Biblical Personalities: Benjamin: Rabbeinu Bachya

“In the morning he consumes a foe.” (Genesis 49:27) Benjamin combined within him the two “Great” emanations of “Gedula and Gevurah.” This is why the Temple, the home of the Shechinah – Divine Presence – stood in Benjamin’s territory. The Shechinah is representative of all Ten Attributes.

Benjamin is compared by Jacob to the Altar that consumes a sheep in the morning and in the evening. It is therefore not difficult to accept the simile of his being like a preying wolf, a predatory animal.

Seeing he is so representative of all the Ten Emanations he was granted ten sons.