The Second and Third Oil and the Limits of Words That Sound Alike

Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 450:1

Curated by Arthur·Told by Maggid·

"Fine flour, unleavened loaves blended with oil and unleavened wafers anointed with oil" (Leviticus 2:4): what does Scripture teach by saying "with oil, with oil" twice? To render fit the second oil and the third oil. Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov said: he anoints the wafers like the shape of a Greek letter kaf, for an amplification after an amplification serves only to limit. Rabbi Yehudah said: "unleavened, unleavened" — they are alike with respect to being unleavened, but not alike with respect to blending. Similarly Rabbi Yehudah said: "And you shall make a basin of bronze and its stand of bronze for washing" (Exodus 30:18); one might think that just as they wash from the basin so they wash from the stand; therefore Scripture says "bronze" — it is the same as bronze, but not the same with respect to washing. Similarly Rabbi Yehudah said: "And you shall make a breastplate of judgment, the work of a skilled craftsman; like the work of the ephod you shall make it" (Exodus 28:15); one might think that just as the ephod is doubled so this is doubled; therefore Scripture says "gold" — it is the same as gold, but not for doubling.

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