Radical Torah

Sefer Va-Yiqra parshat Va-Yiqra/Leviticus 1:1 reads: “Va-Yiqra el-Moshe vay’dabeyr Y-H-V-H eylav meyohel mo’eyd leymor.” “And He called to Moshe - Ha-Shem spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying:”

Why is the letter Alef at the end of the word “Va-Yiqra” always written smaller than the surrounding letters?

“…called…” - according to an ancient scribal regulation, the last letter of the word “Vayiqra” is in miniature. Luzzatoo writes that the Sacred Text was originally written in a continuous row of letters, without any division between the words. When the last letter of a word was the same as the first letter of the next, as is here the case, one character would often serve for both.

When at a later time both letters were written out, one of them was in smaller size to show that it did not originally occur in the Text - an illustration of the profound reverence with which the Sefer Torah was guarded by the Sofrim/Scribes.

This is a nice theory, however one does not have to look far in a Sefer Torah to see that many pairs of words end & begin with the same letter, yet nowhere else are there tiny ending-letters. So much for Luzattoo.

Still others search for a deeper meaning. Why is this particular letter of this particular word written so? The use of the word “call” indicates that G@D wished to speak to Moshe, and purposefully called him. G@D’s prophesy to Bil’am (Bamidbar/Numbers 23:16), however, is introduced by “vayiqar”, without an Alef, a word that has two connotations: “by chance” (miq’reyh) & spiritual contamination (as in I Samuel 20:26). This implies that, while G@D had a reason to speak to Bil’am, he did not do so with enthusiasm. The small Alef used in this word makes it appear like the word used for Bil’am.

The Ba’al HaTurim tells us that when G@D was dictating the Torah to Moshe Rabeynu on Mount Sinai, G@D chose the word “Vayiqra” to indicate that G@D had specifically selected Moshe to lead us and to show what an intimate relationship the two of them possessed. Moshe Rabeynu, being “The Most Modest Man in All The World” as the Torah tells us (that’s quite a thing to be able to boast about - I wonder how he dealt with writing that down?), was reluctant to enscribe this, preferring instead to write “Vayiqar” - which means “He happened by” - to suggest a coincidence in his relationship to G@D rather than his chosen-ness. Chosen-ness is a heavy yoke to bear. That is why the Alef is so small, to express the humility of Moshe Rabeynu.

This smallness, ironically, backfires as it draws our attention to the letter & word, which is the opposite of Moshe’s intention.

Also, it actually serves to give prominence to the letter as if it were a separate word, ie: “Vayiqar Alef…”. The word “Alef” means, among other things, “to teach”, thus implying that no one should learn always to be “small” and humble.

No one was better qualified to teach this lesson than Moshe Rabbeynu because he was not only the greatest of all prophets, but also the humblest person who ever lived (R’ Bunam of P’schish’cha).