included in his blessing.

6“Binyamin is a wolf that tears, in the morning he will devour, at night he will divide his spoil.” (Bereshit, 49:27)Binyamin gathers all the good scattered among the nations and brings it into Israel.

8“Naftali is a hind let loose, he gives words of beauty.” (Bereshit, 49:21)Meaning that within Naftali is a great understanding to ask concerning all the matters of this world, “who created these?” This is the meaning of “he gives words of beauty,” that since he recognizes the presence of God in everything, he would give thanks for it. This is why Onkeles translates, “he gives thanks and blesses over them.”

10“You thought evil of me, but E-lohim thought it for good ….” (Bereshit, 50:20)With this God showed that it was possible to bring the tribes into the exile of Egypt, the main point of which is separation, for at a time when Israel is unified nothing can rule over them. This began when Yosef was separated from the tribes, for while Yaakov Avinu was still among them it could not be discerned who was the greatest of the tribes, as sometimes he would bring this one closer, and sometimes this one closer, just whichever was fitting in his eyes to bring close at that time. Yet before his passing, at the time when he blessed them, he said to Yehuda, “the sons of your father will bow down before you,” and all recognized that Yehuda was dominant over his brothers. Because of this Yosef did not know how to conduct himself, whether to seat Yehuda at the head, for was he not the king, and it was forbidden to disrespect the king? Or should he seat himself at the head, for did he not know himself that Yehuda was the head and would therefore sit in a category unto himself, and not with the tribes? The tribes judged him that he did this out of hatred, and therefore they were punished to go with exile as they should have judged him favorably.Also with Yosef, his response was considered a sin, since he left room for them to be mistaken about him. Truly he should have acted by seating himself at the head since at this time he was king, yet he was to know in his heart that Yehuda was greater than he was. And truly, that his brothers were mistaken about him might seem like a small mistake in the eyes of man (yet it had tremendous results). Therefore one must always pray before God that it should never enter his mind to judge another as guilty, and also that his fellow man should not judge him as guilty, and therefore the tribes were punished, in that they were supposed to judge him favorably.