The mefarshim explain that, when Moshe was writing the word for the first time, he didn't want to write the aleph at all. Moshe preferred that the pasuk read VaYikar Moshe - and he chanced upon Moshe. His reasoning was that the lashon of "He called Moshe" indicates that Moshe was special - and Moshe wanted to avoid that. Regardless, Hashem insisted that Moshe write the alpeh - but Moshe wrote it in a smaller font so as to indicate that he wasn't really worthy of the great honor being bestowed upon him.
There is an extremely profound lesson that Moshe is teaching us in this word. So often we want to receive credit for the things that we do - we crave attention. As an educator, I sometimes see students even doing bad things in order to get attention because they feel they aren't capable of getting positive attention and negative attention is better than no attention. However, Moshe is showing us that we don't need the attention we are craving - life isn't about being in the spotlight.
Imagine if we didn't feel this need to be important. We would never get angry because we felt that we weren't recognized for something we did. That was how Moshe was - and it's who we should be!
My father, a"h was zoche in mastering this trait of humility. In reality, he had plenty to brag about – he had worked his way from a tenement apartment on the Lower East Side to a superior education from Stuyvesant, NYU and Adelphi and had managed to build himself a loving family who did, and always will, adore him. My father had ample reason to feel chashuv but, like Moshe, he preferred to keep it simple.
May we all be zoche to live a life of humility - may we desire only to be chanced upon and not need to be called. In this z'chut, may we see the coming of Mashiach speedily in our days. Amen.
Shabbat Shalom!
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