Twice the Text, Once the Targum
במדבר פרק לב, ג עטרות ודיבן (names of places)
(ברכות ח ב') Rav Huna son of Yehuda said in the name of Rebbi Ami, one should always complete the weekly Torah portion reading twice from the text and once from the Targum (Aramaic translation), even in this verse עטרות ודיבן.
Rashi on the Gemara explains that this verse is a list of cities with no Targum (translation).
Some question, why doesn’t the Sage give an example from a verse which mentions people’s names which also does not have a translation? Many attempt to answer this question.
T.T. The question from the Gemara does not involve the one-time reading of the Targum, but questions the concept of two-time reading from the Torah text. The explanation is that this whole verse is not needed to understand the flow of the text, neither the prior verse nor the subsequent verses. Thus, even if one skipped this verse entirely, one would not lack in the understanding of the matter of the Parsha. Therefore, one might think it would be permissible to say this verse only one time (and not two). Therefore, we do say it twice since we treat this verse like any other verse in the Torah. According to the great wisdom and understanding of our Sages, this is the only verse whose possible omission would not affect the understanding of the surrounding text.
