Бамидбар 34:19 Комментарий: Or HaChaim, Chizkuni, Tur HaArokh & Rav Hirsch

למטה יהודה, for the tribe of Yehudah. We need to explore why the leaders of the tribes of Yehudah, Shimon, and Benjamin are not given the title נשיא in our paragraph. Perhaps the reason is connected to the fact that the names of these three tribes appear quite close to the words ונשיא אחד נשיא אחד in verse 18 so that the Torah saw no need to repeat the word נשיא again. Starting with verse 22 the names of the tribes are so far removed from verse 18 that the Torah saw fit to add the title נשיא when mentioning the leader of the respective tribes.

למטה יהודה, of the tribe of Yehudah. Moses began enumerating the family heads which would start the process of allocating ancestral tracts of land with the members of the tribe of Yehudah, as his name came up first when the lots were drawn. In this instance, Calev would be the head of the tribe.

ואלה שמות האנשים: למטה יהודה, וגו', ”and these were the names of the men: representing the tribe of Yehudah was Calev, son of Yefuneh.” Seeing that the tribes of Reuven and Gad already had received their ancestral heritage they were no longer in need of a נשיא , a “leader.” There are different opinions as to why the list of the leaders of the nation when the conquest began begins with Yehudah.on this occasion. One opinion holds that when the lottery took place Yehudah’s parchment came up first. All the tribes listed here had a leader described by the Torah with the title נשיא, except Yehudah, Shimon, and Binyamin. In the case of Yehudah, seeing that Calev was a venerable and well-known personality there was no need to give him a title for his authority to be accepted by the members of his tribe. Shimon did not have a new נשיא, seeing that the last one, Zimri, had disgraced himself so badly. The title held no allure for the members of that tribe as its significance had been debased. Binyamin actually did have a נשיא in the person of אלידד, whose name has been spelled אלדד in Numbers 11,26 before he had been elevated to the status of prophet. Seeing that a prophet is on a higher spiritual level than a mere “leader,” referring to him here a נשיא would have indicated a demotion. I do not know why the Torah found it necessary to introduce each one of these men as למטה בני פלוני,.... “of the tribe of so and so…” with the exception of the tribe of Yehudah. Both here and in the story of the spies Joseph is mentioned in addition to Menashe, because he had displayed especial fondness of the Holy Land.