week's parashah, Matot Masei. At the end of Parashah Matot it talks about Bnei Gad u'Bnei Reuven that had a lot of cattle, and they asked Moshe Rabbeinu to get their share of ארץ ישראל מעבר הירדן, this side of the Yarden, the land of Sichon and Og. And Moshe Rabbeinu makes certain conditions, and then he said okay. And then when it says that he actually agreed and he gave it to them, it says that therefore, ויתן להם משה לבני גד ולבני ראובן ולחצי שבט מנשה בן יוסף את ממלכת סיחון and Og, that Moshe Rabbeinu gave to the families, which means the shevatim of Gad and Reuven, and half a Shevet Menashe, that they have share the land of Sichon and Og. So the question that the mefarshim ask, how does half a Shevet Menashe come in here? Bnei Gad u'Bnei Reuven asked for it. Doesn't say anywhere that Shevet Menashe asked for it, half a Shevet Menashe asked for it. And actually in Yerushalmi it says that Bnei Gad u'Bnei Reuven asked for it, they took it themselves, but בנוגע חצי שבט מנשה it says that it was given to them. לא נטלו מעצמם, they didn't take it themselves, it was given to them. But the

question is, why was it given to them if they didn't ask for it? So the Ramban says that when Moshe Rabbeinu agreed to give to Bnei Gad u'Bnei Reuven their share in this side of the Yarden, he saw that the שטח, the area, the territory is very big, and it's too big for them. So he asked, who wants to take their share also in this place? And that's how it got to Bnei Chatzi Shevet Menashe, half a Shevet Menashe. But it's hard to say that, I mean the Ramban says this, but it needs like extra ביאור, that lichorah since Moshe Rabbeinu be'emet was not so happy of what they did, he just agreed if you do these conditions. So why would Moshe Rabbeinu offer it to some people if he really himself did not seem to be very, very happy about it? And therefore the Rebbe explains it in a different way, על פי חסידות. And the Rebbe says like this: The Torah says that the Oibershter showed Moshe Rabbeinu the whole of Eretz Yisrael. He told him to go onto the mountain and look and see the whole Eretz Yisrael. And the mefarshim say it wasn't just that the Oibershter wanted him to see Eretz Yisrael. Moshe Rabbeinu's looking brought the kedushah of Eretz Yisrael. As the Gemara says in בבא בתרא דף נ״ו, כל שהראהו הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה חייב במעשר. All those places that Moshe Rabbeinu saw that was Oibershter showed Moshe, is חייב במעשר, has the kedushah of Eretz Yisrael. So Moshe Rabbeinu's looking brought in a certain קדושה, חלות קדושה on that place. Why did that have to happen? Why do we need Moshe Rabbeinu to see that in order for the kedushah to come? So the sefarim say, because every major event in Yiddishkeit went through Moshe Rabbeinu. Torah went through Moshe Rabbeinu. That's why even מה שתלמיד ותיק עתיד לחדש, anything that people would mechadesh years later, ניתנו למשה מסיני, it was given to Moshe. Moshe Rabbeinu also divided the land, so the kedushah of Eretz Yisrael also had to come through Moshe Rabbeinu. Now

therefore there's another thing here also. We know it says in pasuk that when Mashiach will come, Eretz Yisrael will be bigger. They will also get קיני, קניזי, וקדמוני, which means Ammon, Moav, and Edom, they will get their land also. But that's going to happen when Mashiach will come. But since everything by Yidden, major things have to go through Moshe Rabbeinu, so this also had to go through Moshe Rabbeinu. The fact that in le'atid lavo when Mashiach will come there will be an expansion of Eretz Yisrael, and even Ammon and Moav will, their land will also be given, also has to have some source from Moshe Rabbeinu. Now the land of Sichon and Og included the land of Ammon and Moav. The Gemara says that Sichon conquered some of their lands, and now it was part of his, and now when the Yidden conquered Sichon they got this too, cuz otherwise the Oibershter said that we cannot take anything from Ammon, Moav, and Edom. But there are certain parts which they did take because it was already conquered by Sichon before. So the Gemara says עמון ומואב טהרו בסיחון, they became kasher, they were able to be taken. So it comes out, by taking part of Sichon's land and settling there is already basically a beginning of what's going to happen when Moshiach will come, that we will legally, so to speak, take the land of Ammon and Moav. And this is what happened. This is the difference between what Bnei Gad u'Vnei Reuven got and what chatzi shevet Menashe got. Bnei Gad u'Vnei Reuven asked for their own reasons, they asked for they want that land. But chatzi shevet Menashe got it because Moshe gave him, because Moshe wanted already to have started what's going to happen לעתיד לבוא, that the land of Ammon and Moav will already will then be given to Yidden, should already be now be given to a certain degree, and that's the beginning within Moshe's's work, Moshe's's activities, already a beginning of what's gonna be לעתיד לבוא. And that's why he said, \"You're taking it,\" he said to Gad and Reuven, \"because of your reasons. But I want to give somebody a part here for a different reason, because this should be the beginning of what's gonna happen לעתיד לבוא when Moshiach will come.\" And he chose Menashe because we know that from shevet Menashe, they, the people from Menashe, loved Eretz Yisrael. So the inyan of doing something better for the expansion of Eretz Yisrael has to do with Menashe. We actually see the daughters of Tzelafchad, which came from shevet Menashe, wanted a share in Eretz Yisrael. So Menashe has to do with the will of wanting to have a share in Eretz Yisrael. Therefore, what Moshe Rabbeinu did, he did it through Menashe, חצי שבט Menashe. And we

see another difference. Gad and Reuven gave up on the right of getting a share in Eretz Yisrael, and they only had a share in עבר הירדן. But Menashe, but it's only half, that means Menashe got a share in Eretz Yisrael also. So this also indicates that it wasn't because they gave up the right of Eretz Yisrael, they didn't really care about Eretz Yisrael. They cared, but they wanted, in addition to having a share in Eretz Yisrael, there should be, part of them should also have the beginning of what's gonna be l'asid lavo. So this is the parashah which talks about, gives a hint to the נחלה that the Yidden are gonna have in Eretz Yisrael when Mashiach will come, has to do with the time of the year, which is the three weeks, when besides the fact that we are mourning the churban and the galut, we are strengthening our emunah u'vitchon that Mashiach will come very, very soon, and then we will get back the נחלה in Eretz Yisrael, and not only that, we'll get קיני, קניזי וקדמוני, which started already then when Moshe Rabbeinu gave חצי שבט Menashe their share in ארץ סיחון ועוג.