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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 Land of Israel, west of the Jordan. Yet, we find them appearing elsewhere. The warrior/leader Yiftach, who came from Gilad, quarreled with the members of Ephrayim, and 42,000 defeated members of Ephrayim tried to flee across the Jordan, but were trapped and killed. We see from this whole episode that there was a large contingent of Ephrayimites living in the Gilad region. In Shmuel (II, 18:6) we find that David fled across the Jordan to the eastern side and was pursued by his rebellious son, Avshlom. The sides waged battle in a place called the Forest of Ephrayim. This is further evidence of a serious inhabitation of Ephrayim in this region.
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).
While most of this region is now outside the borders of the State of Israel, we should be aware that not only in Biblical times, but in the course of many more recent generations, there were active Jewish communities in these regions to the east of the Jordan and the Kinneret.
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Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part I
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Moreshet Shaul Our King on Rosh Hashana, Our Father on Yom Kippur.
Based on Aroch Siach, p. 221 (Rav Shaul Yisraeli)
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part II
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part II
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
Parashat Hashavua Happiness for the Right Reasons
[With painful longing, we share these divrei Torah from our co-Rosh Kollel for close to 40 years, Harav Moshe Ehrenreich zt”l.]
