Judaism: Vayikra-Zachor: The Search for Aleph
Published: Thursday, March 13, 2008 7:35 PM
The alef also is a code name for HaShem.
Rabbi S. Weiss
Rabbi Weiss is Director of the Jewish Outreach Center of Raanana and of the Ohel Ari Jewish Heritage Center.Zachor. Remember. Amalek. Haman. The murder of eight pure young men studying Torah, in a great yeshiva, in the holy city. Remember? How could we possibly forget?
We struggle to understand G-d's ways, then - and now. We want to believe in a just G-d, in an all-seeing, all-
We struggle to understand G-d's ways, then - and now.
powerful Being, but it can be so hard to keep our spiritual footing. And so, a thought for this parshat Zachor.
We struggle to understand G-d's ways, then - and now.
powerful Being, but it can be so hard to keep our spiritual footing. And so, a thought for this parshat Zachor. Our parsha begins with the word, Vayikra. The word ends with a small aleph, so that it almost seems to read, Vayikar. Why? What message is there here for us?
G-d has many names. In fact, say chazal, the whole Torah is actually made up of letters forming the different names of G-d.
When Moshe first encounters HaShem, he asks Him, "By what name shall I refer to You?"
G-d answers, "Ehyeh asher Ehyeh (I shall be what I shall be). Tell the people that Ehyeh has sent you to them."
"Ehyeh" is a code-name, signifying G-d's attribute of fulfilling his promises. At that moment, as Bnei Yisrael stood mired in the quicksand of slavery, G-d tells them, "I promised to free you; now, you shall see it happen."
The alef also is a code name for HaShem: it stands for Elokim, or Ad-nai Echad, G-d is One. That is, He is the same G-d throughout history; He has always been with us and will always be with us. But sometimes, alas, the alef is small; sometimes HaShem's presence in this world looms small and cannot easily be discerned.
At those times, the word Vayikra - "And He called out" - appears as Vayikar, "He just happened" (to be there). G-d's manifest presence - when any seeing person can recognize that He exists and is active in history - is replaced
Why do beautiful, holy young children die at the hands of Amalek?
by a feeling of randomness, happenstance, doubt: Do things occur in the Universe by design, by the choice of a directing force, a G-d in charge; or do things happen by chance, at random, with no rhyme or religious reason?
Why do beautiful, holy young children die at the hands of Amalek?
by a feeling of randomness, happenstance, doubt: Do things occur in the Universe by design, by the choice of a directing force, a G-d in charge; or do things happen by chance, at random, with no rhyme or religious reason?The challenge of faith is to affirm our belief in the One G-d even - perhaps especially - when He can barely be seen, when the Alef is tiny. To believe that things don't "just happen," but that they have a cosmic force behind them.
Why do beautiful, holy young children die at the hands of Amalek? If I knew that, I'd be sitting up there in Heaven and not down here with mere mortals.
But I can tell you that it is precisely in moments of our greatest adversity, when Amalek is ascendant, that we need to search for - and hopefully find - HaShem Echad.