ספר במדבר - פרשת מטות - לב:כ-מב - שביעי

Moshe says to them, if you do this thing—if you go out armed before Hashem to war—then you are fulfilling your promise.

And every armed man among you will cross the Yarden before Hashem, meaning you will go in front of Hashem to fight His war, until Hashem chases out His enemies from before Him.

And the land will be conquered before Hashem, and then you will return. You will be clean from Hashem and from Yisroel, meaning you have done what you promised. Then this land will be yours as an inheritance before Hashem.

But if you do not do so, if you do not keep your promise, then you have sinned to Hashem, and know that your sin will find you, meaning the punishment will come upon you.

Moshe agrees to their proposal and tells them: build cities for your small children and enclosures for your sheep, and whatever has come out of your mouth, you must do.

Rashi explains the word l'tzoneichem (for your sheep): This word comes from the root tzina, as in the verse in Tehillim, 'tzina v'alafim kulam', which also means sheep, but is a different root than the usual word for sheep, tzo'in. Normally, tzo'in is spelled with a tzaddik, aleph, nun, but here the aleph comes after the nun. Rashi says that the aleph here is in place of the hei that would be in tzo'in, so it's as if it said tzo'inachem with a hei. Rashi says he learned this from the teachings of Reb Moshe HaDarshan.

Rashi explains the phrase v'hayotzei mipichem ta'asu (what goes out of your mouth you shall do): This refers to what you accepted upon yourselves to do for Hashem, to go to war until the land is conquered and divided. Moshe only asked them to conquer the land and then return, but they accepted upon themselves to stay until the land was divided among all the tribes, which was even more than Moshe required. And so they did in the end.

The sons of Gad and the sons of Reuven said to Moshe, 'Your servants will do as my master commands.' The language is singular, not plural, because they all agreed together as one.

Rashi explains that the phrase 'Vayomer Bnei Gad' (and the sons of Gad said) is in the singular, not plural, to show that they all spoke together as one person, in full agreement.

They say, 'Our small children, our wives, our cattle, and all our animals will stay there in the cities of Gilad.' Now, for the first time, they mention their wives as well, and specify that their families and animals will be in the cities of Gilad.

'And your servants will cross over, all armed for war, before Hashem, just as my master speaks.' They reaffirm their commitment to go ahead of the rest of the nation to fight.

Moshe then instructs Elazar the Kohen, Yehoshua bin Nun, and the heads of the tribes of the Bnei Yisroel regarding this matter, giving them the responsibility to ensure the agreement is fulfilled.

Rashi explains that vayetzav lahem (he commanded for them) means he instructed about them and about their condition. Moshe appointed Elazar and Yehoshua to oversee the fulfillment of the agreement, similar to the verse 'Hashem will fight for you' in Shemos, which means for you, not to you.

Moshe says to them, 'If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuven cross the Yarden with you, all armed for war before Hashem, and the land is conquered before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilad as an inheritance.'

But if they do not cross over armed with you, then they will receive a portion among you in the land of Canaan, not in Gilad.

The sons of Gad and Reuven respond, 'What Hashem has spoken to your servants, so we will do.' Even though we don't see Moshe consulting Hashem, the verse refers to this as Hashem's command through Moshe.

'We will cross over armed before Hashem to the land of Canaan, and with us will be the inheritance of our portion on the other side of the Yarden.'

Rashi explains ve'itanu achuzas nachalateinu (with us, the inheritance of our portion): This means that our inheritance will be in our hands and in our possession on this side of the Yarden.

Moshe gave to the sons of Gad, the sons of Reuven, and half the tribe of Menashe the kingdom of Sichon, king of the Emori, and the kingdom of Og, king of Bashan—the land, its cities, and the boundaries of the land around them. Here, Menashe is included, even though it wasn't mentioned before. Moshe gave them these lands and cities as their inheritance.

The sons of Gad built Divon, Ataros, and Aroer. Divon and Ataros were mentioned earlier as cities; Aroer was not, so apparently they needed to build it up or fortify it.

They also built Ataros Shofan, Ya'zer, and Yogbeha. Ya'zer was mentioned before as Eretz Ya'zer, and now it's listed among the cities they built.

They built Beis Nimra and Beis Haran—fortified cities and enclosures for sheep. They made these places into strong cities and places for their sheep.

This Rashi is explaining the end of the verse, where it says that the Bnei Gad built these cities to be fortified cities and enclosures for their sheep. Rashi says that the end of the verse is going back on the beginning of the matter, meaning when it says they built these cities, it means they made them into fortified cities and enclosures for their sheep.

The Bnei Reuven built the cities of Cheshbon, Elalei, and Kiryasayim. These are cities that were mentioned earlier, and now the Bnei Reuven are building them up, making them into their own cities.

They also built Nevo, Baal Meon—which, as Rashi will explain, had their names changed because those names were associated with idol worship—and Sivma. The verse says they called the cities by new names, meaning they changed the names from the old ones, which were names of Avodah Zarah, to new names.

Rashi explains that Nevo and Baal Meon were names of Avodah Zarah, and the Emorim used to name their cities after their idols. The Bnei Reuven changed these names to something else, which is what the verse means by "musavos shem"—the names were changed to other names, even though the verse doesn't specify what the new names were.

They also built Sivma, which is the same city as Sivom that was mentioned earlier. Basically, all the cities listed earlier in the parsha are being rebuilt or renamed here.

The sons of Machir ben Menashe went to Gilad and captured it, and they drove out the Emorites who were living there. This was beyond what had been done before, and it shows that the family of Menashe was involved in conquering more territory on the other side of the Yarden.

Rashi explains that the word vayores can have two meanings: it can mean inheritance, as in taking possession, or it can mean driving out, as in chasing away. The word serves both meanings in different contexts.

Moshe gave the land of Gilad to Machir ben Menashe, and he settled there. There is a discussion about how Machir ben Menashe was still alive at this time, given the years that had passed, but the verse says that Moshe gave him this territory.

Yair ben Menashe went and captured their villages, and he called them Chavos Yair, meaning the villages of Yair, after his own name.

Rashi explains that the word chavosayhem means their villages, referring to the small villages that Yair captured.

Rashi says that Yair called them Chavos Yair because he didn't have any children, so he named the villages after himself as a remembrance.

Novach went and captured Kenas and its surrounding villages, and he called it Novach after his own name. The verse emphasizes that he named it after himself, which is something we find in other places in the Torah as well.

Rashi explains that in the phrase vayikra lah Novach, the word lah does not have a mapik hei (a dot in the hei), which would indicate emphasis. Rashi quotes from the teachings of Rabbi Moshe HaDarshan that the reason is because the name did not last; the city did not retain the name Novach. Therefore, the hei is soft, indicating that the name did not endure. Rashi also expresses surprise about what Rabbi Moshe HaDarshan would say about other similar cases in Tanach where the word lah appears without a mapik hei, and the name did last.