Asher אשר
Zilpah's younger son; the tribe of olive oil and of Serach bat Asher
Zilpah's second son; Leah gave the name: "happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed." Jacob said: "out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties." Moses added: "and let him dip his foot in oil"—Asher's portion in western Galilee was olive country, and its oil went through the whole land.
Among those who went down to Egypt the Torah names by name one woman of the next generation: "and the name of Asher's daughter was Serach." Tradition made her a living thread between the ages: by the midrash it was she who gently told Jacob that Joseph was alive, and was granted long life for it; and it was she who showed Moses where Joseph's coffin lay in the Nile—without which the exodus could not begin.
The midrash speaks also of the daughters of Asher in general: they were beautiful and married priests and kings—because "he dips his foot in oil", and oil gives beauty.
On the timeline
Places
Sources
Tanakh
- Genesis 30:13 — his birth and the meaning of the name
- Genesis 49:20 — «his bread shall be fat»
- Deuteronomy 33:24 — «let him dip his foot in oil»
- Genesis 46:17 — Serach daughter of Asher among those who went down
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Sotah 13a — Serach shows Moses the coffin of Joseph
- Bereshit Rabbah 94:9 — she told Jacob that Joseph was alive
Basis: stated in the Tanakh.