The Redeeming Angel and a Blessing Beyond the Evil Eye

"The angel who redeems me" (Genesis 48:16). Rabbi Eleazar says: He compared redemption to sustenance and sustenance to redemption. Just as redemption involves wonders, so too sustenance involves wonders; just as sustenance happens every day, so too redemption happens every day. Rabbi Samuel bar Nahman said: Sustenance is greater than redemption, for redemption comes by way of an angel, as it is written, "the angel who redeems me," but sustenance comes by way of the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is written, "You open Your hand and satisfy" (Psalms 145:16). Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said: It is greater than the splitting of the Sea of Reeds, as it is written, "to Him who divided the Sea of Reeds into parts" (Psalms 136:13), and next to it, "who gives bread to all flesh" (Psalms 136:25). "And let them multiply abundantly in the midst of the earth" (Genesis 48:16). It is written, "Joseph is a fruitful son, a fruitful son by a spring" (Genesis 49:22). Rabbi Abbahu said: Do not read "by a spring" but "above the eye" — the seed of Joseph, the evil eye has no power over it. Rabbi Yose bar Hanina said: From here — "and let them multiply abundantly": just as the fish of the sea are covered by water and the evil eye has no power over them, so too the seed of Joseph, the evil eye has no power over them. Rabbi Yohanan would go and sit at the gates of the ritual bath. He said: When the daughters of Israel come up from the water and look at me, may they have offspring as beautiful as I am. The Rabbis said to him: Does the master not fear the evil eye? He said to them: I come from the seed of Joseph, over whom the evil eye has no power, as it is written, "a fruitful son" and so on. And some say: from here — an eye that did not wish to feed on what was not its own, the evil eye shall not rule over it. "Behold, I am dying" (Genesis 48:21). Rav Nahman and Rav Isaac were sitting at a meal. After they ate, Rav Nahman said to Rav Isaac: Let the master say something to us. He said to him: Thus said Rabbi Yohanan, Jacob our father did not die. He said to him: Was it then for nothing that the mourners eulogized and the embalmers embalmed? He said to him: I am expounding a verse. "And you, fear not, My servant Jacob, and I will save your seed from the land of their captivity" (Jeremiah 30:10): He compares Jacob to his seed — just as his seed is alive, so too he is alive. "And I have given you one portion above your brothers" (Genesis 48:22) and so on. Did he take it with his sword and his bow? But it is already said, "For not in my bow do I trust, and my sword shall not save me" (Psalms 44:7). Rather, "with my sword" — this is prayer; "with my bow" — this is supplication. Jacob said: How can I leave my sons to fall into the hand of the nations of the world? I will fight against them. This is what he said to Joseph, "which I took from the hand of the Amorite" and so on. And where do we find that Jacob took with his sword and his bow? You must say: in Shechem.