The Ba’al Haturim quotes a midrash which explains why the alef at the end of the word ‘vayirka’ is small. It’s because Moshe wanted the word to read ‘vayikar’ – that HaShem chanced upon Moshe – as opposed to ‘vayikra,’ which tells of HaShem’s Love for Moshe. So the compromise was a small alef. That’s all very nice and shows Moshe’s utter humility, but we are left with a striking question…The Torah has previously said that HaShem spoke with Moshe ‘face to face as someone speaking to their friend’ (shemos 33;11) – this also shows the closeness between HaShem and Moshe. Why did Moshe want to specifically rub out this alef of vayikra but leave the Shemos 33 pasuk (and others) as they were?
An answer suggested is that there is a difference between this ‘vayikra’ and previous ones. Previosuly, HaShem spoke to Moshe as the leader of the Bnei Yisrael, for, after all, someone has to be the leader – and HaShem wanted to communicate with his people via someone. But now in Vayikra, we have just built a mishkan and HaShem’s Presence rests within ALL of klal yisrael – and He still calls out to Moshe solely. This really shows HaShem’s love for Moshe, and so this is the ‘vayikra’ that Moshe wanted to cover up by erasing the alef.
