…just one word, the opening word of the parsha, which gives its name not only to the parsha, but to the whole book: ‘Vayikra’ meaning ‘and God called’. This is how our book begins. ‘He [God] called to Moses, and He spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying….’ Now, if you look at the word ‘Vayikra’ in a…
Vayikra, the third book of the Torah, is markedly different from the others. It contains no journey. It is set entirely at Sinai. It occupies only a brief section of time: a single month. There is almost no narrative. Yet, set at the centre of the Mosaic books, it is the key to understanding Israel’s vocation as “a kingdom of…
…- is difficult to understand. Literally translated, the book of Vayikra begins like this: “And He called to Moshe (Vayikra el Moshe) and God spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying…” The first phrase seems to be unnecessary. If we are about to be told that God spoke to Moshe, why say in addition, “And He called”? Rashi…
…the word that gives our parsha, and the third book of the Torah, its name: Vayikra, “And He called.” The precise meaning of this opening verse is difficult to understand. Literally translated it reads: “And He called to Moses, and God spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying…” Vayikra 1:1 The first phrase seems to be redundant. If…
…the Torah, its name: Vayikra, “And He called.” Why does the word Vayikra appear here, at the beginning of the third and central book of the Torah? Because the book of Vayikra is about sacrifices, and a vocation is about sacrifices. We are willing to make sacrifices when we feel they are part of the mission we are called upon…