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What difference is there between the prophets of Israel and the prophets of the heathen nations of the world?
R. Hama b. Hanina said: The Holy One, blessed be He, reveals Himself to the heathen nations of the world by an incomplete form of address, even as it is said, And the Lord called (wayyikkar) unto Balaam (Num. 23:16), whereas to the prophets of Israel God reveals Himself in a complete form of address, as it is said: And Adonai called (Vayikra) unto Moses.
Vayikra Rabbah
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This week, we begin the book of Leviticus, Sefer VaYikra, also known by the name Torat Kohanim, or the Priestly Code, as it contains the rules for the sacrifices and the conduct of the priests (Levites). Previous years (5760, 5761, 5762) have discussed the meaning of sacrifices and possible modern interpretations, but surprisingly, none have examined the very first word of this book. Like every parasha, the Hebrew name of the book comes from the first important word, so while the English name (from the Greek) is a reflection of its levitical content, the Hebrew name simply means [He] Called.
There are two unusual aspects to this first word VaYikra. Anyone who has ever read Torah is probably familiar with the formula 'Vayidabeir Adonai el Moshe leimor' 'And God spoke to Moses, saying.' This exact phrase appears over fifty times in the Torah. So this week's departure: 'God called to Moses' followed by the formulaic 'and God spoke to him...' immediately catches our attention because it is the only time that God first 'calls' Moses before speaking to him. The verb 'to call' is rarely used to describe God's communication with Moses, although it appears in God's call at the burning bush (Ex. 3:4). The commentator Sforno suggests, (as does contemporary translator Everett Fox), that the same language in Exodus (24:16) used to call Moses serves to link our passage to Mount Sinai. Rashi, follows the midrashic understanding that all of God's communication to Moses (even when not explicit in the text), were in fact preceded by a call because it shows affection (ie. God's close relationship to Moses). In other words, God and Moses were on very good speaking terms! But if that is the case, why does the text only specify here that God 'calls' to Moses before speaking to him? The simplest (pshat) explanation might be that upon the completion of the Mishkan that we read last week, God's presence (cloud) filled the tent, and Moses could not enter it. So the text must 're-introduce' God talking to Moses and by calling to Moses, God indicates that it is safe to re-enter the Mishkan. The Ramban quotes the Rabbinic commentary Torat Kohanim that this formal 'call' was made explicit here since it was the first time God speaks to Moses from the Mishkan. In the Torah, previous to the building of the sanctuary, it certainly seems that God spoke whenever and wherever. From a bush, from a mountain, or even in Egypt. Now Moses needs to enter the Holy of Holies. It seems that once there was a special prepared site to meet God, it wasn't appropriate any longer for God's presence to be revealed in the previous more spontaneous manner- in any old place.
The second unusual detail about our opening word is found in the actual Torah scroll where the word 'VaYikra' is written with a small final 'aleph'. (There are five other places in the Torah where a small letter is written.) Again, the historical explanation is that when the Torah was first written, there were minimal spaces between the words, and either deliberately or accidentally, the final aleph of 'VaYikra' and the first aleph of the following word 'el' were contracted. When a later scribe added the second aleph in a small superscript, subsequent editions faithfully copied this scribe's correction and retained the exact formatting for the Torah that we still have today. This kind of 'scribal error' theory, however is never admissible for traditional approaches to a sacred text. The Rabbinic approach searches for a deeper meaning. Aleph is an interesting letter. The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, it represents 'numero uno.' By that I mean both 'first', or 'best' (like when we call something 'primo'), as well as grammar's 'first person singular' (like when we say 'looking out for number one') to mean ourselves. Conveniently, both words for (first person) 'I' in Hebrew: 'ani' or more formally 'anokhi' begin with aleph. Aleph is also the first letter in the Hebrew word for God, elohim and Source/father Av. Because the aleph is also silent, it is considered a symbol of modesty. There is a wonderful story in the Zohar that has all the letters arguing over which one should be chosen to start the Torah. Going backwards from taf, each letter makes a case, and the fighting is ended when God picks the beit (for Breishit). But the aleph, of course, being silent, hasn't been "heard from" (and because going backwards, the aleph comes after the beit). God rewards it for its modesty, and the aleph is chosen to start the Ten Commandments.
Moses is considered the humblest of men, even though he spoke with God. He didn't let being on the top of the mountain go to his head. Moses understood that he 'towered' over the Israelites, not because of his own great personal qualities, but because God had allowed him to ascend the mountain. According to the midrash, Moses wanted to write ''VaYikar'' instead of VaYikra (ie. without the aleph) with the meaning, 'God happened to meet' (like the Hebrew 'mikreh' meaning chance, or coincidence), used to describe how God appeared to Bilaam (Num. 23:4). The midrash even goes on to suggest that since God gave Moses the exact amount of ink to write the Torah, by writing this small aleph Moses was left with a tiny bit of ink left over. According to this midrash, the leftover ink was used to create the rays that shone from Moses face! One last interpretation: instead of reading ''VaYikar'' to mean 'happened to meet him' it can also be understood as 'honoured him', like we read in the Megillah this coming week on Purim- LaYehudim Haytah Orah v'simcha vessason viyikar! The Jews had light and joy and gladness and honour. This is supported by Midrash Tanchuma that explains that anyone who runs after honour and glory will find that honour and glory run away from them. However, anyone who runs away from honour and glory will be chased by them! Because Moses eschewed honours, he was even more respected. Why do rivers flow into the sea? Because the sea makes itself lower than the rivers.
Lessons for Today
Lawrence Kushner explores the many meanings of Jacob's exclamation waking up from his dream on his stone pillow in his book titled, "God was in this Place, and I, i did not know it." The English title has the reference to the first person doubled: I, i, to capture how in the verse both the word anokhi and the Hebrew suffix '-ti' in the verb 'yadati' both mean 'I'. According to one chassidic interpretation, the extraneous 'anokhi' must be understood as God was in this place when I did not know my 'I'; God can only fill a place where we don't fill it with our egos. Because the aleph represents the ego, by making the aleph small, the Torah is hinting that to encounter God one has to make their 'I' smaller.
The word 'aleph' also means to train, or teach. Rebbe Pinchas of Koretz's interpretation: teach (aleph) yourself humility. This lesson to contain our egos applies to relationships with significant others as well with the Divine. If we are full of ourselves, we will have no room for others. The smaller we make our 'aleph', the better our relationships with others and the more honour we ultimately bring to ourselves.
Shabbat Shalom
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