What is "vayikra"

Vayikra, VaYikra, Va-yikra, or Vayyiqra ( — Hebrew for "and He called," the first word in the parashah) is the 24th weekly Torah portion (, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the first in the Book of Leviticus. It constitutes ( in the KJV). The parashah has the most letters and words of any of the weekly Torah portions in the Book of Leviticus (although not the most verses), and is made up of 6,222 Hebrew letters, 1,673 Hebrew words, and 111 verses, and can occupy about 215 lines in a Torah scroll (, Sefer Torah). (Parashah Emor has the most verses of any Torah portion in Leviticus.)

Jews read it the 23rd or 24th Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in March or early April.

The parashah lays out the laws of sacrifices (, korbanot).

Vayikra is a Hebrew word, which is the first word of the third book of the Torah of the Jewish Bible (Tanakh). It means "And He [ God] called".

The third book of the Torah is traditionally called vayikraˈ. Its Greek name Levitikon, "things pertaining to the Levites", and its Latin name Leviticus, are based on the term torat kohanim, "instruction of (or ′for′) the priests" from early rabbinic times.

When used as a noun, Vayikra might refer to:

• The Hebrew title of the biblical Book of Leviticus.
• Vayikra (parsha), the 24th weekly parsha in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah readings.
• Vayikra Rabba is the midrash on the book of Leviticus.