Vayikra 5771

The New Relationship with Hashem:

So the Jews finally have built the Mishkan, Hashem's resting place on this world. Hashem is now constantly with them. But as we have spoken about for the last couple of weeks, after the sin of eigel, Hashem does not fully rest with them.

The parsha starts off with Hashem talking to Moshe, and not to the rest of the Jews. In fact, Rashi goes to great lengths to explain how Hashem is talking to Moshe. The voice is coming from between the wings of the keruvim. It is a loud voice but it does not leave the walls of the Mishkan. Therefore, even though Moshe can hear it clearly no one else can hear it.

This is the first time that Hashem uses this system to talk to Moshe, and this is how it will be for the rest of the stay in the midbar. The reason, because the mishkan is the only place where the shechina can rest, the rest of the camp, which was also supposed to be filled with the shechina is no good, because of the sin. So Hashem cannot talk to Moshe in public anymore.

One would think, as a few meforshim do, that whatever Hashem will say to Moshe at this point will not be as great as the words that He has said until now. If fact, the Rambam holds (in Moreh Nevuchim) that the only reason for korbanot is because that is what the other nations did at that time, so Hashem gave them permission as long as the korban was directed to Him.

But most other meforshim hold that korbanot were in the plan the whole time. In fact, Adam, Noach, Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov... all gave korbanot before now. This commandment was not just because all of the nations gave sacrifices to their gods, but rather because it is a very spiritual action.

What makes these meforshim think this way? Because the very first pasuk in our parsha. The pasuk (1:1) says "And He called to Moshe, and Hashem said..." Rashi asks the obvious question here. Why does the pasuk use both the term "vayikra" "to call" and "vayidaber" "to speak" in the same pasuk? He answers, according to the midrash, that the term "vayikra" is a term of chavivut, devotion or love. Until now, Hashem had never called to Moshe and then spoke to him. The reason why Hashem does this here is to show us that even though the Jews have sinned, and therefore, they could not bring down the shechina to the whole world, He still loved them. Even though the relationship that had existed until now was over, and they would soon enter a 38 year span without hearing directly from Hashem, they should know that He is still there and that He loves us as much as before.

We are quickly approaching Chag Purim. We know that throughout the story of Purim Hashem was hidden from us but if we look under the surface we can see how clearly He was always there, "Cuz' God was pulling strings from behind the scenes" (Maccabeats). If we remember the lesson of vayikra, that even though Hashem is not speaking to Moshe in the open, but rather in a secluded room, that He still loves us and that throughout our time in galut He will always be there.

Let me end with a fantastic story.

A man dies and goes up the heaven. Hashem shows the man his entire life, which was filled with hardships. Hashem shows the man his journey through life. Many of the times he sees two sets of footprints. So the man asks Hashem why there were two sets, Hashem answered, "the second set is Me, I was holding your hand the whole time here." But then they got to a hardships and the man notices that during all of these times there is only one set of footprints. The man turned to Hashem and said "let me get this straight, when my life is fine Your there, but the moment it gets hard You leave?" Hashem responded "No, don't you get it? All of those times it was not enough just to hold your hand, so I put you on My shoulders and I walked you through the whole thing."

It is at the very time when we think that Hashem has left us that really that is when He is the most involved in our lives.

May we be zoche to see Hashem in everything we do!

Have a great Shabbat!