Yosef's Blessing: Torah, Holiness and Bris Milah

1“He blessed Yosef … The angel who redeems me from all evil, may he bless the lads. May my name be called upon them, and the name of my fathers …”¹ The holy Zohar and the holy Ohr HaChaim ask why the verse says “He blessed Yosef.”² We find no blessing here for Yosef, only for his sons! They answer that a blessing for the sons is a blessing for the father. Still, a question remains: why did the verse need to say “He blessed Yosef” at all? Would it not have been enough to say “He blessed his sons”? We must also ask about the words “May my name be called upon them, and the name of my fathers.” Respect for his fathers would seem to make it more fitting for Yaakov to mention their names before his own. Why did he put his own name first?

2The Torah says, “He blessed them on that day, saying, ‘By you shall Yisrael bless, saying: May God make you like Efraim and like Menashe.’”³ Targum Yonasan ben Uziel, the Aramaic translation, renders this verse: “By you, Yosef my son, the House of Israel will bless the infant on the day of the circumcision, saying: May Hashem make you like Efraim and like Menashe.” But where is the day of the circumcision hinted at here? Simply understood, Yaakov's blessings hold for every time and occasion. What led Targum Yonasan to read “By you shall Yisrael bless” as speaking of the day of the circumcision in particular?

3It seems we can explain this as follows. Chazal said: “The Holy One, blessed be He, said: I created the yetzer hara, and I created the Torah as its antidote.”⁴ We know that wherever the yetzer hara is mentioned without further description, the well-known yetzer hara is meant: the one that tries to make a person stumble into blemishes of the holy covenant.⁵ The only way to be saved from it is to study Torah and toil in it. As the Rambam writes, sin dwells only in a heart empty of wisdom.⁶ We see this in Yosef HaTzaddik, whose special quality, as is well known, is Yesod, “Foundation,” the sefirah that is tied to guarding the covenant. The verse testifies about him, “Yosef was the ruler”:⁷ he ruled and was master over his yetzer hara through the quality of Yesod. He reached this level through the great amount of Torah he learned. The verse calls him “a son of his old age,” which the Targum renders “a wise son,” for everything Yaakov Avinu had learned with Shem and Ever he taught to Yosef.⁸ One who guards himself in holiness from every blemish is, we are taught, privileged to have Divine abundance flow through him. That is why the verse goes on to say of Yosef, “he was the provider.”

4This lets us explain Yaakov Avinu's blessing here. “He blessed Yosef” means, as the holy Zohar says, that the blessing was for the sons. The verse names Yosef because the way to be worthy of Divine abundance and to receive it is through Yesod. So “He blessed Yosef” means that the blessing for his sons flowed on account of Yosef, that is, by the power of Yesod, which makes a person a vessel to receive that abundance.

5The same idea explains “May my name be called upon them.” Yaakov Avinu stands for the pillar of Torah,⁹ as it says, “Yaakov was a wholesome man, dwelling in tents.”¹⁰ And, as we saw with Yosef, the way to attain Yesod is through the power of Torah. That is why Yaakov said “my name” first: his name alludes to the Torah. In other words, the blessings the lads will earn by guarding Yesod come through the power of Torah, which Yaakov's name hints at. Only after that did he also mention the merit of his fathers, Yitzchak Avinu and Avraham Avinu, who, as we know, stand for the pillars of avodah, the service of Hashem, and of acts of kindness.

6This also explains why Targum Yonasan ben Uziel says these blessings speak of the day of the circumcision. The Rambam teaches that the reason for the mitzvah of circumcision is to weaken the power of desire.¹¹ On the day of his circumcision, then, the infant is at once privileged to receive a measure of holiness,¹² as we say at a bris, “the sign of the holy covenant.” And through this holiness he becomes worthy of Hashem's blessing.

7The days of Shovavim Tat are now beginning, the weeks from Parshas Shemos onward that are especially suited for repairing blemishes of the covenant.¹³ In these days we must add all the more to our Torah study, and above all to the study of Mishnayos, which brings repair to the soul.¹⁴ May Hashem grant that we be privileged to accomplish much for the Torah and to bring the coming of the Redeemer near. Amen, may it be His will.