On One Leg-3

Brit-Am Rabbinical and Related Sources. EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH. Britain and America.

 EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH. Britain and America.Another way in which Rabbinical Sources help us is by affirming our Tribal identifications and resolving difficulties and objections.
For instance, our researches led us to the conclusion that the Tribes of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, were dominant among English-speaking peoples: Both Ephraim and Manasseh settled in the British Isles.Clans from Manasseh were dominant in the west and north and those of Ephraim in the east and south. Early British settlers of the USA came predominantly from Manasseh areas. Also the Great Migrations to the USA in the 1700s and 1800s came from areas in Europe where elements from Manasseh had settled without intermixing so much with their non-Israelite neighbors.
For this and other reasons we identified the USA with Manasseh and the British and their offshoots with Ephraim.
Many in the USA objected to this.
They said Ephraim was the younger brother and so too was the USA a younger nation than Britain. Ephraim  would be greater than Manasseh and so too was the USA greater than Britain.
Fair enough.
Rabbinical Commentators helped us resolve these objections.

Manasseh was the natural firstborn. When Israel was about to bless the two sons of Joseph they were brought to him.
Manasseh was presented to Israel's right-hand side and Ephraim to his left. Israel however crossed his hands when blessing the two of them so that his right hand was on the head of Ephraim.  This suggested that Ephraim was to be pre-eminent. Joseph was irritated since Manasseh and not Ephraim was his firstborn and the pre-eminence usually went to the first-born.

 Genesis 48:17 AND WHEN JOSEPH SAW THAT HIS FATHER LAID HIS RIGHT HAND UPON THE HEAD OF EPHRAIM, IT DISPLEASED HIM:
AND HE HELD UP HIS FATHER'S HAND, TO REMOVE IT FROM EPHRAIM'S HEAD UNTO MANASSEH'S HEAD.
18 AND JOSEPH SAID UNTO HIS FATHER, NOT SO, MY FATHER: FOR THIS IS THE FIRSTBORN: PUT THY RIGHT HAND UPON HIS HEAD.
19 AND HIS FATHER REFUSED, AND SAID, I KNOW IT, MY SON, I KNOW IT: HE ALSO SHALL BECOME A PEOPLE, AND HE ALSO SHALL BE GREAT: BUT TRULY HIS YOUNGER BROTHER SHALL BE GREATER THAN HE, AND HIS SEED SHALL BECOME A MULTITUDE OF NATIONS.

The "Bnei Yissachar" (Tzvi Elimelech Shapira of Dinov, 1784-1840) writes:

# Why did Jacob not command that Manasseh be placed on his left side and Ephraim on his right?
Why did Jacob have to cross his hands over?
The truth is that Manasseh is the firstborn!
This is why it says "GUIDING HIS HAND WITTINGLY" (Genesis 48:14). He did not change Manasseh over to the left side) for in truth Manasseh is the firstborn and the most important but he put Ephraim before Manasseh concerning the chronological precedence ##.

In other words, Ephraim would become great before Manasseh but Manasseh would achieve greatness after him. This is what happened.
          An Orthodox Jew (who also works as a psychologist and is resident in Baltimore, USA) Rabbi Fishel Mael (in "Hashevetim,"  a Hebrew-language work, p. 490) based on the above and other sources comments:

# The order of placing of the sons was important both in regards to their positioning concerning Joseph and in that concerning Jacob. Concerning Joseph .... Ephraim is the one who fulfills his place and most continues his path ... Therefore, Joseph set Ephraim on his right-hand side to show that Ephraim is the main principle of his might and the continuer of his path... However concerning Jacob it is just the opposite. Manasseh is closer ... to the path of Jacob... Jacob however guided his hands wittingly to indicate that the greatness of Manasseh would not be revealed so soon ... Jacob agreed only that Manasseh remain at his right-hand side for he is destined to complete the quality ...of Jacob himself in the building of the Third Temple #.

Other commentators also deal with this matter explaining that the descendants of Manasseh were at times greater in number than those of Ephraim.

We identify Ephraim with Britain and its daughters, Manasseh with the USA. Historically the greatness of British preceded that of the USA.
Even if there are many descendants of Ephraim in the USA it is Manasseh who sets the tone.