Love in Leviticus - ויקרא

Love in Leviticus 

The third book of the Torah, the book of Leviticus, focuses on the laws of offerings in the temple, ritual purity, priests, and ritual law. It appears to be a book focusing less on love and connection and more on obligation and service. 

Yet, the opening word of the book tells a different story. 

The third book begins: 

And He called to Moses, and the Lord spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying,

Rashi points out that this verse is unique; the Torah usually tells us that G-d spoke to Moses, but here the Torah adds an  something additional detail, , namely, that G-d first "called" to Moses, and only then "and the Lord spoke to him": 

Rashi explains that calling Moses represents love and affection:  

All forms of God's communication with Moses, whether they were in a form of speaking (וַיְדַבֵּר), in the form of saying (וַיֹאמֶר), or in the form of commanding (צַו), were preceded by a call (קְרִיאָה), an expression of affection.

One may view the Torah's commandments as "service" to G-d - there is something that G-d desires, and we are called upon to fulfill his will. Rashi reminds us that the Torah is an expression of G-d's love toward us. When G-d asks us to do something, He is asking us to seize an opportunity to connect.

Just as G-d’s call to Moses expressed love and connection, so too, within our own relationships, a request can be more than a practical need—it can be a call for closeness. When someone asks something of us, it may reflect a deeper longing to be seen, valued, or understood. And when we ask of others, if we do so with sensitivity, humility, and care, we mirror the divine model: using speech not just to convey a need, but to build a bridge between souls.  

Just as G-d calls us, we, too, call to G-d. 

In the parlance of the sages of the Mishnah and Talmud, the Hebrew word for reading the Torah is Kriah, which means both reading and calling. When we read the words of Torah, we are not merely reading G-d's communication to us, but rather, we feel His love for us, and in turn, we "call" to Him, expressing our desire to connect. 

As The Alter Rebbe, founder of the Chabad movement, writers in Tanya: 

Torah study is referred to as "calling" . This phrase means that in Torah study, one calls G‑d to come to him, so to speak, as a man calls to his friend to come to him, or as a child will call his father to come and join him and not to part from him. (Tanya, Chapter 37)

Unlike the ancient Greek name Leviticus, the Hebrew name of the third of the Torah is Vayikra, "And He called"; reminding us of G-d love for us and His deep desire for connection to us.