And the Lord said to
Moses: speak (emor) to the priests,
the sons of Aaron, and say
(v’amarta) to them ...
Leviticus 21:1
The English translation
fails to convey the use of the same root word for “speak” and “say”. Our Sages
noted the apparent redundancy and comment that the intention is to admonish the
adults about their children. In essence, the Torah stresses the obligation of
the parents to educate their children.
The question arises why
the Torah emphasizes this point specifically here. After all, Torah education
is one of the ultimate values.
The continuation of our verse presents
the prohibition of a kohen becoming tamei (ritually impure). The
following verse presents the exceptions, where it is a mitzva for a kohen
to become tamei.
My father explained that
the Torah teaches us that the same act can at times be forbidden and at other
times mandatory. The act itself is not the determining factor, rather the
thought, the mind set and the manner in which an act is performed help determine
whether it is a positive or negative act. The difference between the holy and
the profane is very small. Therefore,
study of Torah is vital, in order to teach us when a particular behavior is
good and acceptable and when that behavior is to be avoided.
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