A Judaeo-Arabic View of Jacob’s Blessing to Joseph

Biblical poetry is replete with a play on words and medieval and modern commentators have drawn our attention to it. There are, however, turns of speech that have proven less conspicuous because the components were subtly incorporated into the fabric of the poetry, yet time dimmed the original sense and significance.

The blessing bestowed by Jacob upon his favorite son, Joseph, opens with the famous phrase, ben porat yoseph, and then repeats ben porat, again in the next stich. Commentators, as well as translators, uncertain of the meaning of the expression, grappled with the reason for the repetition, and struggled to understand the metaphoric implications of the tri-part verse (Genesis 49:22). In sum, there was no unanimity in providing a meaningful explanation of the verse.

This paper attempts to present an explanation of the whole verse based on the ingenious translation/interpretation of the Tafsir composed by Saadiah Gaon (882-942).