Vayikra

The images out of Ukraine are searing and heartbreaking. Buildings destroyed. People
on the run. Lives undone. The world order is being disrupted. It all feels so
overwhelmingly big.

One video clip stood out for me this week, as I read and watched and wept through so
much war coverage. In it, Rabbi Refael Kruskal, the CEO of Tikva Children’s Home in
Odessa, prepares to usher his orphans to safety. According to journalist Yair Rosenberg:

When Russian bombs began to fall last Thursday night, and one exploded near
Tikva’s girls’ home, Kruskal and his team decided it was me to leave. The call
was made at 7 a.m. on Friday. By 10:30 a.m., he and his sta were on the road
with hundreds of orphans, heading for prearranged shelter beyond the
Carpathian Mountains. Others from their community headed for the border
and crossed into Moldova.

“There were people in the Second World War who didn’t believe, and they and
their communi es were wiped out,” he said. “We prefer to be cau ous and
make sure that our communi es are safe.”1

Just before Kruskal set out from Odessa on Friday morning–knowing fully well that his
group would drive through Shabbat–he bid farewell to his synagogue.2 With tears in his
eyes and a crackling voice, he began, “Hadran alach ha-beit knesset b’Odessa…” “We will
return to you, synagogue of Odessa…”

The “Hadran” is an Aramaic prayer that is usually recited upon comple ng a chapter of
Talmudic study. Kruskal invoked it as he marked the end of a chapter of modern Jewish
history.

1h ps://newsle ers.theatlan c.com/deep-shtetl/621eb2869277230021a dc5/what-pu n-

denazi ca on-of-ukraine-really-looks-like-odessa/?
clid=IwAR3YJVlG3lXTBVutFxsz72NDsuIK1fCjea4NZBLZHnBBX6Gdoc_ZF- Nv4

2 h ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVTQfxCYokI

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 (‫ ּדַעְּתָן עֲלְָ מַּסֶכֶת )יאמר שם המסכת‬.‫הְֲדָרן עֲלְָ מַּסֶכֶת )יאמר שם המסכת( וְהְֲדָרְ עֲלָן‬
‫ לָא‬,‫ לָא נִתֽנְׁשֵי מִינְָ מַּסֶכֶת )יאמר שם המסכת( וְֹלא תִתְנְׁשֵי מִינָן‬.‫וְַדעְּתְָ עֲלָן‬
‫ּבְעָלְמָא הֵָדין וְֹלא ּבְעָלְמָא ְדאַָתֵי‬:

We will return to you, Tractate ____ [ ll in the name of the tractate], and you
will return to us; our mind is on you, Tractate ____, and your mind is on us; we
will not forget you, Tractate ____, and you will not forget us – not in this world
and not in the next world.

The words of Rabbi Kruskal pierced my heart, as they folded ancient history into more
proximate memory, collapsing enormous bands of me and space. The words of our
ancestors mixed with the words of our present-day brethren to bring into stunning relief
that it is once again me to say goodbye to a beloved, richly rooted, profoundly
meaningful home.

Hadran alach. We pray that our brothers and sister will indeed return.

Some mes ny moments, seemingly whispered from far away mes and places, can
center us on the vastness of the present.

***

The book of Vayikra opens with such a call.

(‫א‬:‫וַּיְִקָר֖א אֶל־מֹׁשֶ֑ה וַיְַדּבֵ֤ר ה֙ אֵלָ֔יו מֵאֹ֥הֶל מֹועֵ֖ד לֵאמֹֽר׃ )ויקרא א‬

God called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Mee ng, saying:
(Levi cus 1:1)

The call is intriguing in two ways. First, it is visually arres ng. No ce the word “vayikra”
(in Hebrew) and the size of the nal aleph rela ve to the rest of the word. What is the
meaning of this li le le er, the “aleph ze’ira” as it is known? Second, what did the call
actually entail? It seems that there were two dis nct u erances in this encounter. First,
"vayikra," God called out to Moses. Then, "vayidaber," God addressed Moses.

Rashi no ces this doubling and suggests that the ini al call was purposefully, consciously
contentless. Keriah, or calling, is "lashon chibah," the language of a ec on (Rashi on Lev.
1:1), he writes, and so God was expressing God’s love for Moses through this ac on--the
whisper of his name perhaps, or simply a gentle murmur indica ng Divine presence. As a
new book opens, and with it, a new mishkan-centric chapter in the life of the Jewish
people, God so ly rea rms God’s unique ardor for Moses, their leader.

