RESPONSE TO THE CALL UP

“Vayikra and he [Hashem] called to Moshe”

In the Torah text the letter Alef at the end of the term Vayikra is reduced in size.

When R Simcha Bunim of Pzhisgah was asked why the word Vayikra is written with a small Alef, he replied:-
‘Let us imagine that a tiny bird is perched atop a tall building. The roof is high up, yet the bird is as small as it was hitherto for.
‘Similarly, the Torah elevated Moshe to the heights. The Holy One Blessed Be He called upon Moshe himself, yet in his own eyes Moshe continued to be tiny, smaller than anyone else’. (Torat Simcha)

Significantly, Moshe saw his self; he knew that he had attained his uplifted state by virtue of his own self confidence fostered by Hashem. Yet he would not let his ego inflate him with any sense of grandeur and self-importance.

He continued to see himself as others at ground level would see the bird atop the roof. The higher it rises, the smaller it appears.

THOUGHTS OF WISDOM

“And let every man who is Hacham Lev wise at heart among you come and make all that Hashem has commanded” (Ex.35.10)

The Baal Shem Tov was quoted as saying that the greatest wisdom is not to be wise in principle, but simply to do all that Hashem has commanded.

His disciples thereupon said, ‘There is no wisdom like the passion for wisdom and one should flee from passion as from fire’. (Mimaayanot Hanetzah)

True wisdom is intuitive. It is doing something to which we are receptive and have a feel for it. We just know that it is the right thing to do.