Torah Tidbits: Parshat Vayechi

48:5 - Jacob blesses Joseph's Egypt-born sones, Ephraim and Menasseh...  But they're not Jewish!?!  Their mother was Egyptian and, from what we read in the Torah itself, she never converts.  Incredible!  (And not the first time that intermarriage isn't such a bad thing...)

48:8-9 - You have to love Chabad...  What we read in these verses is "And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said: 'Who are these?' And Joseph said unto his father: 'They are my sons, whom God hath given me here.' And he said: 'Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them.'"  Pretty straightforward, right?  The Kehot interpolated text, though, offers some choice "extras" (that clear up my point above as well, apparently.  It's worth quoting at length (as a reminder, the bold is the direct translation, the plain type is the Kehot "interpolation"):

So Israel saw Joseph's sons and prepared to bless them, but just then, his Divine inspiration left him. He understood that this meant that they were not worthy of being blessed, and therefore asked Joseph, "Who are these sons of yours, whom I thought I knew so well? Why are they unworthy of my blessing? Is it perhaps because they were born and raised in this country, which is infamous for its lechery?" In fact, God withdrew Jacob's inspiration on account of the unworthy descendants that would descend from Joseph's sons—King Yehu and his sons from Manasseh, and King Yeravam and Achav from Ephraim—but Jacob did not know that his Divine inspiration was withdrawn for this reason.  In order to prove that his sons were worthy of Jacob's blessing, Joseph replied to his father, "Precisely because the Egyptians are notoriously lecherous, I went out of my way to ensure that the integrity of my marriage be beyond reproach by following the norms dictated in the Torah, even though we have not yet been formally required to do so, and even going beyond them. Specifically, I had my marriage contract written out, as the Torah requires, and I also had a document written attesting to my engagement, even though the Torah does not require this." Joseph then proceeded to produce these documents. He continued, "So you see, they are my sons, whom I made sure God gave me in accordance with His highest standards of marital integrity, even though they were born in this licentious country. Thus, they are truly worthy of your blessing." Joseph then prayed to God to once again grant Jacob the inspiration to bless them, which He did. So Jacob said, "If you would, bring them to me so that I may bless them."

Kind of impressive, no?  Just "fill in" all the question marks with your own text...  Amazing.

48:16 -"הַמַּלְאָךְ הַגֹּאֵל אֹתִי מִכָּל-רָע, יְבָרֵךְ אֶת-הַנְּעָרִים"  Nice!  As Jacob blesses Joseph's sons, now he seems to recognize that all those times a "man" came to help him find the way, it was really an angel...

48:17-19 - History repeats itself!  Jacob, who had tricked his father into giving him, the younger son, his blessing and birthright, here deliberately decides to give his blessing to Ephraim - the younger son - rather than Menasseh.  Obviously Jacob has a soft spot for second-borns...

50:2-8 - Joseph has Jacob enbalmed (לַחֲנֹט)?!?  I thought that was assur!  And it takes 40 days?!?  I thought you're supposed to get them into the ground ASAP!?  (Was this done in order to be able to bring the body to Hebron for burial?)  And the Egyptians wept for him...and travel with him en masse to the burian in Cannan.  Amazing.  What causes things to change?!?

50:26 - When Joseph dies, he is embalmed and buried in Egypt.  I never realized that he was buried there...  And embalmed?!?  Is he a mummy?