In this week’s Torah reading, the opening verse seems to contain double language: “Say to the priests and say to them…” Why is Moshe being told “say it” twice?
Rabbi Yitzchak Abarbanel (15th century, Spain) says that from here we learn that Hashem was telling Moshe “you might have to say this law over and over again. It will need to be repeated.”
The law being taught is the prohibition to become ritually impure by being part of a funeral/burial of any friend or relative except spouse, parent, sibling or child. Priests cannot become tamei even for their favorite aunt, inspiring teacher or closest friend. This is of course hard to hear and hard to absorb. This mitzvah will be difficult for them, Abarbanel suggests, and it might take time and repetition until they get it!
Isn’t this so true with all of us? Isn’t there one mitzvah (at least) that we need time to think about and internalize and process? Everyone finds a different mitzvah challenging – and sometimes in life, when something is hard. The person teaching/telling you needs to be sensitized to just repeat it and give it time.
How has time helped you process hard news, a difficult reality or a challenging mitzvah?
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