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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