This week we start reading the third book of the Torah. It is called Vayikra in Hebrew, or Leviticus in English.   The book deals a lot with the laws of the priesthood, the ins and outs of the sacrifices, and matters of purity. This leads us to ask: What is the connection between these 3?

The answer starts with purity and the question of sin.   I am defining sin as doing something other than what haShem (god) wants us to do. When we go against god’s wishes, we are sinning.

I now want to make a small digression. Each of us has a soul. The soul is our person aspect of godliness. So, when we sin, we are actually going against our godselves. This is a form of impurity.

Different types of impurities require different ways of purification. Some require immersion in living water. Some require being sprinkled with the ashes of a pure red hefer. Others require our death. And the ones we talked about in this week’s parsha require a ritual performed by the(cohanim (priests) that includes the slaughtering of certain animals. Why is this necessary? I could not tell you. If you have an idea, please share it in the comment section at the end of this post.

Believe it or not, what I just shared is not what I planned to write about today. I actually wanted to talk about the first word in our parsha (and book), vayikra. The word means, “And he called.” Before I delve into the word, let me give a brief synopsis of the parsha.

It begins by talking about the types of animals that can be sacrificed, and how to do a grain sacrifice (called a minchah offering). The parsha then describes, in detail, how to do a burnt offering, a peace offering, and a sin offering, as well as the types of sins that this offering can be used for. Included in this list are sins committed by the high priest, the community as a whole, and a leader of the community.

The parsha ends with a listing of types of theft, and how to atone for the each one. It includes compensation to the victim as well as an animal or grain sacrifice.

Now that you know the gist of the parsha, let get to that first word, vayikra. It is an interesting word for two reasons. One reason is that the last letter, the aleph, is written smaller than the rest of the letters. The other reason it is interesting is because we have never seen it before. What is it doing there? Let me explain what I mean.

Throughout the Torah, god speaks to Moshe. It almost always follows the formula: And god say to Moshe. Here we have, “And he called to Moshe, and god spoke to him…” Why the change?

And why the small aleph?

Let me answer the first question first. To understand this, we need to recall how we ended the last book, Shmot (Exodus). Shmot ended with the building of the mishcan (tabernacle), and with the mischan being built, god now spoke to Moshe from within it.

Since Moshe did not normally hang out in the mishcan, much less live there, it would make sense that haShem would have to call him when haShem wanted to talk to him. HaShem didn’t do that before because before, god came to Moshe. Now it is time for Moshe to come to god. This word, vayikra, is there to tell us that from now on, this what happened. And once we know this, there is no reason to keep telling us that this was happening, so there is no reason to use the word again.

Now to answer the second question: why the little aleph?

In order to do so, I need to share that one of the meanings of the word aleph is leader. In other words, the letter aleph can represent a leader. Why is this important?

It is important because a person whom god calls to will probably become a leader, if s/he is not one already. And it is very easy for a person to become full of pride and arrogant if they become a leader because haShem called to them.

The message here is to tell this “newly crowned” leader to consciously make themselves small, to consciously not let their ego get inflated. The aleph is small because a leader is really a servant of the people, and it is important to remember that.   Later on, we will read that Moshe is the most humble man alive.

How is this possible as the supreme leader of a people, and god’s personal confidante?

Because Moshe always remembered that he was the small aleph every time that haShem called.

May we all merit to have haShem call to us, and may we hear the call and come as a small aleph.

If you care to read what I wrote about this parsha last year, click here.

About the Author

Shmuel Shalom Cohen spent 10 years studying Torah in Jerusalem. Six years ago, he started Conscious Torah to help Jews connect to their tradition in ways they didn’t think possible. Shmuel also started, and is the executive directory of Jewish Events Willamette-valley, a non-profit whose mission is to build Jewish community, pride, and learning. In his free time, Shmuel likes walks in nature, playing music, writing poetry, and time with good friends.