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 The Sefat Emet o ers a di erent interpreta on, rela ng the content of the call to the
li le aleph that announces it.

‫ דהנה משה רבינו ע"ה קיבל כל התורה בארבעים יום וארבעים לילה‬.‫ויקרא א' זעירא‬
‫ רק שבני ישראל לא‬.‫ א"כ למה נאמר לו פרשיות אלו באהל מועד למטה‬.‫בשמים‬
‫ וזה‬.‫ שהיא בחי' אלף רבתא‬.‫היו מוכנים לקבל התורה שנאמרה לו בשמים‬
.‫הלימוד הי' בקטנות מול מדרגת משה רבינו ע"ה דלגבי' מילתא זוטרתא הוא‬
‫ וז"ש בשבילכם הוא נדבר‬.‫ שהי' זה לימוד לאמר לבנ"י‬.‫וז"ש וידבר כו' לאמר‬
(‫ תרס"א‬,‫ ויקרא‬,‫ באותו שביל והדרך שיוכלו בנ"י לקבל…)שפת אמת‬.‫עמי‬

Vayikra [begins with] a small aleph. [The last le er in the opening word,
Vayikra, “God called to Moses from the Tent of Mee ng…” is aleph, and it is
wri en in a smaller font than the rest of the le ers (Lev. 1:1).] Moses, our
teacher of blessed memory, received all of the Torah in forty days and forty
nights in the heavens [at the peak of Mt. Sinai]. If so, why were these por ons
[of the Torah] dictated to him in the Tent of Mee ng down below?

It must be that the Israelites were not ready to receive the Torah of the
heavens, one characterized by a “big aleph.” This teaching [on the mishkan,
beginning with vayikra] was small rela ve to the level of Moses of blessed
memory. For him it was a minor ma er.

When the verse states: “God called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of
Mee ng, saying: [Speak to the Israelite people…”] (Lev. 1:1-2), this is an
indica on that this teaching should be shared with the Jewish people. As it says
[in Rashi, Moses was to tell the Israelites:], “It is for your sake [bishvilchem] that
God communicates with me!” (Rashi, ad loc). This means in accordance with
the ways (shvil) that the Israelites could receive… (Sefat Emet, Vayikrah, 1901)

The diminu ve le er aleph signals the shrinking of the Word, so to speak, or the
compression of it to human scale. Moses communicated with God “face-to-face” (Deut.
34:10), with all of God’s fullness and grandeur. For 40 day and nights, he stood atop a
mountain and learned all of the le ers of the Divine alphabet, taking in all the vast
teaching that is Torah. It sounded like a “kol gadol,” a “big voice” (Deut. 5:19)--or maybe
a “big aleph” (aleph rabuta). But the Israelites could not handle that degree of
revela on. They could not manage the overwhelming Presence. Recall that at Sinai, a er
hearing the voice of God, they repelled it:

(‫טז‬:‫ים ּפֶן־נָמּֽות׃ )שמות כ‬-ִ֖‫וַּיֹֽאמְרּו֙ אֶל־מֹׁשֶ֔ה ּדַּבֵר־אַּתָ֥ה עִּמָ֖נּו וְנִׁשְמָ֑עָה וְאַל־יְַדּבֵ֥ר עִּמָ֛נּו אֱֹלה‬

“You speak to us,” they said to Moses, “and we will obey; but let not God speak
to us, lest we die.” (Exodus 20:16)

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 On the other side of Sinai, God thus calls out with a more manageable voice–a more
hear-able voice–to Moses so that he might o er the people a message that they can
actually take in. The Divine calls out with a “li le aleph,” a so and invi ng tone. And
God asks Moses to communicate to the people in a way that they can internalize,
“ba’shvil shelahem,” in accordance with their path.3 God learned how to talk so that
others might listen (and perhaps also how to listen so that others might talk).4

What follows this calling-into-rela onship is an educa on on korbanot, sacri ces. The
Sefat Emet and so many others recognize that the root of the word korban is k,r,v,
meaning closeness. The essence of the ancient prac ce, physical as it was, was actually
spiritual union. Perhaps, then, we are to learn that with rightly calibrated
communica on, rela onships of depth can be born. Some mes we just need to issue an
invita on.

