The word "Vayikra" begins the sefer that deals with sacrificial offering. The main purpose of bringing sacrifices is to bring atonement to a person who sinned. But that is only accomplished if the person regrets his previous misdeeds and repents wholeheartedly for what he has done. The trait of haughtiness lies at the root of all sin--someone with a lot of pride is more likely to sin than someone who is extremely humble. The letter Alef stands for the word Ani (I). "Vayikra" is spelled here with a small alef to teach us that if we make our "ani" small--if we make ourselves small and act with humility-- then we will avoid sin and have no need to bring sin-related sacrifices.
The Raza D'Mier teaches based off a midrash that the little aleph is there to symbolism Moshes modesty, that Moshe waited to be called by Hashem here before entering the ohel moad, and so there is a small aleph to show moshe's humility.
The Baal HaTurim writes that the opening word of the book of Vayikra, from which the Sefer gets its name, is written with a small Aleph because (in his modesty) when writing about himself, Moshe wanted to use the same word used to describe the Almighty's appearance to Bilaam -- namely Vayiker [implying a casual, less intimate form of communication]. However, since the Almighty insisted that Moshe write Vaykira rather than Vayiker, Moshe at least wrote it with a small Aleph, to minimize as much as possible the difference between that verb and the verb used to describe G-d's appearance to Bilaam. Rav Schach asks -- on the presumption that more laws could be derived from a larger Aleph than from a small Aleph -- why would Moshe want to deprive us of learning out the maximum number of laws we might be able to learn from the letters of the Torah by minimizing them in any way whatsoever? Rav Shach answers that Moshe felt it would be worthwhile to forgo those extra homiletic expositions we might learn from the bigger letter to teach us an important lesson -- the lesson of modesty (and we know how modest Moshe can be). This lesson of how a person should not look for the headlines, should not be boastful, should not try to point out the differences between him and someone else -- that in and of itself is a lesson that is worthwhile for Klal Yisrael to know." Rabbi Yossocher Frand
Why is Vayikra written with a small aleph? Rabbi Wein gives an answer to this question. He says that Hashem is to be seen and heard in the small things in life and not only in the large, great events. Hashem tells Eliyahu that He is not to be found in the wind, the noise of a quake, the brightness of a burning fire but rather in the still, small voice, in the sound of a whisper and not of a shout. The small voice is most representative of G-d and his omnipotence. Hashem calls out with a small aleph to us – to see Him in every aspect of life, no matter how small and insignificant it may appear.
In a Dvar Torah by Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair, it says when G-d told Moshe to write the word Vayikra “And He called”, Moshe didn’t want to write that last aleph.It seemed to Moshe that it gave him too much importance. How could he write that G-d called to him?Who was he, after all? A mere man. Moshe would have preferred to write Vayikar — “And He happened (upon him).”In other words G-d just “came across” Moshe, He didn’t “go out of His way” to appear to him.
The word "Vayikra" begins the sefer that deals with sacrificial offering. The main purpose of bringing sacrifices is to bring atonement to a person who sinned. But that is only accomplished if the person regrets his previous misdeeds and repents wholeheartedly for what he has done. The trait of haughtiness lies at the root of all sin--someone with a lot of pride is more likely to sin than someone who is extremely humble. The letter Alef stands for the word Ani (I). "Vayikra" is spelled here with a small alef to teach us that if we make our "ani" small--if we make ourselves small and act with humility-- then we will avoid sin and have no need to bring sin-related sacrifices.
ReplyDeleteThe Raza D'Mier teaches based off a midrash that the little aleph is there to symbolism Moshes modesty, that Moshe waited to be called by Hashem here before entering the ohel moad, and so there is a small aleph to show moshe's humility.
ReplyDeleteThe Baal HaTurim writes that the opening word of the book of Vayikra, from which the Sefer gets its name, is written with a small Aleph because (in his modesty) when writing about himself, Moshe wanted to use the same word used to describe the Almighty's appearance to Bilaam -- namely Vayiker [implying a casual, less intimate form of communication]. However, since the Almighty insisted that Moshe write Vaykira rather than Vayiker, Moshe at least wrote it with a small Aleph, to minimize as much as possible the difference between that verb and the verb used to describe G-d's appearance to Bilaam. Rav Schach asks -- on the presumption that more laws could be derived from a larger Aleph than from a small Aleph -- why would Moshe want to deprive us of learning out the maximum number of laws we might be able to learn from the letters of the Torah by minimizing them in any way whatsoever? Rav Shach answers that Moshe felt it would be worthwhile to forgo those extra homiletic expositions we might learn from the bigger letter to teach us an important lesson -- the lesson of modesty (and we know how modest Moshe can be). This lesson of how a person should not look for the headlines, should not be boastful, should not try to point out the differences between him and someone else -- that in and of itself is a lesson that is worthwhile for Klal Yisrael to know."
ReplyDeleteRabbi Yossocher Frand
Why is Vayikra written with a small aleph?
ReplyDeleteRabbi Wein gives an answer to this question. He says that Hashem is to be seen and heard in the small things in life and not only in the large, great events. Hashem tells Eliyahu that He is not to be found in the wind, the noise of a quake, the brightness of a burning fire but rather in the still, small voice, in the sound of a whisper and not of a shout. The small voice is most representative of G-d and his omnipotence. Hashem calls out with a small aleph to us – to see Him in every aspect of life, no matter how small and insignificant it may appear.
In a Dvar Torah by Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair, it says when G-d told Moshe to write the word Vayikra “And He called”, Moshe didn’t want to write that last aleph.It seemed to Moshe that it gave him too much importance. How could he write that G-d called to him?Who was he, after all? A mere man. Moshe would have preferred to write Vayikar — “And He happened (upon him).”In other words G-d just “came across” Moshe, He didn’t “go out of His way” to appear to him.
ReplyDelete