"And Yosef called the name of the eldest Menashe, 'Ki Nashani Elokim Es Kol Amali, V'Es Kol Bais Avi' - because G-d made me forget all of my hardship, and all of my father's house (Bereishis 41:51)."
"But Yosef forgot all [the Torah] he had learned. As it says: "G-d made me forget all of my hardship." And later it says: "the soul's hardships (Mishlei 16:26)" What is the hardship of the soul? The hardship of [learning] Torah (Bereishis Raba 79:5, 86:5)."
There are a number of obvious question that arise when reading this Pasuk. Firstly, what kind of attitude is this? Is Yosef so heartless and ungrateful so as to name his son "forget you dad?" Secondly, if he wants to forget his fathers house, why remind himself constantly of it by naming his son "I forgot my fathers house?" Finally, isn't forgetting Torah a BAD thing? Why would Yosef name his kid, "I forgot all my learning?"
Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsh explains that the verb "Nun Shin Hey" doesn't only mean "to forget," but also means "a creditor." So according to that, the Pasuk would read: "because G-d turned all my hardship and my father's house into creditors." Rav Hirsh brings his proof from Bereishis 32:33 - "Therefore the children of Israel don't eat the 'Gid HaNashe (sciatic nerve)' that is on the 'Kaf HaYerech (indentation on the thigh)'" In this Pasuk, the word "Nun, Shin, Hey" refers to a nerve! How can we understand from this Pasuk that Nun, Shin, Hey means "creditor?"
There are seven places in Chumash (including this one) where this word "Nun, Shin, Hey" appears. The only place where it means "creditor" is Shmos 22:24 - "If you lend money to my nation, to the poor by you, don't be 'KeNoshe' - like a creditor to him." In this Pasuk, being a creditor is a bad thing... but at least its obvious meaning is "creditor." What is the connection between Menashe and the Gid HaNashe?
Stay with me, this is gonna be a long one.
The Kli Yakar on Parshas VaYishlach 32:25 (the wrestling match between Yaakov and the Malach) explains that [according to most authorities,] the Malach that Yaakov fought was the Samach"Mem (an abbreviation for his real name which we try not to say aloud), the ministering Malach of Esav. This Malach (like all others) gets his name from his mission, which is to blind man's eyes from the truth (from the Hebrew Sumah - a blind man). This Malach is also the evil inclination and the Malach of death. The Samach"Mem tries to overcome Yaakov with the blindness of night, but once the night turns into day, the Malach sees that he is unable to overcome him. Then the Malach asks Yaakov to release him. Yaakov refuses to concur until the Samach"Mem gives him a Bracha. The Kli Yakar says that Yaakov wanted the Malach to admit that he was unable to blind him from Torah, so that this evil Malach will answer Amen against his will and thereby the prosecutor will become the defender, just like the Samach"Mem does on Yom Kippur. The Kli Yakar says that this battle between Yaakov and the Malach was a process of turning that which is evil into something good.
Keep that in mind... more background:
In his Pachad Yitzchok (Maamar 3), Rav Hutner explains the Midrash on Bereishis 1:2 - "And the land was 'Tohu, VaVohu, VeChoshech Al Pnei Tehom,' and the spirit of G-d hovered above the waters." The Midrash says that this Pasuk is an allusion to the four kingdoms under which Israel will be exiled. Tohu alludes to the Babylonian Exile; Vohu refers to the Median exile; Choshech (darkness) represents Greece, who darkened the eyes of Israel with their decrees; and Tehom alludes to the exile of Edom, which we are still in today. Only after these four stages of history will "the spirit of G-d hover over the waters" with the coming of the Mashiach.
Rav Hutner says that there are four different exiles because they each have different features. The specific features of the Edomite exile is not found at all in either the Babylonian or the Median exiles, but it is found in the Greek exile. The fist Halachic dispute ever, occurred at the time of the Greeks between Yose ben Yoezer and Yose ben Yochanan (over the law of Semicha on Yom Tov). It was the "darkening" of the Jews' eyes that caused this dispute. All the many different Halachic opinions we have today, are all a result of the darkening of Torah because of the Greek's decrees. The victory over the Greeks couldn't have been a victory over the darkness, because we were still stuck with the disputes. That which was forgotten because of them will remain hidden. If anything, it would seem that the Greeks won, after all, things have only gotten worse. What was the victory that we celebrate every Chanukah?
