Vayikra

"Vayikra el Moshe, vayedaber Hashem eilav..."—"And He called to Moshe, and Hashem spoke to him..." (Vayikra 1:1)

Sefer Vayikra begins with a single word: Vayikra—"And He called." Unlike the other times Hashem speaks to Moshe, here there is a deliberate introduction—Hashem calls to Moshe before speaking to him.

Rashi explains that this teaches us a fundamental principle: Hashem calls out with love before revealing His commandments. Every mitzvah, every lesson, begins with an invitation.

And yet, there is something unusual about the way this word is written in the Torah. The last letter, the aleph, is written smaller than the rest of the word—Vayikra with a ze’ira aleph, a small aleph.

What is the meaning of this?

Chazal tell us that Moshe Rabbeinu, in his humility, wanted to write Vayikar—"And He happened upon Moshe," without the aleph, as if Hashem’s presence came to him by chance, the way it did to Bilam. But Hashem told him to write Vayikra, to show that Hashem spoke to Moshe with love. As a compromise, Moshe wrote the aleph small.

This single letter carries a deep lesson.

Moshe was the greatest prophet in history, yet he saw himself as small. He did not let his greatness make him arrogant. And in return, Hashem made sure that even in his humility, the truth would remain—Moshe was called with love, not by accident.

But perhaps there is another message here.

Sefer Vayikra is filled with laws of korbanot, of sacrifices brought in the Beit HaMikdash. Some offerings are great and expensive—bulls and rams. Others are small—birds or even flour. But Hashem tells us that "nefesh ki takriv korban la’Hashem"—"When a soul brings a korban to Hashem", (Vayikra 2:1) because what matters is not the size of the gift, but the heart behind it.

The small aleph in Vayikra reminds us that even the smallest things matter. A small mitzvah. A small act of kindness. A small moment of teshuvah.

We often think that greatness requires huge steps, dramatic changes. But Hashem is showing us that even something small—a single letter, a tiny act—can hold infinite meaning.

And so the question is: What is the small step we can take today to bring ourselves closer to Hashem?

Because in Hashem’s eyes, there is no such thing as small.