Vayechi 48:16

May God bless the lads, and let them carry my name, along with the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, May they increase like fish in the land

Have you ever noticed that when rain falls over a body of water, such as a lake, fish swim to the surface and open their mouths to drink in the splashing droplets? Fish live surrounded by and filled with water, yet they instinctively want more. The Midrash says this is an analogy for the Jew who lives his life immersed in learning Torah. When he hears a new Torah thought, he drinks in the fresh insight as if to satiate an unquenchable thirst

This means that even in the midst of the land, in the nethermost state, one must study Torah like fish in the sea. Fish are completely dependent on the sea for their life! Also, fish multiply and increase profusely, for the evil eye has no power over them. For we are of the descendants of Yosef (the Previous Rebbe) on whom the evil eye had no power

“Why were Joseph’s children blessed to be like fish?” Furthermore, the phrase “increase like fish in the land” sounds like a very mixed-up metaphor. Fish do not thrive on land and they certainly do not increase there. This leads us to wonder what kind of blessing this is. The Talmud [Berachot 55b] explains that “The fish in the water are concealed by the water and thus not susceptible lo to the Evil Eye. So too, the descendants of Joseph are not susceptible to the Evil Eye.” What does it mean that Joseph was immune to the Evil Eye like the fish?...The Evil Eye can only harm those whose sense of self-worth is not fully developed, people who need to live their lives in a way that meets the approval of foreign ‘eyes.’ But if we are secure within ourselves, and our life is focused on our inner truths, then we will not be susceptible to the Evil Eye of those around us. …Like the fish, Joseph remained faithful to his inner convictions, despite the external pressures and influences of his roller-coaster life; a foreign land, a foreign culture, family estrangement, slavery and imprisonment, and temptations; none of which succeeded in leading him astray. Even when he

needed to contend with the hardest test of all – the incredible success, wealth, and power of Egyptian viceroy – Joseph was steadfast in his beliefs and inner convictions. Joseph remained true to his own inner world, despite his active participation in a vastly different outer world. Just

A vast network of canals flanking the Nile had existed long before the Ptolemaic era; they had been far more extensive, and further, a HUGE RESERVOIR had been created consisting of TWO LAKES which, if the canal system had not been debased by the Greeks and other succeeding rulers, would have continued to guarantee water to a vast area. …the writings of the Greek historian Herodotus (484?-425 B.C.) discovered …"The water of the lake does not come out of the ground, which is here extremely dry, but is introduced by A CANAL FROM THE NILE" …This canal, which incredibly STILL waters A THIRD OF EGYPT, appears on modern maps of Egypt under its Arabic name -- BAHR YOUSEF, or "THE SEA OF JOSEPH"!!