We are starting sefer Vayikra. As we know, the aleph in the word Vayikra is small. Why is it small? There are many explanations. An interesting one, from sefer Divrei Yisrael says that at the end the last week’s Parasha, Pekudei, it says, “To the eyes of all the Jewish people, in all their travels.”
This is to tell us that all the travels of the Jewish people, and everything that happens is all with Hashem’s Hashgacha. It's all guided by Hashem’s Divine Providence. As our rabbis tell us, even a piece of straw blows in the wind from one spot to the other for a reason. And this is true for a person's travels as well. Everything is measured exactly. Some people think only the big things are in Hashem's control. That is why, the very next word, Vayikra, has a small aleph - to hint the fact that even the small things that happen in life are all guided by Hashem.
Someone recently told my wife about an interesting small event, which illustrates this point. This lady was not always aware of her Hebrew birthday. Many people celebrate their English birthdays, which means the English date that they were born on, according to the Gregorian calendar, but they don't necessarily celebrate or even know their Hebrew birth date, which is the Hebrew calendar date that they were born. A few weeks ago, this lady’s son looked up her birthday on one of the calendars (which is a nice thing to do) and he told her when her Hebrew birthday would come out. She happened to be reading a book called The Daily Dose of Bitachon (a highly suggested book to read, available for purchase on Artscroll.com), and on the day that she found out was her Hebrew birthday, she opened up the book read her daily dose, and the name of that lesson was Happy Birthday. It was as if Hashem was saying, “I'm watching you, I'm on top of you. I know exactly when your birthday is.”
Those are the little things that Hashem is watching over at all times, that we don't even realize.
The Rabbis further explain that the aleph of Vayikra is is small because Moshe Rabbenu was humble. Regarding Bilaam it says, Vayikar, which is a term of Tum’ah/impurity contamination. Moshe Rabbenu didn't want to accentuate that he was on a level of endearment indicated by the term Vayikra/that God called out to him, so he made the aleph small. But the rabbis explain that what turns Viyikar into a Vayikra is the aleph. And the aleph refers to Hashem. God is called Alupho shel Olam. God is considered the Chieftain of the world. This shows us that although Hashem is hidden, if you pay attention to God's involvement in your life, you can turn your life from Vayikar, a term of, mikreh/happenstance, a term of Amalek, which is contaminated, into Vayikra, which is a term of calling in endearment. You just have to add the little aleph, which is Hashem hiding. That's what turns life around from hiding, cold contamination to ‘calling,’ a term of endearment.
There was a Hasidic Rebbe whose daughter came to him crying. When he asked her what was wrong, she said they were playing a game of Hide and Go Seek, and she went to hide. But she found such a good spot that everyone stopped looking for her. When the Rebbe heard this, he started to cry. His Hasidim were astounded. It was only a child’s game. What was the Rebbe crying about? He explained that it reminded him of Hashem, Who is in hiding.
Hashem is in hiding, and our job is to find Him. We shouldn't be like the people in the game that stop looking. Hashem is that small aleph in our lives. He’s there. You just have to open your eyes to those little hints.
B’Ezrat Hashem, we will turn Vayikar into Vayikra.
Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom