In this week’s parsha Vayechi, Yosef presents his two sons, Menashe and Ephraim to his father, Yaakov, so that their grandfather can bless them before he passes. Yosef presented Menashe, the firstborn, to Yaakov’s right side. Nonetheless, Yaakov switched his arms in order to give the loftier blessing to the younger son. When Yosef protests, Yaakov declares that both will have important progeny. But Ephraim’s descendants will accomplish more.
What was the real intent of Yaakov? Why slight Menashe in such an overt way? Even if Ephraim would be greater, is it necessary to “make a big tzimmes” about it?
The mystics, however, explain that Yaakov was setting forth the two important roles of the Jewish people. Each has an advantage and it’s important for us to remember both roles. Nonetheless, one reigns supreme.
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Living in exile, we must employ two paradoxical approaches with regard to the world at large: On the one hand, we must be constantly vigilant against alien influences; on the other hand, we must engage the outside world in order to influence it positively.
Influencing our environment is obviously more important than merely maintaining our values. Temporally, however, the latter must precede the former, since if we forget our roots we will no longer have anything to contribute.
The two sons of Yosef, born and raised in Egypt, personified these two aspects of exilic life. Menashe, so named by Yosef "in order not to forget his family and heritage," personifies our need to resist assimilation. Ephraim, so named "because G-d has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering," demonstrates our purpose in the "land of suffering": to be fruitful there and influence it positively.
Chronologically, therefore, Menashe preceded Ephraim—he was the firstborn. Before we attempt to refine the world, we must take measures to ensure that we are immune to its temptations.
Yosef named his firstborn Menashe, and also wished to give him precedence in receiving Yaakov's blessing, as well.
In granting his blessing, however, Yaakov gave the greater blessing to Ephraim. As a Patriarch of our people, he focused on the purpose of our descent into exile: not mere survival, but the ascent that follows our successful encounter with exile. By transforming the exilic state into one of redemption, we achieve a greater degree of Divine consciousness than we began with. Furthermore, we have to summon deeper spiritual powers to transform exile than we do merely to survive exile. Yaakov therefore wished to give precedence to Ephraim.
Likewise, in our own exile, although Menashe is the firstborn—securing our Jewish identity is the first step—we must recognize that our purpose is to be an Ephraim, to influence the world around us.
When we remember the duality of our mission, we can confidently tackle both ends of it.