Parshas Vayikra 5786: Apposites Attract

 Torah Parallels

Parshas Vayikra

לעוי נשמת האדא בת מרדכי

Apposites Attract

Sefer Vayikra opens with the words “...וַיִּקְרָא אֶל מֹשֶׁה” - And Hashem called to Moshe. Rashi explains that this phrase teaches that every time Hashem spoke to Moshe, it was preceded by a loving calling of his name (twice). This stands in sharp contrast to how Hashem interacted with Bilaam, where the Torah uses the expression “וַיִּקָּר”, signaling an almost incidental, happenstance encounter. The same root, but two completely different relationships: one of closeness and affection, the other distant and impersonal.

If one looks in a Sefer Torah at the word “Vayikra”, you would notice something unusual: the aleph is written smaller than usual. The Baal HaTurim explains that Moshe, in his humility, wanted the Torah to write “Vayikar,” as it does by Bilaam, minimizing his own stature. Hashem insisted that the word remain “Vayikra,” but allowed for a small aleph as a compromise to serve as a subtle, everlasting reflection of Moshe’s anivus.

The question, however, is why is this idea emphasized specifically here? As the Sifsei Chachamim points out, this is not the first time the Torah uses the expression “Vayikra” regarding Hashem calling to Moshe. The passuk (Shemos 3:4) when describing Moshe’s initial encounter with Hashem at the sneh (burning bush), and again on Har Sinai at Matan Torah itself, the Torah uses the same language of “Vayikra”. Why then does Rashi wait until the opening of Sefer Vayikra to highlight this distinction and its deeper meaning?

Perhaps the answer lies in the very nature of Sefer Vayikra itself. This is the sefer of karbanos and avodah, of how a person comes close to Hashem. And the foundation of all avodah is humility. Before anything else, there must be an inner posture of anivus. In fact, this is hinted to immediately in the very first mitzvah of the sefer: “אָדָם כִּי יַקְרִיב מִכֶּם קָרְבָּן לַה’׳.” The meforshim are bothered by the word “מִכֶּם” (“from you”). The passuk could have simply said, “when a person brings a korban.” Why is there a need to include “from you”? The Sforno (1:2) explains that the Torah is teaching that what Hashem truly desires is not the external offering, but what comes from within you; the hachna’ah, the humility, the recognition of wrongdoing, and the commitment to grow. The korban is only a vehicle, the real avodah is internal. 

In this sense, the perspective behind everything we do in our avodah – whether in tefillah, bein adom la’makom, or even bein adom l’chaveiro - must be rooted in a deep sense of anivus. Moshe’s entire being was truly apposite to this middah, in fact it perfectly embodied it, and it is therefore stamped in the front of Sefer Vayikra as the active prerequisite for all avodah. 

In the earlier passukim describing Moshe’s first encounter with Hashem at the sneh and the experience of Matan Torah, it is natural that “Vayikra” is used - those were extraordinary moments. While they were certainly only made possible because Moshe possessed the anivus necessary to be worthy of them, those moments were not the setting for actively developing anivus, but rather to serve as the examples of the greatness that anivus enables. The Vayikra of our parsha teaches something very different, that while anivus is necessary to reach that greatness, it is not something which is achieved and then could be assumed to remain; it is an ongoing avodah. This is why Sefer Vayikra starts with the little aleph combined with the greatness signaled in the word “Vayikra” itself. Anivus itself is the avodah. 

Baruch Hashem, we live lives filled with bracha, siyata d’shmaya, and countless ongoing open and hidden miracles. It is easy to feel a sense of privilege and to take for granted, or chas v’shalom, perhaps not recognize at all and assume everything to be happenstance. If the parsha of korbanos teach us anything, it is that we are always standing before Hashem not with entitlement, but with indebtedness.

Apposites attract (excuse the grammatical misuse); the more we recognize how little we are and how much we owe Hashem, the closer we come to Him.