God Calls Across the Divide
Parashat Vayikra, Leviticus 1:1–5:26
Rabbi Russ Resnik
God does a lot of speaking in the Torah, both in visions and dreams and in an audible voice. The Lord, Hashem, speaks so often that we might miss some revealing distinctions in how he speaks. And these distinctions have a lesson for us, as we seek to hear and draw near to God amidst the noisy and chaotic days we’re living in.
Normally, when God speaks to Moses, the Torah employs the Hebrew verb amar or davar. Vayyomer Adonai, “and the Lord spoke,” is a common formula throughout the Torah. But this week’s parasha, Vayikra, opens with a word used to describe God’s speaking to Moses at only three points in the story.
The first vayikra comes at the Burning Bush. Moses is in the wilderness tending the flock of his father-in-law Yitro when he sees a bush burning without being consumed by the fire. He turns aside from the flock to observe it more closely. “Adonai saw that he turned aside to see and vayikra elav Elohim – God called out to him from the midst of the bush and said ‘Moses! Moses!’ and he replied ‘Hineni – here I am!’” (Exod 3:4).
The second vayikra appears twice at Mount Sinai. As soon as Israel arrived at the mountain, “Moses went up to God and vayikra elav – Adonai called to him from the mountain” (Exod 19:3). And again, after Hashem speaks the Ten Words and the first series of instructions to Moses and the people agree to obey them, Moses goes back up the mountain to receive the stone tablets. “Moses ascended the mountain and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of Adonai rested upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. Vayikra el Moshe – And he called to Moses on the seventh day from the midst of the cloud” (Exod 24:15–16). There are two vayikras, two callings at Mount Sinai, but the circumstances around them are nearly the same.
The third vayikra comes here at the beginning of our parasha. To understand it properly, we need to hear Vayikra, Leviticus, as a continuation of the story of Exodus. Exodus concludes with the tabernacle or Tent of Meeting in place, erected according to the instructions that God gave to Moses. And then God’s presence so filled the Tent of Meeting that Moses was not able to go in, vayikra – and he called to Moses, and Hashem spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting: the opening words of Vayikra.
Midrash Rabbah (Vayikra 1.7) likewise connects the opening of Leviticus with the conclusion of Exodus. It notes that every section describing the building of the tabernacle concludes with “Even as the Lord commanded Moses,” and goes on:
This may be compared to [the case of] a king, who commanded his servant, saying to him, ‘Build me a palace.’ On everything he built he wrote the name of the king. . . . After some time the king entered the palace, and on everything he saw he found his name written. Said he: ‘All this honour has my servant done me, and I am within, whilst he is without! Call him, that he may come right in.’ So, too, when the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: ‘Make me a Tabernacle,’ Moses wrote on everything he made ‘Even as the Lord commanded Moses’. Said the Holy One, blessed be he: “Moses has done me all this honour, and I am within whilst he is without! Call him, that he may enter the innermost [part of the Tabernacle].’ Therefore it is said, And the Lord called unto Moses.
Whether because of Moses’ faithful service, or simply out of his own generosity, God desires to bring Moses near. He calls across the distance that separates them, the distance of his otherness and awe. The glory-cloud keeps Moses at a distance; the voice of Hashem calls him near. The midrash captures the intimacy and generosity of God’s summons.
This same dynamic is at work in the other two instances of vayikra. At the Burning Bush, God appears to Moses as transcendent and awe-inspiring. The fire of God keeps him at a distance, but the voice of God calls to him across the distance. This is holy ground, but God calls Moses into dialogue with the Almighty. Likewise at Sinai; the appearance is awesome; the glory-cloud covers the mountain and no one can approach. But the voice of God calls Moses to come near, and gives him the instructions that will guide Israel from then on.
God calls to Moses across the distance of his holiness. He cannot diminish the impact of his holiness, but he still seeks to bring humanity near. Here is a remedy to our tendency to reduce the divine to our own terms, to produce a user-friendly god. The God of Israel will always transcend our understanding, will always be “other” to our mortal souls, but he has called to us across that divide. Spiritual growth means learning to recognize God’s transcendence, as well as learning to hear his call across the divide.
This divine intention is evident in the first words that Hashem speaks to Moses after he calls him. “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘When a man among you brings an offering to Adonai, you shall bring your offering of the livestock, of the herd and of the flock’” (Lev 1:2). The word for “offering” is korban, from the root karav, meaning to come or be near. Through the offering, the children of Israel can come near to God, even though his holiness would keep them at a distance. Indeed, the root karav appears twice in this one verse, for it also forms the verb translated as “bring.” Literally then our verse says, “When a man among you brings near a near-offering…”
God calls to Moses across the distance of his holiness and gives him instructions on how one can draw near to the holy. The offering itself bridges the distance between man and God, for it is korban, that which comes near, and a man must come near to present it.
Worship is the goal of the Exodus from Egypt. Why then does the Torah seem to make worship so difficult in the Book of Leviticus? Surely it is our understanding that is at fault; the rules of offering do not make worship more difficult; rather they make it possible. There is a vast gulf between man and God. God calls to man (or his representative Moses) across that gulf to provide a way for man to worship him.
How different is this understanding of the sacrificial system of Leviticus from typical modern views! We tend to see the elaborate requirements and regulations of sacrifice as creating an unnecessary distance between man and God. In our enlightened times, we like to emphasize the accessibility of the divine. After all, God is everywhere, and we imagine we can always draw near to him. Hence, we see the altar and priesthood as impediments, relics of a bygone era.
But in the context of Torah, altar and priesthood are precisely the opposite. True, God is everywhere, but his holiness keeps us at a distance. The Levitical system is given, not to impose or maintain the distance, but to bring us near. This perspective inevitably alters our view of our current spiritual condition. If altar and priesthood served not to create a barrier between man and God, but to bridge the divide, what bridges that divide now that they have passed away? What, or who, will bring us near to the holy God?
Adapted from Gateways to Torah, Lederer Books, 2000. Scripture citations are based on NKJV.