![]() It could be that Yaakov doesn't favor Binyamin because he'll always be a reminder of his mother's death, but I haven't found anything that actually says that yet (so it's just an idea). Ditto the explanation from B'reishit Rabbah. Onkelos (as explained by Rashi) gives reasons for Yosef to be favored, but they don't seem to be tied to the p'shat (child of Yaakov's old age). Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer as cited by Rashi doesn't address my question, as already explained. Another explanation: for his (Joseph’s) features (זִיו אִיקוֹנִין) resembled his own (those of Jacob). Whatever he had learned from Shem and Eber he gave over to him. Onkelos rendered: for he was a wise son to him. בֶן זְקֻנִים, for he was born to him in his old age (Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer, ch. It therefore puzzles me that Binyamin, the baby of the family and one with seemingly-special attachment to Rachel, isn't Yaakov's favorite. Further, Binyamin is the last child of Yaakov's favorite wife, who died giving birth to him - so her last act in this world, in a sense, was giving Yaakov his twelfth son. But while Yosef is a son of Yaakov's old age, so is his younger brother Binyamin. Bereishit 37:3 says that the reason Yosef was Yaakov's favorite is "because he was a son of his old age".
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