Remember, God Speaks Through Torah's Words

VAYIKRA, Leviticus 1:1-5:26

Rabbi Danielle Stillman

This Shabbat, we begin Leviticus with the portion called Vayikra, which provides a preview for the rest of Leviticus. It gives technical instructions to the priests about how to make sacrifices. It tells the people what kinds of sacrifices they can make to gain expiation for their sins. And through it all, we gain legal instruction about how the people of Israel should act.

Leviticus is known as a priestly book, occupied with giving instructions to Aaron and his sons on how to perform sacrifices. Yet Moses remains a prominent figure, and God speaks these instructions directly to him. Moses passes them on to Aaron and his sons, and the Israelite people.

For many Jews, Leviticus is more difficult to relate to than Genesis and Exodus. We identify with the human stories of the patriarchs and matriarchs, with all their greatness and imperfections. We are drawn into the drama of Moses' leadership and the courageous story of a people moving from slavery to freedom. But in Leviticus, we are offered graphic and bloody priestly technicalities that don't seem to concern us as the inheritors of rabbinic Judaism.

However, if we are tempted to take Leviticus less seriously, Rashi, the great medieval commentator on the Torah, reminds us that every word of Torah is worthy of our contemplation. Rashi focuses on the opening words of the portion, the opening words of the book, which read: Va-yikra el Moshe, "And He called to Moses ... "

Rashi notes that God often speaks to Moses or commands Moses, but this is always preceded by God calling to Moses by name. Rashi considers this an expression of affection: The same verb, kara, is used by the angels when they call to each other in the part of Isaiah that we recite during the kedushah in prayer. Rashi also emphasizes the intimacy of this calling.

God called only to Moses, and the divine voice was not heard beyond the tent of meeting. God kept God's voice only for Moses' ears. Finally, Rashi notes that we might expect such an affectionate, intimate call to Moses at the beginning of each Torah portion. Yet at the start of other portions, God speaks to or commands Moses. The special "call" is reserved for major sections of prophecy. The phrase is used for the first time when God calls to Moses out of the burning bush in Exodus 3:4.

Rashi asks why the Torah is divided into portions if they do not represent a new prophecy each time. He concludes that the division of each portion gives Moses a chance to contemplate and better understand between one subject and the next. Rashi also comments that if Moses needs this pause in order to understand the subject matter of the Torah, how much more so do we ordinary people need it!

Rashi reminds us of the need to pause between words of Torah, to take them and try to understand them. Just as we may be tempted to discount Leviticus as a collection of irrelevant or merely technical instructions about priestly sacrifice, Rashi reminds us of how intimate this communication was to Moses, and how important it is for us to also read it carefully.

As we embark upon this new book, may we, too, be able to feel that God is calling to us through these words, and to find ways that they speak specifically and intimately to us, by taking the necessary time to pause and contemplate them.

Rabbi Danielle Stillman is a Reconstructionist rabbi and the Hillel adviser at Ursinus College.