In the Torah scroll, there are a handful of scribal oddities - letters that are too big or too small, or upside down or backwards, or with dots over them - and for whatever reason they were originally written that way, the tradition demands that those oddities be preserved. As a result, a rich tradition of interpretation has developed to find meaning in these oddities, because it is believed that every aspect of the Torah is precious and has something to teach us.
One of those scribal oddities appears at the beginning of the book of Leviticus. The first word of the first chapter of the book of Leviticus is va-yikra. The first verse says: Va-yikra el Moshe/God called to Moses. In the word va-yikra, the final letter - the letter aleph - is smaller than the rest of the letters. So what meaning could there be in one tiny letter?
There is a Hasidic teaching that this tiny aleph is a symbolic hint of the humility of Moses, who is traditionally said to have been the most humble man in history.
With that teaching in mind, we can hear the verse this way: When God called to Moses - the tiny aleph, that makes no sound of its own - there was no Ego in Moses standing in the way of God's message. God called and spoke and the message went right through Moses to the people.
There's another mystical interpretation that I love. For this one, you need to know two things: First, according to the kabbalists, creation happened when God contracted God's self to make room for the material world, and in the process God-stuff (for lack of a better term) got sprinkled everywhere and is flickering within and animating everything.
And second, you need to know that the Hebrew word aleph has the same root as the word aluf, which means Lord and chief, as well as intimate companion. So - in this interpretation, the tiny aleph represents the tiny spark of God the intimate companion within every person. Now we hear the verse in another way: God called to Moses from the tiny aleph God-spark within Moses, or even better: the God-spark within Moses called to him from within himself.
Two creative teachings based on one little letter, both pointing us toward a sense of humility - towards seeing through the Ego which imagines that it is running the show of our lives.
Before the holiday of Passover we make a point of cleaning out all leavened foods from our home. There is a tradition of understanding this process as a sweeping out of whatever thoughts and ideas are puffing us up with pride and arrogance.
May we use these days of Passover - and Easter as well - to take a look inside at what might be puffing us up a bit too much, and to sweep it out - to make space for that tiny aleph, that tiny God-spark that is calling each of us into a direct encounter with the Reality of our lives.
One of those scribal oddities appears at the beginning of the book of Leviticus. The first word of the first chapter of the book of Leviticus is va-yikra. The first verse says: Va-yikra el Moshe/God called to Moses. In the word va-yikra, the final letter - the letter aleph - is smaller than the rest of the letters. So what meaning could there be in one tiny letter?
There is a Hasidic teaching that this tiny aleph is a symbolic hint of the humility of Moses, who is traditionally said to have been the most humble man in history.
With that teaching in mind, we can hear the verse this way: When God called to Moses - the tiny aleph, that makes no sound of its own - there was no Ego in Moses standing in the way of God's message. God called and spoke and the message went right through Moses to the people.
There's another mystical interpretation that I love. For this one, you need to know two things: First, according to the kabbalists, creation happened when God contracted God's self to make room for the material world, and in the process God-stuff (for lack of a better term) got sprinkled everywhere and is flickering within and animating everything.
And second, you need to know that the Hebrew word aleph has the same root as the word aluf, which means Lord and chief, as well as intimate companion. So - in this interpretation, the tiny aleph represents the tiny spark of God the intimate companion within every person. Now we hear the verse in another way: God called to Moses from the tiny aleph God-spark within Moses, or even better: the God-spark within Moses called to him from within himself.
Two creative teachings based on one little letter, both pointing us toward a sense of humility - towards seeing through the Ego which imagines that it is running the show of our lives.
Before the holiday of Passover we make a point of cleaning out all leavened foods from our home. There is a tradition of understanding this process as a sweeping out of whatever thoughts and ideas are puffing us up with pride and arrogance.
May we use these days of Passover - and Easter as well - to take a look inside at what might be puffing us up a bit too much, and to sweep it out - to make space for that tiny aleph, that tiny God-spark that is calling each of us into a direct encounter with the Reality of our lives.