Menashe and Ephrayim

_{Yaakov told Yosef that he was allotted by Hashem two more shvatim, and as he had no more children born to him, this must mean that one of the shvatim would split in two. So now he is awarding that doubling to yosef, i.e. that his children Menasha and Ephraim are to both be considered shvatim. (Of course they were not literal sons to Yaakov, and he did not bless them before he died together with the other brothers. They were considered tribes only with regard to taking two separate portions in Eretz Yisroel, as Yaakov specified)}

_{Also, Yaakov mentioned that Menashe and Ephraim would swell to great populations, so much so that people would consider them symbols of blessing. Are the two related? We suggested that perhaps they are. Menashe and Ephraim were to be considered two separate tribes, but there had to be some practical justification for that distinction. This was provided for by the fact that each one by himself was huge, big as any other one of the tribes. Therefore the distinction of becoming a tribe was linked to this second blessing, that they be unusually fruitful.}