Vayikra

This week we begin the Book of Leviticus, which focuses on the ritual in the Mishkan, the Tabernacle in the desert. By the end of the previous book, the Book of Exodus, the Tabernacle has been completed, and has been filled with the Divine Presence, the clouds of glory which indicate the presence of God. The central ritual which takes place within the Tabernacle, the regular offering of sacrifices, is now the first order of business. Nachmanides, in his introduction to Leviticus, has an interesting understanding of the sacrificial rites. This is how he explains them: "This book [Leviticus]...commands him [Moshe] about the sacrifices and the care of the Tabernacle; that the sacrifices will serve as an atonement for them [Israel], and their sins will not cause the Divine Presence to depart."  READ MORE »

Last week, we completed the Book of Exodus, with a description of the construction of the Tabernacle. This week, we begin the Book of Vayikra (Leviticus). This book begins where Exodus left off - the Tabernacle, having been built, now contains the presence of God. As we discussed a few weeks ago, this situation, according to Nachmanides, is a replication of the situation at Mt. Sinai, in which God is palpably ‘there’, and communicates his commandments to man. It is therefore appropriate that the first thing that happens after the Tabernacle is up and running is that God speaks to Moshe - “And He called to Moshe, and God spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying.” What God then says to Moshe is the beginning of the next major section of the Torah - the basic laws of sacrifices, the daily ritual which was to take place in the just-built Tabernacle, as well as a large number of other ritual laws pertaining to the Tabernacle, and to life beyond the Tabernacle. The first verse, quoted above, presents a number of difficulties. The opening phrase, "Vayikra el Moshe" - “And He called to Moshe,” seems to be without any specific content. The real message apparently begins with the second half of the verse: “…and God spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying.” Why doesn’t the verse simply begin there, “and God spoke to him…” rather than with some unspecified “call” from God to Moshe? What is the nature, content, and purpose of this call? An additional issue is the fact that, in our traditional Torah scrolls, the last letter of the first word, the aleph at the end of Vayikra, is written much smaller than all the other letters. This is one of a number of letters in the Torah which we traditionally write smaller, or larger, than the others. Why does the tradition demand of us to write it this way? What is the significance of the small aleph?  READ MORE »