I know that Jacob had 12 sons, whom I always assumed were the 12 tribes. Now I've heard that actually Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, are tribes. I'm confused. How many tribes are there and who are they?
AskTheRabbi.org answered:
Originally there were twelve tribes. Joseph brought his two sons to Jacob and asked him to elevate them to the status of tribes as well. However, that could only happen at the expense of the "tribe" of Joseph. That means that there were now thirteen tribes. What is fascinating is that invariably when the tribes are counted there are twelve because when Ephraim and Manasseh are counted the tribe of Levi is normally removed from the count. When the tribe of Levi is included the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh are usually doubled up and counted as one tribe under the name of the tribe of Joseph.
