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When Bnei Reuven and Gad asked for a portion outside the Land, Moshe
was bothered by their request. But we do not find that Hashem was
“So Moshe gave to them – to the children of disturbed at all. Also, why don’t we find mention of the tribe of Menashe
Gad, and the children of Reuven, and half the together with Reuven and Gad, when they requested a portion of land?
tribe of Menashe son of Yosef – the kingdom of

Sichon king of the Amorite, and the kingdom of When Moshe saw that Hashem was satisfied with the request of the two
Og king of the Bashan; the land with its cities shevatim, he understood that it was acceptable. But first they would have
in the boundaries, and the cities of the to help their fellow Jews fight for the Land. The tribe of Menashe had no
surrounding land” interest in settling east of the river. For that reason, they are not mentioned
initially. They truly desired to live in Eretz Yisrael. But Moshe explained
(Bamidbar 32:33)
that their name hinted to their essence – the neshamah of the nation. They
would therefore be split in two; the half dwelling in the Land influencing
the other half with the kedushah of Eretz Yisrael. In turn, the half living
across the Jordan would influence the two shevatim residing there.

Why did Shevet Menashe complain about the daughters of Tzelafchad
only after the dividing of the Land, and not when the daughters actually
received their father’s portion? Every shevet has a gateway through which
its prayers ascend heavenward. Shevet Menashe knew that their portion,
as well as this gateway, would be reduced, due to the incident with the
daughters of Tzelafchad. Now, after Moshe asked them to divide up and
join the two tribes east of the Jordan, they feared that their inheritance, as
well as their gateway of prayer, would be diminished even more.

Placing the two and a half shevatim outsidethe Land wasaway of
preceding the malady with the remedy. The kedushah of Eretz Yisrael
was expanded. When Bnei Yisrael would eventually be exiled from their
Land, the Shechinah would be accustomed to shine upon them, even in
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