For a visitor not familiar with the Shabbat dinner rituals, one of the most striking elements of the evening is the parents’ formal blessing of the children. As the parents place their hands on the head of each child, hopes and prayers for that child’s spiritual development and relationship with Gd are affirmed. When a daughter is blessed, the introductory words mention our matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and Rachel. One would expect the blessing for boys to follow suit and mention our patriarchs Avraham, Isaac, and Jacob – yet they are absent from the blessing. The origin of the ritual is revealed in this week’s parsha, Vayechi, as we see Jacob saying to Joseph’s sons, “By you shall Israel invoke blessings, saying: Gd make you like Ephraim and Menashe.” Still, why ‘like Ephraim and Menashe’? What do these 2 possess that the patriarchs do not? Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, the twelve sons of Jacob….rivalry and enmity permeate the relationships. Ephraim and Menashe are the first brothers at peace among siblings; it is this peace that Jacob prays will be a blessed example for the Children of Israel.