The opening word as we begin the Book of Leviticus is also the Hebrew name for the third of the Five Books of Moses. That word is Vayikra. It means “called,” as in “God called Moses.” Now unlike any other word in the Torah, there is something most unique about this word. For those of you who can read Hebrew, picture the letters making up Vayikra…from right to left: vav, yod, koof, reish, alef. If you look at the scroll – or any Tanakh (the Hebrew bible), you’ll find that the last letter, the

alef, is smaller than the others. And this phenomenon is the delight of the rabbis, sages, commentators, of any generation. Why? Was this something other than a scribe’s error?

The most beautiful answer is that it represents the character of Moses. Our ancestors wanted to emphasize the humility of the one who was called the greatest leader our people ever had.* He didn’t want the recognition of having been addressed by the Divine so he insisted, “Let the record show that the alef should be smaller than the other letters.” Ok, so he didn’t say that, but there is the emphasis on his humility.

He never took credit for bargaining with God not to wipe out our ancestors for the Golden Calf. He would have made an amazing Union representative or attorney! His skill at making the “Sovereign of the Universe” change the Divine mind” has always amazed me; I can’t even get someone I know to change her mind.

Be that as it may, humility is a value in our tradition. Thank God it gallops – it doesn’t merely “run” – in my family.

*Interesting fact…the “greatest leader’s” name is not found in the Haggadah, for while he guided us out of Egypt, the rabbis wanted to make certain he wouldn’t be considered a god; it was God (with an upper case “G”) who really led us out. As a matter of fact, while we have the supposed resting places of most of our biblical ancestors, there has never been any indication of the resting place of Moses. The Book of Deuteronomy does tell us he was buried on Mount Nebo, overlooking the Promised Land. It is in today’s Jordan but even in ancient days the exact location was a secret.