Reply To: Short & Sweet

Vaeira: The Forest and the Trees

A passuk appears for the first time in this weeks Parsha that we often just tune out: ????? ?? ?? ?????. But let’s think about this a bit. Why does this frequent phrase switch from ????? to ??????

R’ Aaron Lopiansky explains that ????? comes from the root of ???, a concrete thing. ????? is used when conveying the halachos, the defined details of the mitzvos.

On the other hand, the softer phrase ????? is about conveying general ideas, not specific details.

Hashem speaks to Moshe in the form of ?????, defined and detailed instructions. But we are not supposed to stop there. We are then supposed to search for the ?????, the ideas that the mitzvos convey. Then we will be able to fulfill the ???? ?? even when there is no particular Halacha about what we should do.

???? ??? ???? ?? ????? ??? ????
???? ?? ???? ??? ?? ?? ?????? ????