Vayikra (Leviticus 1:1)
Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch (who later became the third Rebbe of Chabad) entered cheder on the day after Yom Kippur of the year 1792, eleven days after his third birthday. The child's grandfather, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, instructed Reb Avraham the melamed to begin the first lesson with the opening verses of Vayikra.
Following the lesson, the child asked: "Why is the word vayikra written with a little aleph?"
For a long while Rabbi Schneur Zalman sat in a deep meditative trance. Then he explained:
"The first man, Adam, was 'the handiwork of G‑d,' and G‑d attested that his wisdom was greater than that of the angels. Adam was aware of his own greatness, and this awareness caused him to overestimate himself and led to his downfall in the sin of the Tree of Knowledge.
"Moses, who possessed a soul deriving from chochmah of atzilut (the highest manifestation of Divine wisdom), was also aware of his own greatness. But this did not lead him toward self-aggrandizement. On the contrary, it evoked in him a broken and anguished heart, and made him extremely humble in his own eyes, thinking to himself that if someone else had been blessed with the gifts with which he, Moses, had been blessed, that other person would surely have achieved far more than himself. Thus G‑d testifies in the Torah that 'Moses was the most humble man upon the face of the earth.'
"In the letters of the Torah, which G‑d gave at Sinai, there are three sizes: intermediate letters, oversized letters and miniature letters. As a rule, the Torah is written with intermediate letters, signifying that a person should strive for the level of 'the intermediate man' (a concept that Rabbi Schneur Zalman puts forth in his Tanya). Adam's name is spelled with an oversize aleph (in I Chronicles 1:1), because his self-awareness led to his downfall. On the other hand, Moses, through his sense of insufficiency, attained the highest level of humility, expressed by the miniature aleph of Vayikra."
(From the talks of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson)
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Dear community
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For many of these seniors, these packs are their only connection to Pesach and Shabbat, bringing warmth, tradition, and a reminder that the community cares.
Wednesday 18 March 7–8 PM
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