What Every Parent Wants to Give their Kids

The culmination of the Book of Breishit is the blessing Jacob gives Ephraim and Menashe.

From the dawn of humanity, no pair of siblings was able to combine two unique qualities, upright morals and loving brotherhood.

Some had the latter, namely Shimon and Levi, the only two siblings who were referred to as "brothers" by Yaakov himself, though their brotherhood was tempered by a bloodlust and thirst for vengeance. And so, Yaakov says that any blessing any future parent will give their children will be that of Ephraim and Menashe: "Hashem should make you like Ephraim and Menashe."

Of all the pairs of brothers, it would seem that Ephraim and Menashe would be the least likely to have attained the two abovementioned qualities; for one, they lived in exile, casting severe doubt on their parents' ability to raise them in an upright way. But even more so, they could have inherited their father's trauma, being at first left for dead, and then sold into slavery, imprisoned in a dungeon with no hope of escape – and yet, Yosef succeeded in raising his children to view distress as opportunity for growth.

His sons did not grow up feeling privileged and above others, like so many from affluent families may be inclined to; what Yosef's humbled roots taught them was to forego any trappings of deservedness, that they had to earn what they attained, that there's no such thing as being born into greatness for greatness's sake, or receiving firstborn rights without proving yourself.

And so, when Yaakov deemed Ephraim more worthy than Menashe that was ok, because Menashe had done his best, lived up to who he was meant to be and didn't need to be anybody else. Whether or not Yehoshua coming from the tribe of Ephraim, as opposed to Menashe, has no bearing on the merit Menashe had or has, or the extent to which he did or not live his life to his fullest. The eschewal of meritocracy and determinism so part and parcel of the previous generations, was what truly made this pair shine, which is why we are blessed with being like them and passing on that blessing to all future generations.