This column is dedicated to a great, unsung hero in the Torah. In order to understand why he is such a hero, we need to start at the beginning of the story.

The Torah teaches that we are all brothers and sisters. Uh-oh. The subsequent portrait of siblings is anything but encouraging. The first set of sibling relations, Cain and Abel, ends in murder. Next comes estrangement with Isaac and Ishmael. Then Jacob and Esau, with years of enmity between the two. Finally, Joseph, whose brothers plot to kill him, and is kidnapped and brought to Egypt. Genesis could almost be called the book of fraternal conflict.

Warring brothers tell us a wider truth. Aggression in us emerges from the start, inside the family. Those closest to us sometimes suffer most from our anger or unkindness. The Torah also emphasizes how often such rivalries involve the parents. Ishmael is exiled by his father; Esau is upended by his mother’s plotting and his father’s credulity; Joseph is favored by his father. Even Cain and Abel in their unequal offerings to God are in conflict over the Heavenly Parent’s preferences. Favoritism breeds antipathy. Family relations are rarely frictionless.

Even as the Torah presents the conflict, it tells us of the ideal. When Cain, having slain his brother, asks, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” we know the answer is yes, that all human beings should care for each other, but siblings have a special responsibility.

This week, Joseph presents his children to his father for a blessing. Jacob, realizing that Ephraim is the younger, nonetheless crosses his hands, blessing Ephraim with his right hand and Menashe with his left. It is another instance of the favoritism that has so often been destructive.

What does Menashe do? Nothing. He does not protest, cry, or scream at the unfairness of it all. Menashe breaks the pattern of family fracture.

Why bless a boy on Friday night that he should become like Ephraim and Menashe? The Netziv wrote that Ephraim was a Torah scholar and Menashe was great in labor and community works – we pray our children have both attributes. The Sefat Emet teaches it elevates these foreign-born children to their status as tribes of Israel, as we wish Jewish children everywhere to be children of Israel. Let us add that these are the brothers who got it right – who acknowledged that everyone has a different role, that distinctions need not cause rancor for God does not make duplicates.

Menashe is unheralded. But through his silence, his acceptance – his understanding of difference – he changed history. We should honor his memory and emulate his example.