וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה אֱמֹ֥ר אֶל־הַכֹּהֲנִ֖ים בְּנֵ֣י אַהֲרֹ֑ן וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ אֲלֵהֶ֔ם לְנֶ֥פֶשׁ לֹֽא־יִטַּמָּ֖א בְּעַמָּֽיו׃ (21:1)
“G‑d said to Moshe; Say to the Kohanim the sons of Aharon and tell them, ‘Each of you shall not contaminate himself for a dead person among his people.’ ”
Why does Hashem tell Moshe to (1) “speak to the kohanim” and (2) “to tell them”? It seems a little repetitive and unnecessary. Rashi explains that this repetition is used to warn the adults about their children also, that they should teach them to avoid coming in contact with a dead body.
What are other explanations for this repetition? Where else in the torah is something repeated to show significance? Where else in the torah is the prohibition for a Kohen to come in contact with a dead body mentioned and what are the exceptions to the prohibition?
Where else in the Torah do we see something repeated to show significance? In the beginning of Sefer Shemot we see that names of בני ישראל repeated again. Rashbam comments that their names are repeated because we want to show how they started off as only 70 people and now they are now many. Even while Paroah tried to kill the Jewish people, they were still able to prevail and multiply. And even though we started off small, we were able to end up being a big nation. I like this answer because it shows that there’s always a reason for repetition, and as Jews, even when faced with difficult situations we always find a way to prevail and succeed.
ReplyDeleteRIVKA YELLIN
ReplyDeleteIbin Ezra comments that the repetition means that you should teach the kohanim the halachot from the past parsha and you should also teach them the upcoming halachot that are just for them. I like this explanation because it makes sense and is a reasonable answer for why it is repetitive.
The Sforno says that “speak to the cohanim” means that he should tell them all the laws about impurities and purities and work in the beit hamikdash specifically so they can do what they need to do and“and say to them” means to teach them to be cautious about their work if there are any impurities.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t like this answer so much because it didn’t really explain why it had to be those specific phrases or where they came form
ReplyDeleteThe Rabbeinu Bahya comments on this question saying that we needed to understand the order like this: “say to these kohanim what was written before and now we are going to add new info ex: new laws that they need to do” The reason that the kohanim has to be taught these previous rules was because they were the teachers of Beni Yisrael and therefore they had to know all these laws. I like this answer because isn’t clearly lays out the reason for saying each saying. It doesn’t just say that it is repetitive and that it’s just for emphasis it really goes into defining that different ways to explain each phase.
Tovi Malek
ReplyDeleteRabbeinu Bahya says that the reason the pasuk says tell the Kohanim and then “and tell them” because Moshe should tell the Kohanim about the parsha before and also add new information like laws applicable to the Kohanim.
Mia Gerzberg
ReplyDeleteWhere in the Torah do we see something being repeated? In yeshayahu Perek alef pasuk when yeshayahu is giving bnei Israel rebuke he repeats himself 4 times saying the same thing in different words. This is because each time he yells at bnei Israel he uses a more personal word referring to bnei israels relationship with Hashem because it’s showing that you are so close to Hashem how could you do this you should be better.
What are other explanations for this repetition?
ReplyDeleteHator haaruch says that they reason there’s repetition is to show the adults that they are supposed to teach and train their kids in Judaism