וישב על המטה. He did this in order to pay his respects to the presence of “Royalty” in his house to the extent that he was able to under, the circumstances, considering that he was bedridden. We observe the opposite mode of behaviour described when Mordechai did not make the slightest move indicating deference for Haman in Esther 5,9 “he neither rose nor even moved from where he was seated.”

ונתתיך לקהל עמים ונתתי את הארץ, at the time Yaakov received this promise all his sons with the exception of Binyamin had already been born, and G’d had already said to me when I left on the way to Charan (in the dream of the ladder) “the land which you lie on I shall give to you and to your descendants.” (28,13) If so, it had been G’d’s intention at that time already to give me a “community of nations, i.e. separate tribes. Seeing that you and your children are my descendants and it is unreasonable to assume that G’d had had only you personally in mind when speaking of קהל עמים, a community of nations, it is clear to me that I have the right to designate both these sons of yours as being part of this concept קהל, i.e. that each of them will become a founding father of one of these tribes which constitute this community of nations.

ועתה שני בניך הנולדים לך....לי הם, G’d gave me only these two sons of yours together with you. Yaakov had confirmed his meaning when he said that just as he had not expected to see Joseph again he had also not expected to live to see two of his sons. (verse 11)

ומולדתך אשר הולדת אחריהם, your grandchildren, who are truly called מולדתך, seeing that this expression includes children and grandchildren,לך יהיו, they will be known as part of בית יוסף, the house of Joseph, bearing your name. And their blessing will be part of your blessing, not separate blessings.על שם אחיהם יקראו בנחלתם, everyone of Menashe’s sons will also incorporate the name of his father Menashe, as will the sons of his brother, who will also incorporate the name of their father Ephrayim as part of their individual names. They were to inherit part of the land of Israel together with Yaakov’s other sons.

(2) THEY SHALL BE YOURS. They will be called "Bet Yosef" and will be blessed in the blessing to you.

(3) THEY WILL BE CONSIDERED WITH THEIR BROTHERS IN THEIR INHERITANCE. Each of Menashe's sons will be considered like his brothers, under the name of Menashe, to inherit their inheritance with them, and similarly, each of Efraim's sons will be considered like his brothers, under the name of Efraim, to inherit Efraim's inheritance with them.

ואני, maybe you think that when G’d said to me: “I will make you into a community of nations,” that He meant that I myself would become the father of more sons but that I was denied those on account of some sin, this cannot be because

בבואי מפדן, when I came away from Padan Aram, when G’d appeared to me,

מתה עלי רחל, as the sages say (Sanhedrin 22) a woman’s death is felt first and foremost by her husband; [hence the justification for Yaakov saying עלי, “for me,” i.e. the loss was mine. Ed.]

בדרך בעוד כברת ארץ לבא אפרתה, immediately after G’d finished speaking to me before I had even arrived at Beyt Lechem, ואקברה שם בדרך אפרת, and I had to bury her there on the route to Efrat; I was so overcome by grief at the time that I did not even have the strength to transport her remains to the burial grounds in Beyt Lechem. There is no doubt that ever since her death my heart was so full of grief that my libido had completely ceased to be active and I would not have been able to sire more children and to thereby become dirtied by sin, even if I had felt the desire to do so. [The author describes the act of procreation as “sinful,” meaning that even among the most pious, the act of ejaculating is itself accompanied by some impure thought, a degree of physical gratification. Ed.].

וירא ישראל את בני יוסף, he recognised them as human beings, but did not recognise them for who they were.

בני הם אשר נתן לי אלוקים בזה. My sons, but not my grandsons. These are the sons G’d granted me while I was here, alone, without any member of my family. as you said when you spoke about “those whom you had before I came to Egypt.” They are the ones of whom you said: “לי הם,” “they are mine.”

לא יוכל לראות, he could not see clearly. In order for a blessing to take hold it is necessary for the one bestowing the blessing to see the party whom he blesses at the time the blessing is pronounced. [the same is true of a curse, this is why Balak took Bileam to a vantage point from which he could see the people of Israel whom he had been hired to curse, clearly. (Numbers 23,13). G’d also took Moses to a point from which he could see the land of Israel clearly so that he could bless the land. Something similar occurred in Kings II 2,24 where Elisha turned around to face the lads mocking his baldness before he cursed them.

וישק להם ויחבק להם, the physical contact was designed to make Yaakov more attached to them so that his blessing would be correspondingly more effective.

