Yearning

Rabbi Moshe Zvi Nerya offers an alternate explanation. All of Jacob's other children and grandchildren grew up in the land of Israel. They were a closed circuit, all drawing their spiritual sustenance from the tradition of Jacob's hearth and home. Ephraim and Manasseh were children of the Diaspora. Joseph's challenge was to instill the values of his father's home into his children raised on foreign soil, in alien surroundings, in the royal court. He shared with them his deep and meaningful memories of the old country and of his father's household. He cultivated in them yearning for family ties and traditions. Manasseh and Ephraim had this enthusiasm and longing uniquely instilled within them.

It was that degree of enthusiasm that Jacob recognized when he established them as the encapsulation of blessing which Jewish parents in every generation bestow upon their children: 'May you be like Ephraim and Manasseh.' May you long for the fulfillment of that which you lack; may you be infused with the dream of returning home and the intense desire to forge an unbreakable link with your cherished family heritage.