Komentarz do Liczb 34:15

קדמה מזרחה — At the front of (קדם) the world which is the east; for the east side is called פנים, “the face" (equivalent to קדם, “front”), the west is called “behind”, and therefore the south is on the right and the north on the left (cf. Rashi on Exodus 27:13 and Note thereon).

שני המטות וחצי המטה לקחו נחלתם, The two and a half tribes took their inheritance, etc. The Torah wrote this verse to indicate that the inheritance of the half tribe of Menashe was part of the overall territory allocated by Moses to Reuven and Gad. Moses did not make separate boundaries for each of these tribes.

שני המטות וחצי המטה לקחו נחלתם מעבר לירדן קדמה מזרחה, “and the two and a half tribes took their inheritance on the far side of the river Jordan in a south-easterly direction.” This whole detail is repeated here to describe the exact area of their inheritance.

The eastern direction. Meaning that קדמה ["to the east"] is in the sense of the front, and the [letter] hei at the end is in place of a [letter] lamed at the beginning. When Rashi comments אל פני this means “to the forefront” and thus he continues to explain to what “forefront” refers, commenting “of the world.” This means towards the front of the world, i.e. the east, “As the [eastern] direction…”

These two tribes and also the other nine tribes cannot appeal against the tribes of Gad and Reuvein who have a much larger portion than any of the other nine tribes since they have taken their hereditary property on this side of the Yardein and there is no comparison to the value of a portion of Eretz Yisroel on the western side of the Yardein, both in spiritual and physical terms.