Everett Fox Translation:
YHWH spoke to him from the Tent of Appointment, saying:
ויקרא אל משה AND CALLED UNTO MOSES — All oral communications of the Eternal to Moses whether they are introduced by דבר or by אמר or by צו were preceded by a call... It is a way of expressing affection, the mode used by the ministering angels when addressing each other, as it is said (Isaiah 6:3) “And one called unto another [and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Eternal of hosts]”...
״וַיִּקְרָא אֶל מֹשֶׁה וַיְדַבֵּר״, לָמָּה הִקְדִּים קְרִיאָה לְדִיבּוּר? לִימְּדָה תּוֹרָה דֶּרֶךְ אֶרֶץ, שֶׁלֹּא יֹאמַר אָדָם דָּבָר לַחֲבֵירוֹ אֶלָּא אִם כֵּן קוֹרֵהוּ. מְסַיַּיע לֵיהּ לְרַבִּי חֲנִינָא. דְּאָמַר רַבִּי חֲנִינָא: לֹא יֹאמַר אָדָם דָּבָר לַחֲבֵירוֹ אֶלָּא אִם כֵּן קוֹרֵהוּ.
The verse says: “And [God] called unto Moses, and God spoke unto him from within the Tent of Meeting, saying” (Leviticus 1:1). Why calling before speaking? The Torah is teaching etiquette: A person should not say anything to another unless they call the other first. This supports the opinion of Rabbi Chanina, as Rabbi Chanina said: A person should not say anything to another unless they call the other first.
חסר כאן הנושא הבא אחר הנשוא השני וידבר, ומשמעו ויקרא ה’ אל משה, וידבר אליו מאהל מועד. ודומה לו, ויפסל שני לחות אבנים כראשונים, וישכם משה בבקר.
Jacob Licht (1922–1993), Late Professor of Bible at Tel Aviv University
The subject is missing here, and it appears after the second predicate “and he spoke.” Its meaning is, “The Eternal called to Moses and spoke with him from the Tent of Meeting.” A similar construction is found (Exod 34:4), “He carved two tablets of stone, like the first, and Moses awoke early in the morning…”
Because the [previous] book ends with “the Glory of the Eternal filled the Tabernacle and Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting…” it was necessary [for God] to call him and give him permission to enter. We find the same thing on Mount Sinai, when the cloud covered it, it is written (Exod 24:16) “He called Moses {on the seventh day} from within the cloud.” And since the [opening] verse [of Leviticus] refers back to what happened before, “the Glory of the Eternal filling the Tabernacle,” it writes “and he/it called” and doesn’t write “and the Eternal called” since it is referring to the Glory mentioned above.
(לד) וַיְכַ֥ס הֶעָנָ֖ן אֶת־אֹ֣הֶל מוֹעֵ֑ד וּכְב֣וֹד יְהֹוָ֔ה מָלֵ֖א אֶת־הַמִּשְׁכָּֽן׃ (לה) וְלֹא־יָכֹ֣ל מֹשֶׁ֗ה לָבוֹא֙ אֶל־אֹ֣הֶל מוֹעֵ֔ד כִּֽי־שָׁכַ֥ן עָלָ֖יו הֶעָנָ֑ן וּכְב֣וֹד יְהֹוָ֔ה מָלֵ֖א אֶת־הַמִּשְׁכָּֽן׃ (לו) וּבְהֵעָל֤וֹת הֶֽעָנָן֙ מֵעַ֣ל הַמִּשְׁכָּ֔ן יִסְע֖וּ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל בְּכֹ֖ל מַסְעֵיהֶֽם׃ (לז) וְאִם־לֹ֥א יֵעָלֶ֖ה הֶעָנָ֑ן וְלֹ֣א יִסְע֔וּ עַד־י֖וֹם הֵעָלֹתֽוֹ׃ (לח) כִּי֩ עֲנַ֨ן יְהֹוָ֤ה עַֽל־הַמִּשְׁכָּן֙ יוֹמָ֔ם וְאֵ֕שׁ תִּהְיֶ֥ה לַ֖יְלָה בּ֑וֹ לְעֵינֵ֥י כׇל־בֵּֽית־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל בְּכׇל־מַסְעֵיהֶֽם׃
Robert Alter
“And He called to Moses and the Lord spoke to him.” The translation reproduced the oddness of the Hebrew. According to normative usage, one would have expected, “And the Lord called to Moses and He spoke to him.” Is the postponement of the subject a maneuver to isolate and emphasize the act of calling?
Everett Fox
The unusual syntax here links the opening of Leviticus with the revelation at Mount Sinai in Exodus 24:16, the only other passage in the Torah where God “called to Moshe” (in these exact words). Indeed, as Milgrom points out, from the end of Exodus 40 to Numbers 9, the Torah contains the bulk of its laws given at Sinai after Exodus 20–23. Leviticus thus verbally returns to the revelation of law.
Dr. Elaine Goodfriend
Without dismissing the previous critical solutions, I would like to offer another tentative consideration for the unusual syntax of the verse, which may supplement, rather than replace those described here.
In my “Why Is the Torah Divided into Five Books?” (TheTorah.com, 2018), I discussed that one reason for the five-part division of the Pentateuch may have to do with the symbolism surrounding the number five and the letter heh—the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet:
- Heh is associated with the Tetragram (the four-letter name of God), which includes two hehs.
- Heh is the first letter of the word, HaShem, literally, “the Name”—a circumlocution for the Tetragram that appears twice in the Hebrew Bible and is common in Mishnaic Hebrew.[20]
- Five is suggestive of the number of fingers on a hand. The Hebrew Bible has many references to the divine hand as an agent of divine destruction, benevolence, and prophecy.
I therefore suggested that in a religious system in which no image of the deity was permitted, the five-ness of the Torah functions as a subtle image for God’s hand and thus represents God’s presence. Similarly, I suggest here that the word was deliberately moved to be the subject of the second verb instead of the first so that the name YHWH could be the fifth word in the sentence.
Vayikra By Rabbi Roni Tabick 26th Mar 2020
But it seems to me there is a deeper lesson here, in that when God wants to speak to us, even today, it isn’t a single process where we hear words spoken from a divine mouth. First there is a calling, a wake-up moment when we realise that we need to act. That is the Vayikra, the calling. The details come later; that is the Vayedaber, the speaking...
Sometimes, when the call comes, we don’t even know that it is God that is calling. Maybe you see a homeless person on the street and feel you have to act? Or see a news report about the climate crisis? Sometimes, only in retrospect, can we say that that was a divine call. The call comes first, God sometimes comes later.
It is then our duty as Jews to be good listeners, to pay attention to what the world, what our hearts, are telling us to do. We should attune ourselves to hear the call of the divine, the voice of God telling us to act and make the world a better, kinder place.
Shema Yisrael – Hear O Israel – is central to our prayer. May we be a people that truly hear, and truly listen.