Tuesday, May 9, 2017
Emor #3- tell them twice?
In this weeks Parsha, in chapter 21 pasuk 1 it says "וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה אֱמֹ֥ר אֶל־הַכֹּהֲנִ֖ים בְּנֵ֣י אַהֲרֹ֑ן וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ אֲלֵהֶ֔ם לְנֶ֥פֶשׁ לֹֽא־יִטַּמָּ֖א בְּעַמָּֽיו׃" "The LORD said to Moses: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: None shall defile himself for any [dead] person among his kin," Why does HaShem say to Moshe to "speak" to the priests and then again "say to them"? Why doesn't HaShem just say speak them once? Rashi answers this question and says the repetition is necessary to warn the adults about their child and hat they should be careful of defilement. Why else would HaShem use this repetition?
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Congregationlubavitch.org cites tanchuma 3 and says that the reason it's written twice is because the laws told to the kohanim mean one thing before the geulah comes and take on a another meaning after the geulah comes.
ReplyDeleteFor example the prohibition of a kohen to touch dead bodies except for when their is no one to bury them (מת מצוה) is the first 'say' . But, after we are redeemed then there should not be this law for kohanim if no people die. We get the idea that there will be no deaths from ישעיהו 25:8 when he says "Death will be swallowed up forever." This is the second reason for the word 'say' in the pasuk.
According to Rashi, it is written twie to indicate that not only should the adults not defile themselves but the adults should also teach their children not to defile themselves. This idea really focuses on the mitzva o teaching torah to your children, something very important.
ReplyDeleteI realized that I used the same answer as the question so another answer is from the Tur HaAroch who says that an adult needs to teach their child and than quotes the Ramban. He explains that this idea appears multiple times in the Torah and it means that a child cannot be encouraged to something that is not allowed for an adult.
DeleteChabad.org quotes Rashi by saying that this repetition really puts an emphasis on the Jewish tradition of Chinuch, teaching your children the proper ways of behavior. Rashi says that the repetition shows that this not only applies to adults but their children too. And they are responsible to convey that lesson to them.
ReplyDelete- Gabrielle Posner
The Ibn Ezra says that the first "say" is supposed to be addressing all the kohanim (including Aharon's sons). But the second "say" is really just talking to Aharon's sons individually. Speaking to Aharon's sons alone tells us that they have an extra strict restriction and this applies especially to them. Additionally, maybe this extra warning is meant for the future, as quite some death follows Aharon's children (nadav and avihu)
ReplyDeleteThe Rav Moshe Feinstein explains that the reason for the repetition of the word "say" is because Moshe was first suppose to teach the Kohenim the basics of he mitzvah, the prohibition and it's penalty, and then to explain that they should feel the wonder and magnificence of that mitzvah.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Rabbi Artscroll, the previous parsha was dedicated to teaching all of bnei Yisrael how to be holy. Now it is the Kohnaim's turn to learn how to be holy. They are spoken to twice to put particular emphasis on the fact that they are on such a high level.
ReplyDeletethe pusuk says "say" twice because they are addressing two different groups the first one is to the kohanim and the second one is to aron's sons specifically. aron's sons are called out because hashem is trying to warn them not to do bad because he knows they will so he wants to tell them not to
ReplyDeletesource: ibn ezra
Rashi says that the reason it's said twice is because the first time is for the adults and the second time is for the children, and to emphasize how the adults should teach their children
ReplyDeleteRashi says that the reason that it's written twice is because it is a rule for not only the parents, but also the children. It is so that the parents should know not to defile themselves, but also emphasizes the importance of them teaching their children not to defile themselves.
ReplyDelete