Hello.

I am Cantor Jennifer Rolnick and thank you for inviting me to offer

words of greeting. This week we begin the book of Vayikra, Leviticus and I would
like to share a short story about a small letter with you today.

The art of sofrut, the process of writing a Torah scroll, is one that dates back
centuries. One who wants to be a sofer must apprentice with an experienced sofer
for years. The hardest part of sofrut is not the calligraphy itself, but learning all of
the rules regarding how to copy the text.

When we open the Torah scroll to read this week’s parsha, Vakiyra, we
encounter what looks like a scribal error. The last letter of the word, Vayikra, aleph,
is written much smaller than the letters around it. Given that scribes train for years
to learn to art of writing a Torah, the tiny aleph must be intentional rather than just
failure to plan ahead. What is the story of the tiny aleph?

Over the centuries, others have also pondered the question of the tiny aleph.
Rashi believed the small aleph of “vayikra” served to distinguish God’s unique
relationship to Moses from God’s relationship to the prophets of other nations.
God’s conversations with Moses are always prefaced by kuf, resh, aleph, the Hebrew
root of the word “to call”. When God speaks to the prophets of other nations, like
the prophet Bilaam, we see instead the word “vayikar” without the aleph, meaning
merely by chance rather than with intent or purpose.

The Ba’al HaTurim goes one step further in exploring the reason for the small
aleph. Although he was called by God, Moses was also humble. He did not want to
appear special and preferred to act as if he were chosen by chance. The tiny aleph
is a compromise, a way to show both purposeful call (Vayikra) and humility.

I think the tiny aleph can teach us one more thing. It is easy to find God in big
moments. Who else but the all powerful could cause the sea to part or thunder to
crash in the heavens? It can be much harder to find God in the small moments. The
person who gives you directions when you look lost. Holding the door for someone
that you notice has their hands full of heavy groceries. Visiting a friend when they
are sick and in need of companionship. Life is full of little aleph moments.
Sometimes we just need to be reminded to look for them.