Part 1
Although the Aleph Beis is the first thing that we are taught
in cheder and it forms the foundation of our Torah
learning, it is likely that we have never spent much time to
review the Aleph Beis as adults, nor increased our
understanding of it. In fact it is the basis of the complete
Torah, which can only be understood, both in its written and
articulated form, through the use of the alphabet.
A basic and fundamental understanding of the alphabetic
structure of the letters of the Aleph Beis and the order in
which they appear, will enhance our comprehension of the
Torah.
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Before the Torah could be given, there had to be a creation
of the Aleph Beis that would enable Hashem to transmit and
articulate its teachings. It is therefore not surprising that
in the first posuk of the Torah, there are various
indications as to the creation of seven different alphabetic
structures.
The first two are indicated by the fact that the word es
is mentioned twice in the phrase, es haShomayim ve'es
ho'oretz. This word es is formed from the letters
Aleph and Tov, which are the first and final
letters of the Aleph Beis. These two letters thus represent
and incorporate the entire Aleph Beis, from beginning to
end.
The third formation of the Aleph Beis is in the final letters
of the first two words of the Torah, Bereishis Boroh,
which end in a Tov and an Aleph. This
represents the alphabetic structure in the reverse order,
beginning from the end of the alphabet and moving towards the
beginning. This structure is commonly known by its acronym of
Tashrak. This acronym is composed of the final four
letters of the Aleph Beis in descending order: Tov, Shin,
Reish and Kuf.
The fourth indication of a creation of an alphabet is found
by taking the total numerical values of the first letters of
the seven words in the first verse of the Torah. They total
twenty-two — corresponding to the twenty-two letters of
the Aleph Beis.
In Loshon Hakodesh sentences do not begin with capital
letters. There are, however, occasions when large and small
letters are used. These are placed in strategic places and
are there to teach us a special lesson.
The entire alphabet is found, scattered throughout Tanach,
in both the larger format and the smaller one. The
Mesorah (a work that deals with the special
characteristics of the text of the Tanach) at the
beginning of Bereishis and of Divrei Hayomim
lists all the places where the large letters are found,
and the Mesorah at the beginning of Vayikra
lists all the places where the entire Aleph Beis is found
as small letters.
The first letter of the Torah is written as a large letter
Beis and therefore is part of the alphabet of larger
and smaller letters. Rabbeinu Bechai at the end of the
sedrah of Toldos points out that each large
letter in Tanach corresponds and is connected to its
counterpart small letter. The alphabets written as large
letters and small letters are therefore to be considered as
one linked alphabetic structure, and not as two distinct
ones, and both are represented by the initial large letter
Beis of the Torah.
The sixth indication as to the creation of an alphabetic
structure is to be found in the first word of the Torah
itself. The six letters that make up the first word
Bereishis are the first two letters and the final
three letters of the Aleph Beis. The order of the letters can
be in an ascending (from the beginning of the Aleph Beis to
its end) or in a descending order. When it follows an
ascending order, this signifies a natural progression and
represents the attribute of Chesed, kindness. When the
order of the letters is descending, this represents a pattern
of the attribute of Din, judgment.
For example, the two months in which much punishment and
retribution befell the Jewish Nation are Tammuz and Av, whose
first letters spell out a reverse alphabetic order of Tov and
Aleph, which represent the attribute of strict judgment. The
following two months are months reserved for reconciliation,
repentance and return and are commonly referred to as the
Yemei Rachamim, the days of mercy. The first letters
of these months, Elul and Tishrei, follow an ascending order
of Aleph and Tov, and therefore they represent the attribute
of kindness.
Of these two months which make up the days of mercy, it is in
the month of Tishrei that Hashem judges the universe. It is
therefore appropriate that the letters that spell out the
word Tishrei, follow a descending alphabetic order of Tov,
Shin and Reish.
The letters that make up the first word Bereishis
combine both of these attributes, as Creation itself took
place through the combined medium of both Chesed and
Din. In the word Bereishis the three final
letters of the alphabet appear in ascending order (Reish,
Shin and Tov) whilst the initial two letters of
the alphabet appear in the word in a descending order:
Beis and the Aleph. The word Bereishis
therefore represents the combined attributes of
Chesed and Din which were both essential in the
Creation of the universe.
The seventh alphabet that is incorporated in the first verse
of the Torah is that of the final letters. There are five
letters that, when they appear at the end of a word, take on
a different shape than when they appear in the middle. These
are known by their acronym of Manzpach. This acronym
is composed of the final letters: Mem, Nun, Tzaddi,
Pei and Chof. This is incorporated in the initial
posuk of the Torah, which itself has three final
letters, in the words of Elokim, Shomayim and
Oretz.
The most commonly used alphabetic structure is the twenty-
two letter one, in ascending order. This begins with the
letter Aleph and ends with the Tov. Rabbi
Saadia Gaon points out that the middle four letters of this
Aleph Beis are the letters Yud, Chof, Lamed and
Mem, surrounded by nine letters on either side. This
represents a royal procession, with the King at the center,
flanked on either side by his guards. The four middle letters
spell out the word Yimloch and thus the alphabetic
structure of the Aleph Beis proclaims the purpose of
creation as Yimloch Hashem, Hashem will rule.
The initial nine letters from Aleph until Tess
have a numerical value of forty-five, the same as the
word Odom, the Human Being, whose aim is to proclaim
the belief in Yimloch Hashem throughout the world. The
final nine letters of this alphabetic structure, from the
letter Nun until the final letter Tov, have a
numerical value of thirteen hundred and fifty. This number is
thirty times forty-five. The mishna in Ovos
teaches us that kingship is attainable through thirty
paths.
What Rabbi Saadia Gaon is pointing out is that the normal
Aleph Beis in ascending order proclaims this aim of
creation, a declaration and acknowledgement of Yimloch
Hashem by the human race, by its very structure and
order.
With this we can understand why the majority of the
Selichos and Piyutim that are said during the
month of Elul, and incorporated into the Rosh Hashonoh and
Yom Kippur davening, all follow an ascending order of
the Aleph Beis. During a period when our main
objective is to proclaim Hashem as the King of the Universe
it is appropriate to recite piyutim that follow the
ascending order of the Aleph Beis that proclaim this
same sentiment.
The twenty-two letter Aleph Beis is sometimes expanded
into a twenty-seven letter one, by adding the five final
letter of Manzpach into the alphabetic structure. If
we insert these five final letters into their appropriate
places in the Aleph Beis sequence, the middle letter
of the entire alphabet is the fourteenth letter, the non-
final Mem. This is flanked by thirteen letters on
either side.
Using a similar interpretation as that given previously in
the name of Rabbi Saadia Gaon, we arrive at an interesting
conclusion. The middle letter Mem stands for
Melech, the King of the Universe. It is surrounded by
thirteen letters on either side. Thirteen is the numerical
value of the word Echod — one. In this way the
entire twenty-seven letter Aleph Beis order represents
the proclamation of Hashem Echod U'Shemo Echod, Hashem
is One and His Name is One.
By combining the lessons that both the twenty-two and twenty-
seven letter alphabetic structures proclaim, we produce the
pesukim that we incorporate as part of the brochoh
of Malchus. These are the proclamations of
Yimloch Hashem which is followed by the posuk,
Hashem Echod U'Shemo Echod. It is this ultimate aim of
Creation, of a universal acknowledgement of His Kingship over
the world, that has its source in the initial posuk of
the Torah and also in the correct order of the letters of the
Aleph Beis.
This material is extracted from the unpublished book,
Understanding the Aleph Beis.
