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: וידבר ה׳ אל לאמור. But let’s think about this a bit. Why does this frequent phrase switch from דיבור to אמירה?

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

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

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

לע״נ דוד חיים בן ישראל דוב הכהן
לע״נ ר׳ חיים דוב בן ר׳ בןציון שלום