Why Jews Bless Their Sons With Ephraim and Menasheh

Midrash Aggadah Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 48:20 View source

Curated by The Jewish Mythology Team · Published January 22, 2025

Every Friday night, in homes from Jerusalem to Buenos Aires, Jewish fathers place their hands on their sons' heads and say the same words: "May God make you like Ephraim and like Menasheh." The custom is ancient, and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan traces it straight back to the deathbed of Jacob.

The Aramaic adds a detail the Hebrew only hints at. Jacob blessed them "in the day of their circumcision" (Genesis 48:20) — the moment a Jewish son enters the covenant. From that day forward, Israel would bless its infants with this formula. "The Lord set thee as Ephraim and as Menasheh."

Why these two? The tradition answers: because they were the first Jewish brothers in history who did not fight over the blessing. Cain killed Abel. Isaac and Ishmael split. Jacob and Esau tore apart a household. Joseph and his brothers nearly did the same. But Ephraim and Menasheh, raised in the palaces of Egypt where Hebrew identity was a daily choice, stood quietly as their grandfather crossed his hands — and remained brothers.

The Targum adds that in the desert census, the prince of Ephraim would be counted before the prince of Menasheh. The blessing held.

Themes

Patriarchs Community Parenting

Biblical References

Genesis 48:20

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