פּירוש אויף במדבר 32:5

ויאמרו…יתן את הארץ הזאת, They said:…"may this land be given to us." The word ויאמרו is necessary here although nobody had interrupted the spokesmen of the tribes of Gad and Reuven as yet. The Torah wanted to show by interposing this word that only now did these spokesmen address themselves to the real reason why they wanted just these lands. They did not say to Moses: תתן, "give," but יותן, "may it be given." The reason they formulated the request thus was because they were aware that it was not within Moses' authority alone to grant their wish, as we have already explained. They may have given Moses the option to allocate the land to them single-handedly seeing he was the king, or after consulting with Eleazar and the princes.

V. 5. ויאמרו. Diese wiederholte Aufnahme der Anrede setzt eine Pause voraus und zeigt, daß sie selbst nicht ganz frei von dem Bedenken waren, wie ihr Antrag aufgenommen werden würde. Sie bedurften einer Pause, um sich zur Fortsetzung des Vorbringens ihres Anliegens zu sammeln.

And they said, 'Yoten.' It is not hidden from you that 'Yoten' is derived from the intensive verb form, and likewise, 'Yoten' refers to the act of providing, as in 'Yoten mayim al zera,' meaning 'providing water for seed,' and behold, 'Yoten' is masculine while 'ha'aretz' (the earth) is feminine. Therefore, they thought that 'et' is the active verb form, which means the essence of the matter, like 'et hashamayim ve'et ha'aretz' (the heavens and the earth). Therefore, the Rabbi responded that we find its counterpart in the word 'ne'etam,' dividing and carrying, and the Rabbi has already called it the 'cheil' (active) of any matter that does not possess a living spirit, classifying it as masculine and feminine.