Story of the Aleph Bet
August 20, 2002
Apologies for the “He’s”, “Lord’s”, et al. The translation has been left as I found it.
When the Holy One, blessed be He, was about to make the world, all the letters of the Alphabet were sealed, and for two thousand years the Holy One, blessed be He, had contemplated them and took delight in them. When He came to create the world, all the letters presented themselves before Him, from the end to the beginning.
The letter Tav advanced in front and pleaded: May it please Thee, O Lord of the world, to place me first in the creation of the world, seeing that I am the concluding letter of EMeTh [Truth] which is engraved upon Thy seal [Shabbat 55a], and seeing that Thou art called by this very name of Truth [Jeremiah 10:10], it is most appropriate for the King to begin with the final letter of EMeTh and create the world through me.
The Holy One, blessed be He, said to her: Thou art beautiful and deserving, but it is not proper that I begin with thee the creation of the world, since thou art destined to serve as a mark on the foreheads of the faithful ones who have kept the Law from Aleph to Tav, and through the absence of this mark the rest will be killed [Ezekiel 9:4]; and, further, thou formest the conclusion of MaVeTh [Death]. Hence thou art not meet to initiate the creation of the world.
The Shin then came to the fore and pleaded: O Lord of the world, may it please Thee to create the world through me, seeing that I am the initial letter of Thy Name ShaDDaI, and it is most fitting to create the world through that Holy Name.
Said He in reply: Thou art beautiful, thou art good, thou art true, but I may not begin through thee the creation of the world, since thou formest part of the group of letters expressing deceit, SheQeR, which is not able to exist unless the Qoph and Resh draw thee into their company.
Hence it is that a lie, to obtain credence, must always commence with something true. For the Shin is a letter of truth, that letter by which the Patriarchs communed with God [the three branches of the letter Shin represent the three Patriarchs]; but Qoph ( 
) and Resh ( 
) are letters belonging to the evil side [Qoph begins the word Qelippah, and Resh begins the word Ra’], which in order to stand firm attach themselves to the Shin, thus forming a conspiracy [QeSheR].
Having heard all this, the Shin departed.
The letter Tzaddi enters and says: O Lord of the world, may it please Thee to create the world through me, inasmuch as the righteous [Tzaddikim] are sealed with me, and Thyself, who art called Righteous, art indicated by me, as it is written, “For the Lord is righteous, he loveth righteousness” [Psalms 11:7], and hence it is meet to create the world through me.
The Lord made answer: O Tzaddi, thou art Tzaddi, and thou signifiest righteousness, but thou must be concealed, thou mayest not come out in the open so much lest thou givest the world cause for offence.
For thou consistest of the letter Nun surmounted by the letter Yod [representing together the Male and the Female]. And this is the mystery: When the Holy One, Blessed be He, created Adam, He created him with two faces [Male and female combined, back to back–see Midrash Tehillim 139 and Berakhoth 61a]. In the same way the Nun and the Yod in the Tzaddi are turned back to back and not face to face, whether the Tzaddi is upright or turned downwards.
The Holy One, blessed be He, said to her further, I will in time divide thee in two, so as to appear face to face, but thou wilt go up in another place [in the letter Teth].
She then departed.
The letter Peh presented herself and pleaded thus: May it please Thee, O Lord of the world, to create the world through me, seeing that I signify redemption and deliverance [Peduth], which Thou art to bring to the world. It is, hence, meet that through me the world should be created.
The Lord answered: Thou art beautiful, but thou representest secret transgression [Pesha], and moreover thou art shapen like the serpent, who had his head curled up within his body, symbolic of the guilty man who bends his head and extends his hand [The shape of the letter Peh represents the sinner who hides his sin, and pretends to be righteous, like the snake].
The letter Ayin was likewise refused as standing for iniquity [Avon], despite her plea that humility [Anavah] existed because of her. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to her: I shall not create the world through you.
And she departed.
Then the Samekh appeared and said: O Lord of the world, may it please Thee to create through me the world, inasmuch as it is through me that support [Semikah] exists for those that fall, as it is written, “The Lord supports all that fall” [Psalms 145:14].
The Lord answered her: This is just the reason why thou shouldst remain in thy place, for shouldst thou leave it, what will be the fate of the fallen, seeing that they are upheld by thee?
She immediately departed.
The letter Nun entered. She said to Him: O Lord of the world, may it please Thee to create through me the world, for through me it is written, “Awesome [Nora] in praises” [Exodus 15:11], as well as “Comely [Navah] is praise for the righteous” [Psalms 33:1].
The Lord said: O Nun, return to thy place, for it is for thy sake that the Samekh returned to her place [Nun is the first letter in Nofelim, “those that fall.”]. Remain, therefore, under her support.
The Nun immediately returned to her place.