Sometimes by losing Torah, we are gaining more. There are two Gemarahs that seem to be contradictory. In Parshas Ki Sisah (34:1) Hashem tells Moshe to make a new set of tablets, like the old ones, "that you broke." The Gemarah (Shabbos 87a) says that G-d said Yeshar Kochacha that you broke them. G-d said that breaking the tablets was a good thing. Yet, in Eruvin (54a) it says that were it not for the shattering of the first tablets, Torah would never have been forgotten from Israel. Rav Hutner explains that these two Gemarahs are actually complimentary. We see from these Gemarahs that it is possible to increase Torah through forgetting it! All of the different opinions we have in Halacha are all a result of the Greeks decrees which caused the forgetting of Torah, yet "Eilu VeEilu Divrei Elokim Chaim" - they are all considered Torah! It was because of our forgetting the Torah that we have so much of it today. The result of the Greek's decrees was more Torah! Can you hear what's happening? The victory of Chanukah was that we took the Choshech, the darkening of our eyes and turned it into light. The victory wasn't getting rid of the darkness, it was turning the darkness itself into light. Rav Hutner continues to say that it is with this tool of darkness made light that we can fight the continuing darkness in the exile of Edom.
That which our destruction, the forgetting of Torah, actually turned into our savior by creating more Torah. In a certain sense, the prosecutor himself became the defender.
Now we can begin to answer our question about the connection between Menashe and the Gid HaNashe.
Before Yaakov faces his brother Esav, who is Edom, he encounters a spiritual battle with the Samach"Mem, the ministering Malach of Esav, who tries to blind him from the truth, the Torah. Once the Malach sees that the darkness has failed (as soon as the faintest speck of light, "Alos HaShachar" shines) the Malach sees that he cannot overcome him, and hits him in the "Yerech" - thigh. [It is interesting that the "Yerech" is the word used very often to refer to the place of the Bris Mila (see Rashi on Bereishis 23:2, and Shmos 1:5), which is also the place of Bracha, which means multiplying, or extending.] Yaakov however, takes the enemy himself and turns him into a tool for Bracha, he makes the Malach bless him; the prosecutor becomes the defender. Chazal tell us that it is victories of our forefathers like this one that give us the ability to flourish despite of similar situations throughout history. Yaakov is battling with a being who tries to destroy his spiritual connection, and the whole incident is all just a prelude to what will happen the next day, when Yaakov is to actually meet Esav, who is Edom. What gives Yaakov the ability to stand up to Edom? The weapon of turning the darkness into his light. It was the battle with the Malach that gave Yaakov the confidence to stand up to Esav; but on a deeper level, as long as the Jew can take the evil itself and turn it into good, he can flourish, even in exile. Just like Yaakov's battle with the Malach preceded his encounter with Esav and his weapon was turning the evil itself into light, so too the Greek exile preceded the Edomite, and the weapon we have to battle Edom is the Torah that came from the decrees of the Greeks. The whole episode of Yaakov and the Samach"Mem is where the Jew gets the ability to turn the prosecutor himself into his defender. It was the damage that the Malach tried to inflict that was flipped to be a credit for Yaakov. Perhaps what the Gid HaNashe represents is, in part, this ability of the Jew to make exactly that which hurt him into his creditor.
Can you hear the answer? This is the end:
When Yaakov names his son Menashe, he isn't forgetting anything. He is showing us how we can take our hardships, our slavery, all of the troubles we have had in our father's house and use them as a tool. Only now, in Egypt, is Yosef in the position to fulfill the dreams he had, and to do what Yaakov had wanted the whole time - to bring the brothers together and begin the Nation of Israel. Yosef couldn't do it before because the brothers hated him. But, Yosef has led the brothers through a trying experience with Binyamin, and they didn't abandon him. This demonstrated that the time was right, now Clal Yisrael could begin. Yosef realized that all the hardship that he had been through was all necessary so that the brothers could come together into one nation. All the experiences which seemed to be hurting him, prosecuting him, actually turned out to be a credit.
When the Midrash tells us that the hardships that Yosef forgot was Torah, maybe that Midrash is hinting at the future, when we see that even forgetting Torah can be a credit, because through forgetting it, we created more. Even something as terrible as a loss of Torah can be used as a tool for good, and we can turn the prosecutor himself into our defender, the evil itself into our good.
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