A Vort from the Rebbe on this week's parashah is Parashat Vayechi. In the beginning of Parashat Vayechi, Yaakov Avinu told Yosef, ועתה שני בניך הנולדים לך בארץ מצרים, now, your two children that were born to you in the land of מצרים, עד בואי אליך מצרימה, before I came to מצרים, לי הם, they're mine. אפרים ומנשה כראובן ושמעון יהיו לי, Efraim and Menashe should be to me like Reuven and Shimon, they're like my children. And to certain dinim, he made Efraim and Menashe as two separate shevatim, he split Yosef in half, and Efraim and Menashe are equal to the children of Yaakov, like Yaakov said they are mine. But the Alshich asks a question: Why did Yaakov have to say, your two children who were born to you in the land of Mitzrayim before I came to Mitzrayim, Efraim and Menashe are like Reuven and Shimon? He could have just said very simply, your two children, Efraim and Menashe, are mine. They will be to me like Reuven and Shimon. Why did he have to put in the words that your two children that were born to you in Mitzrayim before I came to Mitzrayim, why is that important to mention here? That's something that we know, we know Efraim and Menashe were born in Mitzrayim before Yaakov came. So why did he have to add that? So the Rebbe says the peshat like this: By adding that, Yaakov did not mean to give an additional description who he's talking about, he's talking about Efraim and Menashe who were born in Mitzrayim before Yaakov came. It's not to describe who they are, it's to explain why bedavka he chose these two to be like his own children.

And the Rebbe explains it like this: There is a pasuk that says in וישב, אלה תולדות יעקב יוסף. These are the children of Yaakov, Yosef. And Rashi says, תלה הכתוב תולדות יעקב ביוסף, that the pasuk puts the children of Yaakov on Yosef. In other words, the main child of Yaakov was Yosef. Why takeh is the main child of יעקב יוסף? So the Rebbe explains it, because we know that Yaakov is the בחיר שבאבות, the chosen one among the three Avot. What's the specialty of Yaakov versus Avraham and Yitzchak? Avraham also had a son, Yishmael. Yitzchak had a son, Esav. יעקב, מיטתו שלימה, יעקב all his children followed in the right path, followed in his path. That's why Yaakov is special. Now, in this concept that his children followed in his path expresses itself in Yosef more than the other brothers, because Yosef was a melech in Mitzrayim, was a king in Mitzrayim, which is ערות הארץ, the lowest of the lowest, and nevertheless, he followed the right path, he remained a tzaddik. So he really expresses what the maalah of Yaakov is. The maalah of Yaakov is that all his children followed. Where do we see that strongly? We see it in Yosef, that Yosef, even though he had all these obstacles and hardships, nevertheless he remained a tzaddik.

Now, as much as we see that in Yosef, in Ephraim and Menashe, we see that even more. Why? Yosef at least was with his father for 17 years. Yosef learned Torah from his father. Obviously he had the proper power to remain a tzaddik even though he was in ארץ מצרים. On the other hand, Ephraim and Menashe were born in Mitzrayim before Yaakov came, Yaakov wasn't there. They were born in an environment which is completely strange to the philosophy of Yaakov, to the kedushah of Yaakov. They didn't know Yaakov! And nevertheless, they continued to follow in the path of Torah u'mitzvot, in the path of kedushah like Yaakov wants. So as much as Yosef represented the ma'alah that the children of Yaakov are following in his footstep, because he was in Mitzrayim and nevertheless he was tzaddik, but at least he had partially the chinuch of Yaakov. But the two children, Ephraim and Menashe, who were born in Mitzrayim, and Yaakov wasn't there, and nevertheless they remained tzaddikim, that represents the real ma'alah of Yaakov, that mitato sheleimah. And that's what Yaakov said to Yosef: I am making your two children, Ephraim and Menashe, as my children. And he gave him the reason why: שני בניך הנולדים לך בארץ מצרים, your two children were born in מצרים, עד בואי אליך מצרימה, before I got to Mitzrayim, which means they had, I had no hashpa'ah on them, because they were there when I wasn't there, and nevertheless they are the way they are. That's why these two, כראובן ושמעון יהיו לי, they'll be like me, they'll be the ones that represent the main thing of my children. So this answers the question why he added the words, your children, your two children that were born in Mitzrayim before I came. And this is also a lesson to us, in our time. There were people that saw the Rebbe and were involved with the Rebbe, and came to farbrengens, etc. But then, what about those that were born when the Rebbe is not here begashmiyut, they don't see the Rebbe begashmiyut? And nevertheless, we see how things are, how the bachurim, the yungelait are chassidim and follow on the Rebbe's footsteps, that brings out the true ma'alah of the Rebbe, and it brings out the true inyan of mitato sheleimah, and this is the koach that we have, that even though you were not there with the Rebbe begashmiyut, nevertheless, you follow on the Rebbe's footsteps.