A dying man does not waste his last gestures. When Jacob gathered the strength to bless his grandsons, he did something strange with his hands. Menasheh, the firstborn, stood on his right. Ephraim, the younger, stood on his left. That was the proper order. Jacob reversed it anyway.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves the moment with care. Jacob stretched out his right hand and laid it upon the head of Ephraim, though he was the younger; and his left hand upon the head of Menasheh, altering his hands, for Menasheh was the firstborn (Genesis 48:14). The Aramaic verb for "altering" suggests a deliberate crossing, not a fumble. He knew. He had spent a lifetime watching birth order upended — the younger Jacob taking the blessing from Esau, the younger Joseph ruling over Reuben. The hands moved with the weight of memory.
In Judaism, birthright is a starting point, not a destiny. Bechirah — chosenness — follows character and calling, not chronology. Jacob's crossed hands become the quiet refrain of the tribes: God's blessing flows where God chooses, and the older learn to make room for the younger.