Yosef called his son Menashe because Hashem had made him forget all his pain and his father’s house. Forgetting his pain is nice, but why would he want to forget his father’s house, and even more, commemorate it?
One person at the table suggested that, paradoxically, by having a reminder that he was forgetting his father’s house (for each time he called his son by name he was reminded!) he actually would keep on remembering it. This was his actual intention.
I suggested that Yosef was a ger – an outsider – who never really fit in. For twenty long years he suffered the lonesomeness of not being able to share life with a family. He was homesick – sick for the warmth of his father’s house. When his family finally began, Yosef was finally able to forget his father’s house – his home-sickness was at last resolved. And that is what he was thanking Hashem for!
Another approach; It seems that sometimes a person gets bogged down by his past and his experiences. His mind dwells on them and does not allow him to move forward and accomplish. Forgetting can be a great brachah, for it frees and enables him.
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