Every Friday night we reenact one of the most moving scenes in the book of Bureshite.

Jacob, reunited with Joseph, is ill.

Joseph comes to visit him, bringing with him his two sons, Manasha and Ephraim.

Jacob, with deep emotion, says,

I never even hoped to see your face, said Israel to Joseph, but now God has even let me see

your children. He blesses Joseph. Then he places his hands on the heads of the two boys. He blessed

them that day and said, in time to come, Israel will use you as a blessing. They will say, Yisimhaelokim,

Kafraim and Mnasha, may God make you like Ephraim and Manasha. And so we do to this day.

Why do we use this blessing above all others? One commentator says, it's because Ephraim and Manasha were the first two Jewish

children born in exile. So Jewish parents blessed their children asking God to help them

keep their Jewish identity intact despite all the temptations and distractions of diaspora life.

But I heard a most lovely explanation based on the Zohar from my revered predecessor Lord

Giacovovic blessed memory.

He said that though there are many instances in the Torah and Tanakh of parents blessing their

children, this is the only time we find a grandparent blessing grandchildren.

Between parents and children, there are often tensions. Parents worry about their children.

Children sometimes rebel against their parents. The relationship is not always smooth.

Not so with grandchildren. There, the relationship is one of love,

untroubled by tension or anxiety. When a grandparent blesses a grandchild, then he or she does so

with a full heart. That's why this blessing, by Jacob of his his grandchildren became the model of blessing across the

generations and anyone who's had the privilege of having grandchildren will immediately understand

the truth and depth of this explanation. Grandparents bless their grandchildren and are blessed

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