Among the various topics in this week's Torah portion is the blessing that Jacob, nearly blind and shortly before his death, bestows upon his son Joseph and his two grandsons, Manasseh and Ephraim. The Torah recounts this event because of the unusual way in which Jacob chooses to give the blessing: Joseph brings his sons toward Jacob, placing Manasseh (the firstborn) to Jacob's right and Ephraim to his left. However, when Jacob places his hands on his grandsons to bless them, he crosses his hands (or reverses their positions, according to another interpretation).
Joseph did not approve of what was happening and tried to switch his father's hands, thinking that Jacob had not seen (because of his blindness) who was standing in front of each of his hands. But Jacob told Joseph that he knew who each one was, and that Manasseh was the firstborn and should be blessed by Jacob's right hand, but Ephraim would be superior, and so, in practice, Jacob placed his right hand on Ephraim and his left hand on Manasseh.
Now, the word that the Torah uses to illustrate this crossing of Jacob's hands is shekel et yadav, which Rashi explains as "with wisdom," knowingly and not inadvertently (from the Hebrew root sejel - intellect).
What can we learn from this story? We all have a soul. That soul has an effect on our lives, shaping us and giving each of us different qualities and characteristics through our intellect and emotions, and ultimately affecting the world through our actions.
However, for the soul to affect the world, there must be a suitable and prepared channel to achieve that effect, and that channel is the body. The Torah gives us the framework and the tools through which to refine that body and be able to refine the world around us with the power of that soul.
When the channel is "blocked," so to speak, the soul cannot affect the world (and sometimes not even the body itself). Jacob was at such a spiritual level that his soul expressed itself through his intellect, and this automatically affected his actions. That is why he used his intellect with his hands and distributed the blessings in the appropriate way according to his prophecy.
While most of us are not at Jacob's spiritual level, each of us is required to strive to reach that level. Along with this requirement, each of us is given the strength to achieve it. Whether we will reach it or not is God's business, but we must try, and this is done by shaping our qualities in such a way that our soul governs our intellect, emotions, and actions, so that we may express ourselves in the world and make it a dwelling place for God.