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![]() Shabbat Parashat Matot 5774Parashat Hashavua: The East Bank’s Big FourHarav Yosef CarmelThe latter portions of Sefer Bamidbar deal significantly with the beginning of the Israelite inhabitation of the areas east of the Jordan River, including the regions of the Gilad and the Bashan (these regions are today in North West Jordan, Southern Syria and the Golan Heights). These lands were home to, in addition to the interspersed cities of Kohanim and Levi’im, significant populations of four tribes: Menashe, Binyamin, Ephrayim, and Yehuda (Reuven and Gad were to the south). Three of these tribes are mentioned together with the Gilad in Tehillim (60:9): “To me (David) is Gilad and to me is Menashe; and Ephrayim is the strength of my head; Yehuda is my lawgiver.” Our claim of significant representations from these four tribes in these regions emerges from a study of several references throughout Tanach, which we will now explore. Although the request to receive the land to the east of the Jordan was attributed to Reuven and Gad, not Menashe, the Torah tells that the result was that sections were given to half of the Tribe of Menashe, as well (Bamidbar 32:31-33). (In Hemdat Yamim-Hebrew, Devarim 5762 we dealt with the question of how this happened). The Chizkuni says that since Yosef, Menashe’s father, caused his brothers to rip their clothes, when they believed that Binyamin was to be enslaved, their portion of the Land was “ripped” into two parts. In Divrei Hayamim (I, 7:6-15) it says that sons of Binyamin married daughters of Machir, from the Tribe of Menashe, and settled in the Menashe region of the East. In Sefer Yehoshua, we see that the Tribe of Ephrayim received its portion in the Shomron, in the middle of the main A final tribe we discover in this region is Yehuda. Chetzron, the oldest son of Peretz, the son of Yehuda, married the daughter of Machir, from Menashe. One of their grandchildren was Yair, who established 23 cities in the Gilad (Divrei Hayamim I, 2:21-22). ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Hemdat Yamim is dedicated to the memory of: The kidnapped boys o.b.m. Yaakov Naftali Frenkel Gil-Ad Michael Shaer and Eyal Yifrach
bat Harav David and Bina on the occasion of her yahrzeit, 24 Tammuz and members of her family who perished in the shoah Al Kiddush Hashem
Yechezkel Shraga Brachfeld o.b.m Rabbi Yosef Mordechai Simcha ben Bina Stern o.b.m who passed away 21 Adar I, 5774 R' Yaakov ben Abraham & Aisha and Chana bat Yaish & Simcha Sebbag, z"l R' Shmuel Shemesh z"l Eretz Hemdah's Board Member who passed away 18 Sivan, 5774 Hemdat Yamim is endowed by Les & Ethel Sutker of Louis and Lillian Klein, z”l
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