אלשיך — וקדשתם היום ומחר וכבסו שמלתם

Q — The verse before Mattan Torah says 'וקדשתם היום ומחר וכבסו שמלתם.' Why two separate stages — sanctify, *then* wash clothes? Isn't washing clothes itself an act of sanctification?

A — The order is the point. 'וקדשתם' is internal — inner sanctification, teshuvah, preparing the heart. Only afterward does the Torah prescribe the external — 'וכבסו שמלותם.' Internal sanctity always precedes external observance. The Alshich extracts from this a permanent הוראה לדורות for קירוב רחוקים: never start a distant Jew on external practices ('בגדים לבנים ומכובסים, כפרושים'); begin with the inner work, then the outer follows. He extracts two further principles from the same verses — 'לך אל העם' (the מקרב must take the initiative, not wait to be sought out), and the shift from plural to singular ('השמרו... לא תגע') teaches that public address must be followed by personal one-on-one conversation.