The Mem came up and said: O Lord of the world, may it please Thee to create the world through me, inasmuch as it is through me that Thou art called Melekh.
The Lord replied: It is so assuredly, but I cannot employ thee in the creation of the world for the reason that the world requires a King. Return, therefore, to thy place, thou along with the Lamed ( 
) and the Kaph ( 
), since the world cannot exist without a MeLeKh [The letters Mem, Lamed, and Kaph make up the word MeLeKh–].
At that moment, the Kaph descended from His glorious Throne [Kisse], and said to Him: O Lord of the universe, may it please Thee to begin through me the creation of the world, seeing that I am Thine own Glory [Kevodekha]. And when Kaph descended from the glorious Throne, two hundred thousand worlds began to shake, the Throne trembled, and all the worlds quaked and were about to fall.
The Holy One, blessed be He, said to her: Kaph, Kaph, what doest thou here? I will not create the world with thee. Go back to thy place, since destruction [Kelayah] exists through you; “a decisive destruction” [Isaiah 10:23] has been heard. Return, then, to thy place and remain there.
Immediately she departed and returned to her own place.
The letter Yod then presented herself and said: May it please Thee, O Lord, to grant me first place in the creation of the world, since I stand first in Your Holy Name [YHVH].
The Lord said to her: It is sufficient for thee that thou art engraven and inscribed in Me, and that thou art the channel of My Will; thou must not be removed from My Name.
The Teth then came up and said: O Lord of the universe, may it please Thee to place me at the head in the creation of the world, since through me Thou art called Good [Tov] and upright [Psalms 25:8].
The Lord said to her: I will not create the world through thee, as the goodness which thou representest is hidden and concealed within thyself [The upper point of the letter Teth is turned inward, which indicates the light stored up for the righteous in the world to come], as it is written, “O how abundant is thy goodness which thou hast stored up for them that fear thee” [Psalms 31:20]. Since it is treasured within thyself, it has no part in the world which I am going to create, but only in the world to come. And further, it is because thy goodness is hidden within thee that the gates of the Temple sank into the ground, as it is written, “Sunk [Tov’u] in the ground are her gates” [Lamentations 2:9]. And furthermore, the letter Cheth ( 
) is at thy side, and when joined together you make sin [CheT]. It is for that reason that these two letters are not to be found in the names of any of the holy tribes [The sons of Jacob].
She departed immediately.
Then the Zayin presented herself and put forth her claim, saying, O Lord of the World, may it please Thee to put me at the head of the creation, since I represent the observance of the Sabbath, as it is written, “Remember [Zakhor] the day of the Sabbath to keep it holy” [Exodus 20:8].
The Lord replied: I will not create the world through thee, since war exists through you, being in the shape of a sharp-pointed sword, or a lance [Zayin literally means “weapon,” and its shape is like the final Nun].
The Zayin immediately departed from His presence.
The letter Vav entered and said to Him: O Lord of the world, may it please Thee to use me first in the creation of the world, inasmuch as I am one of the letters of Thy Name [YHVH].
Said the Lord to her: Thou, Vav, as well as Heh (
), suffice it to you both that you are letters of My Name, that you are in the mystery of My Name, and that you are engraven and inscribed in My Name. I will therefore not give you first place in the creation of the world.
Then appeared the letter Daleth ( 
)as well as the letter Gimel ( 
) and put forth similar claims. The Lord gave them a similar reply, saying: It should suffice you to remain side by side together, since “the poor [Dalim] will not cease from the land” [Deuteronomy 15:11], who will thus need benevolence. For the Daleth signifies poverty [Daluth] and the Gimel charity [Gemol]. Therefore separate not from each other, and let it suffice you that one maintains the other.
The Beth then entered and said to Him: O Lord of the world, may it please Thee to put me first in the creation of the world, since I represent the blessings [Berakhoth] offered to Thee on high and below.
The Holy One, blessed be He, said to her: Assuredly, with thee I will create the world, and thou shalt form the beginning [Bereshith] in the creation of the world.
The letter Aleph remained in her place without presenting herself. Said the Holy One, blessed be He: Aleph, Aleph, wherefore comest thou not before Me like the rest of the letters?
She answered: Because I saw all the other letters leaving Thy presence without any success. What, then, could I achieve there? And further, since Thou hast already bestowed on the letter Beth this great gift, it is not meet for the Supreme King to take away the gift which He has made to His servant and give it to another.
The Lord said to her: Aleph, Aleph, although I will begin the creation of the world with the letter Beth, thou wilt remain the first of all the letters. My Unity shall not be expressed except through thee, on thee shall be based all calculations and operations of the world, and Unity shall not be effected save by the letter Aleph [Thus the great prayer of unification, from Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is One (Echad, which begins with the letter Aleph)”].
Posted August 20, 2002 09:43 PM
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