26 | MARCH 18 • 2021
SPIRIT
Hearing Our Calling
Y
ou may have noticed
that the Book of
Leviticus is a direct
continuation from the Book
of Exodus.
In Hebrew we read Vayikra
el Moshe … often
translated as “The
Lord called to Moses
…” But the Hebrew
verb vayikra doesn’t
explicitly include “the
Lord.” The English
translation could read
“and He called to
Moses …”
The verse will
immediately contin-
ue, “and the Eternal
spoke to him from the
Tent of Meeting;” the
Eternal is connected
to the second verb va-yedaber
- and He spoke. The verb
vayikra is continuing from the
previous book, Exodus. One
of our great commentators,
Rashbam, Rashi’s grandson,
teaches us God is calling to
Moses from the tent that had
just been built at the end of
Exodus. Leviticus begins in
Exodus with God already
calling out to Moses from the
Tent of Meeting.
In Exodus 24:16, a cloud,
representing the Divine
Presence, settles upon Mount
Sinai. God calls to Moses,
vayikra el Moshe, and so, too, in
Exodus 40:35, the cloud settles
upon the Tent of Meeting,
telling us the Mishkan is now
a moving Mount Sinai. Now,
with the Divine Presence cov-
ering the Tent of Meeting, the
people of Israel can move for-
ward with God at their center,
and it is from there that the
Eternal calls out to Moses in
Leviticus 1:1.
The mitzvot, often translated
as commandments or laws, in
Leviticus, can seem antiquated,
for example, animal sacrific-
es. Animals and grain would
be offered, sacrificed, as a
way for ancient Israel
to engage as individuals
and as a community with
God. There is a lot of
meaning to glean from
this text. For example,
to seek redemption, to
offer something deeply
personal, to let go can
require great sacrifices.
We start the Book
of Leviticus just before
Passover this year. The
Passover story, our peo-
ple’s redemption and
liberation from Egypt,
is central to our people and
to our brit, our covenant with
the Eternal. With Leviticus
continuing with God calling
to Moses, the Torah is teach-
ing us that our liberation is
not over; there is much more
to do.
While we have been liberat-
ed from Pharaoh, we are then
called - vayikra - to be in
relationship with each other
and the Eternal. As individ-
uals and as a community, we
are called to make sacrifices
in order to truly remain free
from Pharaoh and carry the
Torah in our hearts through
the wilderness.
To paraphrase the late
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, free-
dom from Pharaoh was much
easier than what would come
next, the freedom to create a
just and righteous society.
Davey Rosen is rabbinic intern at
Jewish Hospice & Chaplaincy Network
and a rabbinic student at the Academy
for Jewish Religion in New York.
TORAH PORTION
Davey Rosen
Parshat
Vayikra:
Leviticus
1:1-5:26;
Isaiah
43:21-44:23.
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