מט:כח כָּל־אֵ֛לֶּה שִׁבְטֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל שְׁנֵ֣ים עָשָׂ֑ר וְ֠זֹאת אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּ֨ר לָהֶ֤ם אֲבִיהֶם֙ וַיְבָ֣רֶךְ אוֹתָ֔ם אִ֛ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֥ר כְּבִרְכָת֖וֹ בֵּרַ֥ךְ אֹתָֽם׃
49:28 All these are the tribes of Israel, twelve in all, and this is what their father said to them as he blessed them. He gave each one his own special blessing.
(The Living Torah translation)
ברך אותם. לֹא הָיָה לוֹ לוֹמַר אֶלָּא אִישׁ אֲשֶׁר כְּבִרְכָתוֹ בֵּרַךְ אוֹתוֹ, מַה תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר בֵּרַךְ אוֹתָם? לְפִי שֶׁנָּתַן לִיהוּדָה גְּבוּרַת אֲרִי וּלְבִנְיָמִין חֲטִיפָתוֹ שֶׁל זְאֵב וּלְנַפְתָּלִי קַלּוּתוֹ שֶׁל אַיָּל, יָכוֹל שֶׁלֹּא כְלָלָן כֻּלָּם בְּכָל הַבְּרָכוֹת, תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר בֵּרַךְ אוֹתָם:
ברך אתם HE BLESSED THEM — It should have said, “every man according to his blessing he blessed him”; why, then does it say “he blessed them”? But since in the blessings he ascribed to Judah personally “the strength of a lion”, to Benjamin “the rapacity of a wolf” and to Naphtali “the swiftness of a hind”, one might think that he did not include all of them in all the blessings, Scripture therefore states “he blessed them” (i.e. each of them personally and all of them together — extending all the personal blessings to each of them) (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayechi 16; cf. Rashi on Exodus 1:19).
איש אשר כברכתו ברך אותם לכל אחד מהם נתן ברכה צריכה לו ביחוד כגון ליהודה בענין המלכות וליששכר בענין התורה וללוי בענין העבודה:
איש אשר כברכתו ברך אותם, he gave an individual blessing to each one in accordance with what he perceived to be the son’s need in view of his eventual destiny. Yehudah needed to have a blessing that his dynasty would endure, etc. Levi needed to be blessed that his function of serving G’d as representative of the people would endure, etc.
אשר כברכתו העתידה לבא לו. [וזאת אשר דבר להם אביהם איש כברכתו וזאת אשר אמרנו הוא אשר דבר להם, ואח״כ בירך אותם, ולא פי׳ במה בירכם].
אשר כברכתו, “in accordance with the individual blessing of each.” (Appropriate for events in the future experienced by each tribe.)
אשר כברכתו. פי' הראוי לו כפי בחינת נשמתו וכפי מעשיו, כי יש לך לדעת כי הנפשות כל אחת יש לה בחינת המעלה יש שמעלתה כהונה ויש מלכות ויש כתר תורה ויש גבורה ויש עושר ויש הצלחה, ונתכוין יעקב בנבואה לברך כל אחד כפי ברכתו הראוי לה המלך במלכות והכהן בכהונה וכן על זה הדרך ולא הפך המסילות:
אשר כברכתו according to his blessing, etc. Each person received a blessing in keeping with his individual personality and achievements. You must not forget that different souls possess different potentials. Some souls are able to rise to the level of being priests, others to the level of being kings, etc. Still others have the potential to achieve greatness in Torah knowledge, or temporal successes such as wealth, or personal heroism. Jacob endeavoured to match his blessings to what he perceived to be the nature of each of his sons' special attributes.
ברך אותם וגו'. אמר אותם לשון רבים להיות כי ברכת כל אחד ואחד תועיל לעצמו ולכל אחיו כמו שתאמר כשיברך למלך שידו בעורף אויביו הנה מגיע הטוב לכל אחיו. וכן כשירבה מעלת אחד ושפעו והדרגתו לכל אחיו יגיעו גם כן מקצת דבר, לזה אמר איש אשר כברכתו ברך אותם:
ברך אותם, he blessed them. The Torah uses the word אותם them, (plural) to stress that each and every blessing to each individual son was also meant to be beneficial to the brothers as a whole. When Jacob predicted that Yehudah's hand would be on the neck of his enemies, this automatically meant that Yehudah's brothers would also benefit from his military prowess, etc.
RAV HIRSCH:
After characterizing them, he blessed each one in keeping with the blessing appropriate to his individuality. After describing the individuality and significance of each of his sons, he blessed each one accordingly. Ya'akov's blessing to each one of his sons was that each one should find blessing and happiness by remaining true to his individual personality.
Even those who did receive a blessing together with the designation of their character — and perhaps they, most of all — were in need of the special blessing mentioned here (v. 28), so that their outwardly blessed position would prove to be a blessing to them. For God cannot make a person happy against his will and without his cooperation. Conversely, a Jew worthy of the name will be able to transform even
עבְרֵי בְּעֵמֶק הַבָּכָא :the bitterest experience into a source of great blessing
(Tehillim 84:7).
Our Sages say (Yalkut Shimoni, Vayechi, 161): Do not think that, because he assigned to Yehudah the strength of a lion, to Binyamin the boldness of a wolf, to Naftali the swiftness of a gazelle, etc., Ya’akov did not include them all in all of the blessings. For this reason Scripture
Each one benefitted from the :ברך אותם but rather ברך אותו does not say
general blessing of the community, while the special blessing of each one enhanced the community...
After characterizing them, he blessed each one in keeping with the blessing appropriate to his individuality. After describing the individuality and significance of each of his sons, he blessed each one accordingly. Ya'akov's blessing to each one of his sons was that each one should find blessing and happiness by remaining true to his individual personality.
Even those who did receive a blessing together with the designation of their character — and perhaps they, most of all — were in need of the special blessing mentioned here (v. 28), so that their outwardly blessed position would prove to be a blessing to them. For God cannot make a person happy against his will and without his cooperation. Conversely, a Jew worthy of the name will be able to transform even
עבְרֵי בְּעֵמֶק הַבָּכָא :the bitterest experience into a source of great blessing
(Tehillim 84:7).
Our Sages say (Yalkut Shimoni, Vayechi, 161): Do not think that, because he assigned to Yehudah the strength of a lion, to Binyamin the boldness of a wolf, to Naftali the swiftness of a gazelle, etc., Ya’akov did not include them all in all of the blessings. For this reason Scripture
Each one benefitted from the :ברך אותם but rather ברך אותו does not say
general blessing of the community, while the special blessing of each one enhanced the community...
"Jacob's blessings to his children reflect a deep understanding, who they are and an acknowledgement of their strength and weaknesses, which are often the same.His blessings are not suffused with magic and assume no special divine authority, but they acknowledge and encourage the recipient of the blessing to be the best possible iteration of his own unique self. As such, they become a model for Jacob's descendants." (Grumet, Genesis pg 454, 2017)