גם את זרעך, the ones to whom the description קהל עמים applied. (verse 4) Yaakov continued (perhaps not audibly); this is when He said to me that He blessed me, i.e. Yaakov had repeated this blessing by G’d in his conversation to Joseph without being that specific. [I had to paraphrase this to make the author intelligible. Ed.] As a result of that blessing which I received, my blessing to you now will be effective, so that by blessing his sons he also blessed Joseph at the same time.

מעם ברכיו, of his father, who was embracing them.

שיכל את ידיא, he was quite clear, relying on his sense of touch, without being able to see exactly where his hands came to rest.

He blessed Yoseif. Scripture does not relate the contents of this blessing.

And said. After he blessed Yoseif.

The God. You, O Elokim before whom my fathers walked, do this in their merit

האלוקים הרועה אותי, the same G’d Who has acted as my own shepherd, i.e. “You Who have shown me so much love.”

המלאך הגואל אותי מכל רע יברך, the letter ה introducing the word המלאך is not a definitive article, identifying a specific angel [seeing that we had not previously heard about him; Ed] but acts as an appeal, instruction to such angel(s) who in the past on different occasions had been Yaakov’s guardian angels(s). Yaakov appeals to his own guardian angels to bless the children if their own merit does not suffice for the guardian angels assigned to them to do the job.

ויקרא בהם שמי ושם אבותי אברהם ויצחק. Although we know that Avraham and Yitzchok were both Yaakov’s fathers, he meant to make plain that he did not appeal to the god of Terach or Nachor who were similarly his “fathers” in the sense of being his ancestors. It is an axiom throughout Scripture that the righteous are never linked to those of their ancestors who were wicked, i.e. idolaters. The same is true in reverse as our sages say in Sanhedrin 52, (but not found there) קרינן לרשיעא אפילו בר צדיקא רשיעא בר רשיעא, “a wicked person, even if he is the son of a righteous person is still called a wicked person son of a wicked person.” This principle is invoked in order to save the righteous father the embarrassment of being associated with his son who has turned from the path of righteousness. When the ancestry of such a wicked person requires to be mentioned, one prefers to link him to another wicked person in his lineage. This is why Yaakov prayed for the lads that they should remain G’d fearing and prepared to serve Him. If they were to do this they would qualify to be described as offspring of Avraham and Yitzchok. This principle is known as יחד לבבי ליראה את ה', “let my heart be undivided in reverence for Your name.” (Psalms 86,11)

כי זה הבכור. שים נא ידך על ראשו. Once he would place his hand on the head of Menashe, Joseph felt sure that his father’s mind would follow the direction of his hand. This has been illustrated in Numbers 27,23 when Moses placed his hands on Joshua when appointing him as his successor. [if the physical contact would not be of significance, why would Moses have bothered? Ed.] The right hand is presumed to be stronger than the left, hence a blessing conveyed by means of the right hand would be a stronger, more comprehensive blessing.

הנה אנכי מת, seeing that I make this my last will and testament when I am close to death, this gift is irrevocable.

והשיב אתכם אל ארץ אבותיכם, where my gifts will materialise.

ואני נתתי לך, Yaakov emphasises the word אני in order to explain that he was not violating any of the rules pertaining to the distribution of the land of Canaan to the tribes, seeing such a distribution was not yet something at hand, but was still in the realm of the potential. Seeing that he, Yaakov, had personally conquered the city of Shechem, in spite of this city being part of the land of Canaan, seeing that he had taken it from the “Emorite,” i.e. someone whose deeds were as evil as those of the Emorite, (although the inhabitants had been Hittites), what he was allocating to Joseph now was an actual, a gift bestowed by him now, and had no bearing on any distribution of land conquered by Joshua in the future. Yaakov hints that givers who promise a lot wind up actually not even keeping part of their promises, such as Esau. When Yaakov, at the time, had bought the birthright from Esau, Esau forfeited not only his additional share in the land as a firstborn but wound up without any share in the land of Canaan whatsoever.

בחרבי ובקשתי, through my intelligence and insight (חכמה ובינה). Whereas the weapons of warriors are the sword and the bow, the equivalent weapons of the righteous, the scholars, are their wisdom and understanding. This is what Psalms 45,4 has in mind when the author writes: חגור חרבך על ירך גבור. Our sages in Shabbat 63 already commented on this verse that the psalmist does not refer to actual weapons but to the use of words of Torah as being the tools used by the Torah scholar. [The interpretation of this verse as something allegorical, and almost diametrically opposed to the plain meaning of the text, is disputed by some scholars in the Talmud there. Ed.]