Tzav 5781

Question: Why is the prohibition of eating קדשים whilst טמא mentioned twice in consecutive פסוקים?


Approach: There is a subtle difference between the two פסוקים. The first seems to refer to a situation where the person started eating in a state of טהרה and then became טמא. Whereas the second seems to be a situation whereby the person was טמא before starting to eat.


Perhaps, we need the first case to teach us that - even though the start was permissible - one would need to stop immediately. And then the second case is needed to teach us that the punishment is identical in both cases, even though we may have thought otherwise since the second case would appear to be more severe.

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