“The Lord said to Moses: Speak to the priests, sons of Aaron [and say to them].” Wherever it says: “he said, he said,” it requires expounding.35Wherever the verse uses the term said (or speaking) twice for the same statement, such as “speak to the priests…and say to them,” it requires expounding. “King Aḥashverosh said and he said to Queen Esther: [Who is he…who is so presumptuous to do so?]” (Esther 7:5).
Why “he said,” “he said” [twice]? He said to her: If it is he,36Haman. fine, but if it is not he, say that it is he. Rabbi [Yehuda HaNasi] says: Before he was aware that she was Jewish, he would speak to her through a translator. When he became aware of her identity, he began speaking to her [directly].
On a similar note, “The man of God approached and said to the king of Israel, and he said: So said the Lord” (I Kings 20:28). “Said,” “he said” – when ben Hadad falls into your hands, do not spare him. In the second saying, he said to him: You should know how many snares and nets I spread for him until he came to your hand. Now, if he will be missing, “your life will be for his life, and your people for his people” (I Kings 20:42).37God provided Ahab and the Israelites a military victory over ben Hadad and the Arameans.
When ben Hadad pleaded for mercy, Ahab allowed him to go free and return to his land. The prophet informed him that as a result, he and his people would suffer. On a similar note, “He said to the man clothed in linen, and he said: [Come to between the galgal beneath the cherub and fill your hands with smoldering coals from between the cherubs, and cast them upon the city]” (Ezekiel 10:2). The Holy One blessed be He spoke to the angel and the angel [then spoke] to the cherub.
He said to him: ‘The Holy One blessed be He decreed upon me [to take the coals], but I do not have license to enter within your partition. Please perform an act of kindness for me and give me two of your coals, so I will not be burned.’ Immediately, “he carried it and placed it into the hands of the one clothed in linen” (Ezekiel 10:7). Rabbi Pinḥas said: He cooled them and gave them to him.
Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin said in the name of Rabbi Levi: For six years the coals were dimly smoldering in Gabriel’s hand, and he believed that Israel would repent. When they did not repent, he sought to cast them down and uproot their source. The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘Gabriel, Gabriel, there are among them people who perform charitable acts for one another,’ as it is stated: “On the cherubs the form of a man’s hand was seen” (Ezekiel 10:8).38The hand represents the Holy One blessed be He preventing Gabriel from casting the coals on them.
Rabbi Abba said in the name of Rabbi Berekhya: What sustains the supernal and earthly worlds? It is the charitable acts [hatzedaka] that one performs with his hand. That is what is written: “For Your righteousness [vetzidkatekha], God, reaches the heavens…” (Psalms 71:19). Here, too, “speak to the priests, sons of Aaron, and say to them.”
The first saying is that for a mitzva corpse he may become impure.39If a priest comes across a mitzva corpse, i.e., a corpse that has no one to attend to its burial, he must attend to it even though it means he will become ritually impure. The second is that for others, he may not become impure. That is why it is stated: “Speak…and say.”