The Miniature Aleph

And God called (vaYikra) to Moses and spoke to him out of the Tent of Meeting, saying …                 Leviticus 1:1

The final letter of the opening word of the Book of Leviticus (“vaYikra,” for which the book is named in Hebrew) is written with as a small “aleph.”

Based upon a Midrash, Ba’al haTurim explains that out of humility, Moses wanted to omit the aleph entirely, so the word would be read “vaYikar” (implying a chance appearance), as it appears concerning the prophecies of Balaam [Numbers 23:4], but God instructed him to write the aleph as well, so Moses chose to write a small aleph.

The question has been raised why Moses did not request to omit the aleph when God called on him to ascend Mount Sinai. [Exodus 19:3,20].

Aleph symbolizes ones ego (aleph is the initial letter of “ani,” “I,” and the Hebrew word for “ego”). When it comes to making an offering, one must minimize his ego, by realizing his subservience to God and that ultimately, observance of God’s will does not constitute a “sacrifice.” However, when it comes to the acceptance and study of Torah, one may not make himself small and say “who am I to study God’s word, I shall leave that for those greater than I.” Every Jew has an obligation to study Torah, and to achieve his portion of Torah on his own individual level. The approach must be “I am obligated to study Torah,” thus the aleph must appear in God’s call to Moses to receive the Torah.

The missing aleph in God’s appearances to Balaam teaches a significant lesson. Our Sages [Midrash Tanaim Devarim 34:10] taught that while “No other prophet like Moses has arisen in Israel" [Deuteronomy 34:10], among the nations there is as great a prophet, namely Balaam. The intention is that Balaam had the potential to reach the greatness of Moses, but did not do so. Rather, Balaam used the tremendous gift of prophecy for evil purposes, in attempting to curse rather than to bless. Thus, God appeared to Balaam in an incomplete manner, versus His appearance to Moses, which was “face to face” [Deuteronomy, ibid.]