Benjamin is Jacob's last son, the only one born in the land of Israel, on the road to Ephrath. Rachel dies giving birth to him; "as her soul was departing," she calls him Ben Oni, son of my sorrow, "and his father called him Benjamin" (Genesis 35:16 to 18). The Bnei Yissaschar reads this name as ben yamin, son of the right hand.
Jacob blesses him with an image of the hunt: "Benjamin is a ravening wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, and in the evening he divides the spoil" (Genesis 49:27). The verse goes from morning to evening, from the catch to the sharing.
The blessing of Moses is full of tenderness: "The beloved of G-d, he shall dwell in safety by Him; He shelters him all day long, and He dwells between his shoulders" (Deuteronomy 33:12). The youngest is the one with whom G-d dwells.
On the breastplate, according to the Targum attributed to Jonathan, his stone is the very last, the yashfeh (Exodus 28:20), often rendered as jasper; the identification remains uncertain. In the desert Benjamin encamps to the west, in Ephraim's camp (Numbers 2:22), with Abidan son of Gideoni as prince. The Midrash cited by Ramban explains this direction: the Divine Presence is forever in the west, in the territory of Benjamin, and it cites precisely: "the beloved of G-d shall dwell in safety by Him." According to Rashi, his banner had the color of his stone.
According to the order of the banners, Benjamin receives Kislev, the month of the letter Samekh (Sefer Yetzirah 5:2); in the Vilna Gaon's version, Samekh rules over sleep. The Bnei Yissaschar writes it: "Kislev for Benjamin." He draws from it an explanation of the Talmudic discussion on the Hanukkah lamp, to the right or the left of the door: Kislev is the month of ben yamin, the son of the right hand. He also notes that Tishrei, Cheshvan and Kislev, the months in which the three Houses were inaugurated, go to the descendants of Rachel. The attribution of months varies with the order followed, as the introductory entry recalls.
Keep this: Benjamin is born in sorrow and receives the tenderest blessing. The son his mother called sorrow, his father calls the right hand, and Moses calls beloved.
