The Small Aleph Glancing at the very first word of the book of Leviticus, the third book of the Torah, something unusual stands out. In the Torah scroll, the last letter of the word "Vayikra" (And He {G-d} Called), the letter Aleph, is written in a smaller font than the other letters in the Torah. The opening word of the book describes how Hashem called Moses from the tent of meeting: And He called to Moses, and the Lord spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When a man from [among] you brings a sacrifice to the Lord; from animals, from cattle or from the flock you shall bring your sacrifice. (Leviticus 1:1-2) But why Moses? Why was it Moses who merited to experience this Divine revelation? The answer is alluded to with the small Aleph, which represents humility. The Torah describes how Moshe resisted becoming the leader of the Jewish people, and the Torah testifies, "Now this man Moses was exceedingly humble, more so than any person on the face of the earth." An arrogant person is closed off from seeing reality and perspective beyond his limited abilities. Humility, by contrast, is the key to wisdom and Divine revelation, for it allows one to be open to the awareness beyond the subjective confines of self. The small Aleph was placed in the Torah as a lesson for each of us, for we, too, can experience a degree of Divine revelation when we read and internalize the words of the Torah. To do so, however, we must cultivate the small Aleph, the ability to be humble and recognize that our perspective is small and insignificant, enabling us to open ourselves to the infinite wisdom of the Torah. When the Alter Rebbe, founder of the Chabad movement, explained this teaching to his young grandchild, he contrasted the small Aleph with the first verse of Chronicles, which uses a large Aleph in the name of Adam. The Alter Rebbe explained that Adam was aware of his special qualities, he was fashioned by G-d himself, and G-d declared to the angels that Adam's wisdom was greater than theirs. However, the awareness of his special qualities caused Adam to sin with the fruit of the tree of knowledge. The Rebbe explained that the Alter Rebbe chose to teach his young grandson about the humility of Moses by first evoking Adam's self-awareness because self-awareness is critical in order to understand the meaning of humility. The Alter Rebbe was teaching his grandson that, like Adam, it is important that we should be aware of our unique qualities and our value to G-d. Denying or ignoring one's good qualities and talents is neither desirable nor humble. Humility means recognizing, as Moses did, our unique qualities, yet remembering that they are not a cause for arrogance because they are a gift from G-d. Had G-d granted these gifts to another person, it is possible that they would have achieved even greater heights. True humility then lies in appreciating the large Aleph of Adam while experiencing the small Aleph of Moses. Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Likutei Sichos 17 Vayikra 1
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