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You, yes you!

Written by d fine

The first words in our sedra are instructions from HaShem to Moshe ‘and you, command Bnei Yisrael…’ But Moshe has been conveying instructions regarding the Mishkan construction thus far anyway – so why does HaShem need to repeat ‘you, command the Bnei Yisrael?’ The Rashbam writes that this portion is dealing with the making of the oil for the ner tamid – which is an instruction for each generation to bring the ingredients, whereas previous instructions to the Bnei Yisrael were one-off instructions vis-à-vis the structure of the Mishkan. That is why these instructions are different and deserve their own separate introduction/calling. Others stress the word ‘you’ to mean that Moshe must personally instruct the Bnei Yisrael here, as opposed to instructing the craftsmen only (Sforno).

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