Genesis 49:26

The blessings of thy father be added to the blessings wherewith my fathers Abraham and Izhak have blessed me, and which the princes of the world Ishmael and Esau and all the sons of Keturah have desired: let all these blessings be united, and form a diadem of majesty for the head of Joseph, and for the brow of the man who became chief and ruler in Mizraim, and the brightness of the glory of his brethren.

ברכות אביך גברו על ברכות הורי, the blessings of your father Yaakov who has been blessed by G’d on the occasion of the dream with the ladder (Genesis 28,13), are more comprehensive than the blessings my own parents had received at the time. G’d blessed me with unlimited boundaries “you will branch out to the east, the west, etc.”

עד תאות גבעות עולם, as far as the furthest hills of the world. The expression תאוה occurs in connection with the Israelites’ demand for a meat diet in the desert, in preference to or in addition to the manna. (Numbers 34,10) The term is also used to describe far off places such as לבא חמת in Numbers 34,8. Accordingly, the expression הורי may be a duplication of the expressionגבעות עולם , used here as well as elsewhere to underline a point the Torah makes. A similar duplication occurs in Deuteronomy 33,15 of the expression מראש הררי קדם and the expression ממגד גבעות עולם in Moses’ blessing “with the best from the ancient mountains, and the bounty of hills immemorial.” Both Yaakov and Moses employ practically the same wording in describing the vastness of Joseph’s blessing....

נזיר אחיו, the king over his brothers, the one wearing the crown, נזר.

ברכות אביך, may He also grant you the blessing which has been bestowed on your father when the same G’d promised me that I would spread out in all directions of the globe. (28,14) This meant that my heritage would be boundless. This was only an extension of the original blessing given to Avraham at the beginning of Genesis 12 that ונברכו בך כל משפחות האדמה ובזרעך, “through you will be blessed all the families of the earth and through your descendants.” This verse is also a promise to the moral elite of the gentiles who in the words of Bileam in Numbers 23,23 will be numbered among the people loyal to G’d and who will receive their reward. Bileam speaks of כעת יאמר ליעקב ולישראל מה פעל ה', (Israel will be told by G’d directly what G’d does, not relying on astrologers and the like) The prophet Yoel 3,5 promises that all those who refer in their conversation to Hashem, will survive the wars preceding the coming of the Messiah, their mention of G’d being considered as proof of their believing in Him. [If I understand the author correctly, he feels that unless the promise given to Avraham at the beginning of Lech Lecha will help those חסידי אומות העולם, the righteous among the gentiles who are deserving, to survive the cataclysmic events preceding the coming of the Messiah, they are of too transient a nature to be taken seriously. Ed.] The distinction of the Jewish people lies in the fact that they do not turn to soothsayers, and all kinds of charlatans, astrologers or palm readers to divine the future. If they want to know something about the future they turn to G’d directly or to a prophet, or they are content to let G’d do what He considers to be right. Hence, by proclaiming the name of the Lord one is presumed to belong to this elite. Verses quoted by the author, such as Isaiah 61,6 as well as Zecharyah 8,23 are an assurance that when the time comes, having been steadfast in one’s loyalty to G’d, one will share in the ultimate salvation. The Jews at that time will finally be recognised as deserving a position of leadership amongst mankind.

גברו על ברכות הורי, and the reason that I said ברכות אביך is because they are more powerful than the ones which my parents, הורי, received.

ברכת אביך גברו, although Yaakov uses the past tenses in the word גברו, what he means is the future, that the blessing will prove to be what he says. The anomaly of using the past tense to describe matters that are yet to occur is no anomaly; it occurs again and again in Scripture. The word הורי, normally translated as “my parents,” refer to Avraham and Yitzchok, Yaakov’s father and grandfather respectively, his mentors. The very expression הורה, horeh, and הורה, horah, respectively, apply to father and mother, depending on the vowel under the letterר . This is so as both are involved in bringing about the pregnancy leading to the eventual birth of the child. The father is the active partner, whereas the mother is considered the passive partner seeing that she is the recipient of the male’s sperm.

עד תאות גבעת עולם, these blessings should in turn be transferred to your offspring in an unending chain. We know the word תאוה as describing a limit, boundary, from Numbers 34,10 והתאויתם לכם, “you will draw for yourselves (boundaries).” Yaakov simply means that as long the universe will continue to exist “my blessing to you shall remain in force.” Hills and mountains, as opposed to rivers, are symbols of something that endures. The prophet Isaiah echoes this thought when he said (Isaiah 54,10)כי ההרים ימושו והגבעות תמוטינה “for even if the mountains were to move and the hills to collapse, etc.” [just as the former is unlikely, so G’d’s loyalty shall remain steadfast towards Israel. Ed.]

תהיינה לראש יוסף, in all the blessings which have been mentioned in this chapter Joseph should be the first and principal beneficiary. The words וקדקד נזיר אחיו are again a duplication, repetition, in order to emphasise how strongly Yaakov feels about the matter.

נזיר, an expression applied to leading people as in Nachum 3,17 מנזריך כארבה.”your guards were like locusts.”

עד תאות גבעות עולם, “as far as the hills at the end of the world;” according to Rashi, Yaakov was able to extend such blessings as a reward for having fed his father with the delicacies that he used to enjoy. G–d had already enlarged the scope of his blessings to him when He told him that his descendants would spread in all directions of the globe. (Genesis 28,14)