Kabbalah Library

626. When the Creator created His world, He prepared the Torah, as it is written, “Then He saw and declared it.” He created the world with it, and then concealed it until He created Adam HaRishon, and He taught it to him.

627. At that time, all the letters stood before Him. One says, “Let the Creator create His world with me,” and one says, “Let the Creator create His world with me.” All the letters stood before him by order of Tav-Shin-Reish.

628. The letter Tav came and said to the Creator, “Master of the world, may it be Your wish to create Your world with me, for I am the seal of all the letters, and also, Your name, Emet [truth] is sealed with me.” He said to her, “No. You are not worthy of creating My world with you, for with you, several righteous from among My children are destined to die, as it is written, ‘and put a mark on the foreheads of the men.’” She promptly went out from before Him in disappointment.

629. The Shin stood before the Creator and said to Him, “Master of the world, may it please You to create the world with me, for Your name, which is Shaddai, is sealed with me.” He said to her, “I will not create My world with you.”

630. Then, Kof-Reish came connected together. He said, “I will not create My world with them.” And so did all of them come, up to Kaf.

631. When Kaf descended from the Keter, the Keter [crown] shook, and 80,000 myriad [ten thousand] gemstones that are set in the crown shook. The Creator said to them, “Why are you shaken?” They said, “Master of the world, all our goodness and all our glory is only in the letter Kaf, and now she has descended from us.”

632. She said to Him, “Master of the world, may it please You to create Your world with me, for I am a token of Your honor.” The Creator chastised her and said, “Kaf, Kaf! Return to your place, so My crown does not remain deficient, and I will not create My world with you, for in you, several thousand from Israel are destined to fail, as it is written, ‘And about three thousand men of the people fell that day.’” Promptly, she returned to her place disappointed, and so did all of them.

633. Finally, the letter Bet came and said to Him, “Master of the world, may it please You to create Your world with me, for I am the letter of Beracha [blessing], and with me, your children Israel who are destined to come into the world bless You and say, ‘Blessed are You, Lord.’” The Creator said to her, “I will indeed create My world with you, and you are worthy of it.”

634. The letter Aleph stood and did not enter before Him. The Creator said to her, “Aleph, Aleph, why won’t you come in like the rest of the letters that came in before Me?” She said to Him, “Master of the world, because I saw all the letters who came before You come out disappointed, and You have already given the letter Bet permission, that You will create Your world with her, and it is unbecoming of the King of Kings to take away a gift that He has given someone. For this reason, I stood in my place.”

The Creator said to her, “Since this is so, you will be the first of all the letters. In you, I am exalted, for My name Ehad [one] to be called in you.”

635. The Creator was watching the Torah and creating the world. But did He not create the world only with the letter Bet? Thus, how did He create the world with all of the Torah?

636. However, it teaches that the Creator made the letter Bet as a kind of ark that is covered from above, and all the letters come and show their strength in her, connecting with the Bet in a manner of combination, and all the letters stood in her. For this reason, the Creator actually did watch the Torah and create His world.

637. The Creator does not deny the reward of any being, for although the letters entered in reversed order, Tav Shin Reish, and He repelled them from before Him, and the Creator gave the honor to the letter Bet, to create the world with her, when He came to create His world, He came and connected them to the letter Bet, as it is written, Beresheet [In the beginning], which is the letters Tav-Shin-Reish and the letter Aleph, and the letter Yod, which join the letter Bet.

638. The letter Bet took all the letters with her, and the Creator created His world with them. All the letters were called before since they were created two thousand years before the world was created, and in the Torah, who is called “before,” the Creator created His world, as it is written, “Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.”

639. Of those things that came up in the thought, before the Creator created His world, Israel came up in the thought, since he is worthy of receiving the Torah, and all the letters were crowned in His head. Since he came up in the thought, it is as though the Creator stood and engraved in him the Torah and all the letters were written in his head.

640. And the Torah existed on him, as it is written, “And before, in Israel.” This is only the Torah, which is before Israel, before those letters, and everything was engraved and inscribed in Israel.