***

I’d like to o er one more related midrash, on the subject of invita on. Vayikra Rabbah
suggests that Moses himself also needed to hear God’s invita on at this juncture in the
story.

Let us recall that we just completed the book of Shemot, which ended with Moses
outside of the Mishkan.

‫וַיְכַ֥ס הֶעָנָ֖ן אֶת־אֹ֣הֶל מֹועֵ֑ד ּוכְבֹ֣וד ה מָלֵ֖א אֶת־הַּמִׁשְּכָֽן׃‬

‫וְֹלא־יָכֹ֣ל מֹׁשֶ֗ה לָבֹוא֙ אֶל־אֹ֣הֶל מֹועֵ֔ד ּכִֽי־ׁשָכַ֥ן עָלָ֖יו הֶעָנָ֑ן ּוכְבֹ֣וד ה מָלֵ֖א אֶת־הַּמִׁשְּכָֽן׃ )שמות‬
(‫לה‬-‫לד‬:‫מ‬

The cloud covered the Tent of Mee ng, and the Presence of God lled the
Tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Mee ng, because the cloud
had se led upon it and the Presence of the Ine able lled the Tabernacle.
(Exodus 40:34-35)

A er working so hard to facilitate the building of the Mishkan, a er enabling the

construc on of this sanctuary for God to dwell amidst God’s people, all in complete
accordance with God's wishes, Moses could not nd a way into it! So crowded was it by
the glory of God that there seemed to be no place for a human being to enter. Moses
was alienated from the very structure that he brought into being.

Vayikra Rabbah suggests the following analogy:

3Note that the Sefat Emet plays with the midrash here that suggests that Moses’ message to the people
ought to be: “‫”–”בשבילכם הוא נדבר עמי‬For you [Israelites] does God speak with me [Moses].” He
reinterprets “bishvilchem” (for you) to mean “ba’shvil shelachem” (according to your path).

4I am thinking here of a famous paren ng book, How to Talk so Kids Will Listen and Listen so Kids Will
Talk, by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish.

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 ...‫משל למלך שצוה את עבדו וא"ל בנה לי פלטין על כל דבר ודבר שהיה בונה היה כותב‬
‫ היה מעמיד עמודים‬,‫עליו שמו של מלך והיה בונה כתלים וכותב עליהן שמו של מלך‬
‫ לימים‬,‫ היה מקרה בקורות והיה כותב עליהן שמו של מלך‬,‫וכותב עליהן שמו של מלך‬
‫נכנס המלך לתוך פלטין על כל דבר ודבר שהיה מביט היה מוצא שמו כתוב עליו אמר כל‬
(‫ז‬:‫הכבוד הזה עשה לי עבדי ואני מבפנים והוא מבחוץ… )ויקרא רבה פרשה א‬

This is like a king who commands his servant and says to him, "Build me a
palace." On every item that the servant built, he would write on it the name of
the king. He put up walls and wrote on them the name of the king. He set up
columns and wrote on them the name of the king. He established beams and
wrote on them the name of the king. Finally, when the king entered the palace
and saw that everything he laid his eyes on contained his name, he said, "All
this glory my servant made for me, but [alas] I am now inside, but he is
outside..." (Vayikra Rabbah 1:7)

The palace was majes c and awe-inspiring, honoring the king in every way. But it was
also devoid of people and therefore useless as a vessel for royal service. So the king calls
out to his servant and invites him in--"‫קראו לו שיכנס לפני ולפנים‬," “He called to him so
that he may enter the inner chamber.” Don't stay on the outside, he says. Come join me.
Be with me in this grand space, and not just on the inside, but "‫לפני ולפנים‬," in the
inner sanctum. As my beloved servant, that is where you belong.

So God calls to Moses "be’lashon chiba," with the language of a ec on, as Moses hovers
on the outside of the Mishkan--full of fear, perhaps, or humility, or discomfort. Do not
step away from the God-space that you created, God indicates, but step into it. It is your
place too. It is our place. Even the inner sanctum.

The Torah suggests that this invita on to in macy came through a quiet voice. To help
Moses traverse the di cult distance from ‫ מבחוץ‬to ‫מבפנים‬, from outside to inside, God
whispered a nearly inaudible vowel, an “aleph ze’ira” (li le aleph), lulling Moses toward
God’s presence, invi ng him to connec on, to a rela onship grounded in the ul mate,
mysterious unity of the Divine and humanity. The numerical value of aleph is one, and so
it seems that God's message of love was also a message of oneness. We belong in the
inner sanctum together--together with God, together with humanity.

