PARASHAT HASHAVUA: THE BLESSING OF CHILDREN, SPECIFICALLY FOR MENASHE – PART I

The countings in the “Book of Numbers” and their discrepancies have long engaged our rabbis. On one hand, the final tallies in Bamidbar and Pinchas are nearly identical. On the other hand, we find dramatic shifts within specific tribes, particularly Menashe.

In Parashat Bamidbar, Menashe numbers 32,200. Yet in Parashat Pinchas, they jump all the way to 52,700. The Ba’al HaTurim notes that this is the fulfillment of what the Sons of Yosef claimed to Yehoshua when complaining about insufficient land: “I am a great people, as Hashem has blessed me to koh (this point)” (Yehoshua 17:14). The letters of koh having a numerical value of 20 and 5, which can join to make up the exact difference between Menashe’s two counts – 20,500. The Tur’s source is Rashi on the pasuk in Yehoshua.

This Rashi is anchored in the midrash (Lekach Tov) on Yaakov Avinu’s beracha, “Ben porat Yosef... alei ayin” (Bereishis 49:22). The midrash expounds that this means that they will multiply (poreh) like a flowing stream. Yehoshua told them to hide in the forests to avoid an ayin hara, but they responded that the seed of Yosef is immune to ayin hara (“alei ayin”).

We can look further at Rashi (Yehoshua 17:1) regarding Machir ben Menashe being a “man of war” who received the Gilad. With these brief words, Rashi addresses a glaring historical question: why did half of Menashe receive a portion east of the Jordan if they never requested it, and why weren’t they subject to the conditions imposed on the tribes of Gad and Reuven?

Rashi answers that Machir, a formidable warrior and grandson of Yosef, had already conquered portions of the Gilad early on. Rashi is following the historical timeline of Rabbi Yosei ben Chalafta (Seder Olam Rabba, 9), which states that Machir (as well as Yair) was born during Yaakov’s lifetime and survived past Moshe’s death.

This approach is mirrored by a student of Rasag, who writes that Machir’s maternal grandfather was the original patriarch of Gilad, and Yair subsequently seized it. Because they held this land since the days of Yosef’s rule over Egypt, Moshe (see Devarim 3:15) and Yehoshua (see Yehoshua 17:1) granted them their ancestral historical holdings. The accounts in the Chumash regarding Machir, Yair, and Novach actually depict past history.

However, with all due reverence, this approach leaves a lingering question. If the surprising population growth was made possible by the beracha of Yosef, why do we not find the same growth in the Tribe of Ephrayim? Next week we will humbly suggest an answer to handle all the questions.

We see again Chazal’s principle: “The words of Torah are ‘poor’ in one place, but are ‘rich’ in another” (Otzar Midrashim 32). It is like a merchant ship bringing food from afar (see Mishlei 31:14). One must comprehensively review all the sources to receive a complete picture.

Let us take this as a profound lesson for our daily lives: never rely on the information around us as a one-dimensional reality. Instead, a multi-dimensional perspective provides a higher resolution and more truthful picture.

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