Vayikro 5769

Who's Calling?


"And He called to Moshe and Hashem spoke to him from the tent of meeting to say: “Speak to the Bnei Yisroel and say to them, “When a person from you brings a sacrifice to Hashem from the animals, from the cattle and from the flocks you shall bring your offerings”

The word Vayikro, “He called”, is an unusual way to start a verse, normally the Torah uses the word spoke, Vaydaber.
Rashi explains that Vayikra is a language of fondness which preceded Hashem’s speaking to Moshe. Rashi also uses the word Vayikro to explain that when Hashem wished to speak to Moshe after the completion of the Ohel Moed/Tent of Meeting, which was part of the Mishkon, he would call to him. This call was a load voice which emanated from between the Cherubim atop the Aron HaKodesh and travel to Moshe’s ears but which the rest of Yisroel couldn’t hear.
(the word Vayikro in the verse, (called), tells us that Hashem called to Moshe in a physically manifest voice, (ie the ears could hear it), and the word VayDaber, (spoke), tells us that this calling was not constant but only when Hashem wanted to tell a passage to Moshe.

This raises several questions but I want to focus on the voice which Moshe could physically hear.

In Bad Kodesh, Rabbi Baruch Dov Parvarsky investigates this phenomenon. At Har Sinai, Hashem spoke in a physical voice which required physical receptors, (ears), in order to hear it. The whole of Klal Yisroel could hear this voice, not as a spiritual perception, but as a physical sensation of hearing. The voice itself was a spiritual “voice”, (a transmission of spiritual information emanating from Hashem as a wholey spiritual being), which was clothed in a “garment” of physicality – decibels, which was received through physical means.
From the completion of the Mishkon, this is how Hashem spoke to Moshe, there was a spiritual communication, clothed in physicality, received in a physical way by Moshe.
Other prophets received their prophecy in a totally spiritual manner, not through the intermediary of hearing, thus meaning that the message of their prophecy was not immediately clear and required interpretation by the prophet.
Until the completion of the Mishkon, Moshe too received his prophecy in this way.

Based on this I would like to posit the following chidush:
This physically perceptible voice is a higher level of prophecy than any other. Regular prophecy is a spiritual visitor, not at home in our physical world. At Sinai, the revelation of the Torah was a physical phenomenon. Just as the Torah takes on a form relevant to Olam HaZeh as it reaches our world of physical existence, perhaps, in order for the Torah to create a reality of spiritual cause and effect in the physical world, it required a physical revelation, making it a part of this world, as opposed to something from the outside.

The Miskon was a “house” for the Shechinah, bringing Hashem’s presence into this world. Perhaps the Mishkon/Beis HaMikdosh integrated the spiritual with the physical, (possibly through the duel means of elevating the physical building into something totally holy and also bringing the spiritual “presence” of Hashem into the physical world), thus there was always this physical voice of prophecy extant as long as the Mishkon/Beis Hamikdosh stood. However, it required a prophet of the stature, (holiness, humility, selflessness, love of Hashem, etc.), to perceive this voice through physical means. Without a Moshe, prophecy was received the spiritual way. Prophecy subsequent to Moshe did not introduce new Torah, but rather admonished Klal Yisroel regarding that which had already been revealed via Moshe.
Alternatively, we could say that once Moshe had received the whole of the Torah, there was no subsequent requirement for this type of prophecy and so it ceased despite the continued presence of the Mishkon/Beis Hamikdosh.




This is all wholly speculative, I have tried to reach an understanding of the mechanics of prophecy from the opening verse of our parsha and Rashi’s comments. The fundamentals of Jewish belief are passed down through the great sages of every generation, just because I have written my understanding of something on the internet, doesn’t mean that it is in anyway correct of authoritative.