In this week’s parsha we learn the lesson of humility. The first word in the parsha, ויקרא was written with a small א. Why is this letter written smaller than the others? I once heard an interesting answer: The word קרא means to call, indicating that God had called to Moshe to speak with him.

However, when God spoke to Balaam the Torah uses the word ויקר, a word that has a connotation of spiritual contamination, meaning that although God needed to speak with Balaam He did do so in an unloving manner.  When Moshe Rabbainu was writing the Torah, he wanted to write the word ויקרא without and א since he was a humble man who did not like expressing God’s love for him. However, God had commanded Moshe to write the ויקרא with an א. Too humble to wholeheartedly write the א like God asked, Moshe wrote the א small.

Moshe Rabbainu was one of the greatest leaders in the world, yet as shown in the first word of the parsha, he was known as one of the most humble people to ever live. From the beginning of the parsha we see that in order to be a great leader, a person needs to have the humility like Moshe did.

Shabbat Shalom,

Natan Zamanzadeh