Vayikra                                                                                    The Bienenfeld Family

The Book of Vayikra doesn’t get a lot of love.  People tend not to be disappointed that we generally rush through the second half, doubling up 6 of its last 7 parshas.  Dubbed “Toras Kohanim” for its central theme pertaining to korbanos, its content unfortunately is, for the most part, not in practice today.  Our inability to relate to the mitzvos contained within in an actionable way leave some of us unable to connect with it in the same manner as with the other books of the Torah.   But as this year is a leap year, and so the weekly laining schedule is spread out - giving us more time engrossed in Toras Kohanim - we want to try to get acquainted with it.

 The first verse of Vayikra seems rather innocuous; to a simple reader the pasuk merely tells us that God spoke to Moshe, not too different than many other pesukim in the Torah.  However, the commentators are fascinated by this pasuk, and write at length about it.  One not even need to look at the entire pasuk, the commentators have a lot to say just on the first word!  The word “Vayikra” is written in the Torah with a small “Alef”. The commentaries ask why the word “vayikra” – He called – is used here, and also, why it is written this way with the small “Alef”.

The Rashbam points out that Sefer Shemos ends by telling us that “The cloud covered the Ohel Moed and the glory of Hashem filled the Mishkan.  Moshe could not enter the Ohel Moed, for the cloud rested upon it, and the glory of Hashem filled the Mishkan” (40:34-35).  Sefer Vayikra picks up at this point, with the description of the majesty and glory of Hashem resting on the Ohel Moed, and leaving (even) Moshe feeling too unfit to be in the Mishkan.  This is why the pasuk did not just say that Hashem spoke to Moshe, but actually called out to him, to tell him to come inside.

Many of us learned the “famous” reason for the small “Alef” in the word Vayikra.  The Baal HaTurim says that Moshe, in his humility, didn’t want to use the loving word of “Vayikra” which describes how God calls out to him.  Rather, he wanted to use the word “Vayiker” (“Vayikra” without the Alef at the end) which means “happened upon”, the uncomplimentary word used to describe how God appeared to Balaam. 

The Zohar offers another interpretation (as quoted by Rabbi Moshe Lichtman in his sefer Eretz Yisrael in the Parsha). The reason for the small Alef is because this “calling” was imperfect, because it was in a foreign land, outside of Eretz Yisrael.   This is fascinating! We mentioned before that the majesty of HaKadosh Baruch Hu was too awesome for Moshe to stay in the Ohel Moed.  The Ramban in his introduction to Sefer Vayikra describes how Shemos is the story of the geula and how this magnificent redemption was the building block for the discussions of Vayikra.  The content of Vayikra is therefore of such a high spiritual caliber, it required the culmination of redemption to begin its teachings.  How imperfect could this calling have been?

The question really answers itself.  All these mitzvos are dependent on being in Eretz Yisrael.  Therefore, even in the Mishkan, it was imperfect, since it was outside of Israel.  And so today we are unable to perform these Mitzvos, but we must recognize their magnitude, which as the Ramban points out, are by design, the next chapter after redemption. 

Just think about how much the commentaries pour into one pasuk, one word, one letter.  This is a signal to how much there is to discover in the entire Sefer.

We are told that when we are not afforded the opportunity to do certain mitzvos, the act of learning about them is given the consideration as if we did them.  And so Hashem calls to us, “Vayikra,” to come and learn about the karbanos and tumah and taharah.  Moshe was telling us that this calling was not just for him - he wrote that Alef smaller in order to convey this message.  And let’s pray that we see the days where we can perform these mitzvos soon.  In the mean time we will settle to study them. Even if that may be imperfect.