Yaakov was about to bless Yosef's children and then he asks "Who are these" which RAshi said that the Divine Spirit left him since there would be some wicked people coming from them. Yosef explains that those are his children that Hashem gave him "with this". Rashi explains "this" to mean that the kids where ligit since he showed him documents of his marrriage and Kesubah. The question that was asked of me, how did Rashi know that "this" was documents.
I answered that the numerical value (Gematria) of "zeh (this) is 12 which is the same value of "Get" which means a document (even though it's main implication is a divorce document, it could mean other documents as well. See 1st Tosfos in Gitin)

Dear Rav Chaim, that's very interesting. I am not sure I understand, though. According to Rashi, Shechinah first withdrew from Yaakov because the notorious Jeroboam and Ahab were destined to be born from Joseph's sons. But when Joseph presented to him "the document of betrothal and the kethubah" - a marriage contract written by a man, "and Joseph prayed for mercy concerning the matter, and the Holy Spirit rested upon him (Jacob)" Why did a hand-written paper that simply confirms that the children were legitimate become so weighty and important that it drew back the Shechinah to rest upon Jacob?



Or was it that Hashem heard Joseph's prayers, saw desperation and then returned His Divine presence? Which was the defining factor, the documents, or Joseph's prayers?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Alex,

You're right that it would seem that bothe were needed. We are fortunate to have Rashi to tell us why the Shchinah went away, but Yaakov didn't . So he could of thought the reason why the Shcinah left was because the kids were illegit. Now with the proof of the documents that they were legit, so it must of been something else that was causing it (which were the unworthy decendants) so then Yosef had to pray to allow the Shchina to rest regardless of the outside causes.