Some mes all it takes to bring someone on the outside in is a quiet invita on that subtly
a rms the li le aleph, the unity that binds us all.

Hadran alach.

Bifnim: For Re ec on
1. In your own experience, when, if ever, have you been called into in macy
through the kind of quiet aleph the Sefat Emet describes? What happened?
What, if anything, was it about the quiet call that contributed to the possibility

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 for in macy? How do you imagine it might have been di erent if the call had
come through a grand gesture?
2. When you consider your own rela onship with the Divine, do you feel close, far?
Inside, outside? Something else? Do you have a sense that you have a “way in” to
that rela onship? If so, what is that way in? If not, what blocks the path, and
what, if anything, might help you overcome that obstacle?

Avodah/Prac ce-Rabbi Myriam Klotz

One cold sunny winter day I was driving in downtown Philadelphia and stopped at a red
light. My mind was racing with random thoughts, and I don’t recall much about the
feeling of my hands on the steering wheel, my back against the driver’s seat, or my right
foot on the pedal. But suddenly I came present to the moment as my eyes landed upon
a man walking in the crosswalk. His hands were in his pockets. He had a cap on his
head. His back appeared to be bent forward and he walked slowly. As the sun shone on
his face in the cold air it illuminated his breath like steam as he exhaled. As I saw this
out breath, I suddenly felt awake and connected to the life around and inside me in a
new way. I felt the miracle of being alive right in the ordinary business of that moment.

This person’s exhala on, made visible because of the condi ons arising in that moment,
was a gi . Like the red light or a speed bump in the road, it helped me to slow down
and a une to something right in front of me that I hadn’t been paying a en on to. The
condi ons of sunlight, the capacity for physical sight, a red light and a crosswalk,
another human walking and breathing before me, enabled a moment of clear seeing and
awakening to the miracle of being breathed into life that literally was walking across my
path before me on that winter day in downtown Philadelphia.

Perhaps you too have had moments when you felt you were suddenly awake and
present with a quality of a en on that you hadn’t even been aware wasn't there just a
moment before.

As our teaching from the Sefat Emet this week illuminates, the condi ons for awakening
are present in each moment, the “li le” moments of our lives that pulse beneath the
larger stories and events we usually center in our a en on. We prac ce so that we
might no ce them, invite them, and nurture our capacity for sacred a unement, tuning
into the sacred dimension of our lives that is hiding in plain sight right inside the
ordinariness of our lived experience. The surprising size of the aleph at the end of the
verb VAYIKRa can serve as such a stop light, to help us pause that we might see and hear
the o en invisible ow from peripheries to center, from inside to outside, of Divine
Presence calling to us in each moment.

For this week’s prac ce, we will work with the breath as a focal point to help us deepen
awareness of the present moment and invite more in mate a unement to the various
sizes and shapes in which the Divine may be calling within and towards our
consciousness. You can choose to work with no cing any of the senses in this prac ce, if
working with your breath causes discomfort.

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 Find a comfortable seat and bring awareness to sensa ons in your body as you se le.
When you are ready, bring a en on to the nostrils where breath enters your body.
No ce the uctua ons of movement as your body receives the breath and as it travels
through your interior.

Exhale through the mouth, and let the outbreath be longer than the inbreath. As you
exhale, keeping your throat and tongue so , let the breath be audible, such that it
makes a sound like the “ahhhhh” of the li le aleph. Let your a en on a une to the
rhythm and sounds of this breath entering and leaving your body.

When you no ce thoughts, feelings or sensa ons arise, you can note them as passersby
in the crosswalk of your vision. See them, let them pass, and return your a en on to
the barely audible sounds of the exhala on all the way to its end. Await the next
inbreath, and a une to its entrance and journey through your body.

There is nowhere else you need to go, nothing else you need to do. There is no goal
other than to prac ce a uning to the sacred Presence you are already in rela onship
with. As you se le into this a unement, no ce the moments that are pleasing, those
that are unpleasant, those that are low key.

Return to the sounds and sensa ons that accompany the lengthened outbreath. You are
prac cing tuning in and sustaining a unement to the ow of Presence — unassuming,
not embellished nor empha c — yet ripe with all that is necessary to wake up in this
moment to sense the sacred hiding, and revealing itself to you, in plain sight.

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