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Bet, the house

The twenty-two letters · article 3 of 23

Value two, the letter that opens the Torah. Closed on three sides, open to the front: a house, and a blessing.

Bet is the second letter and has the value two. Its name is that of the house, bayit, and Sefer HaBahir says so plainly: "do not read Bet, but bayit." Its shape is closed on every side except the front. It is the first letter of the Torah, that of bereshit, "in the beginning." Sefer Yetzirah places it among the letters of the lips, with Vav, Mem and Peh.

In Sefer Yetzirah, Bet is the first of the seven doubles, Begad Kaporet. Like them, it is pronounced in two ways, soft or hard, and the book sees in this "the pattern of soft and hard, the pattern of strong and weak." G-d "made the letter Bet reign over life and bound a crown to it," and through it formed Shabbetai, the planet we call Saturn, in the world, the first day of the week in time and the right eye in the body. Each double carries its opposite: that of life is death.

In tractate Shabbat, the children of the house of study read the first two letters in a single breath: "Alef Bet, alef binah," learn understanding. If Alef becomes the command to learn, Bet gives binah, understanding. The two letters do not separate: study and understanding go together.

The Midrash Bereshit Rabbah asks why the world was created through a Bet. Rabbi Yonah, in the name of Rabbi Levi, answers: just as Bet is closed on all sides and open in front, you have no permission to ask what is above, below, before and behind, but only from the day the world was created. Other answers: to teach you that there are two worlds, this one and the one to come; and because Bet is the letter of blessing, berakhah. The Bahir adds that Bet is a house for the world, for the Holy One, blessed be He, is the place of the world and the world is not His place. The Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva also says "do not read Bet, but bayit," and has G-d speak: "I built two palaces, one above and one below."

Two, the house, the blessing. Bet opens the Torah facing forward, and the Sages draw from it both a limit and a direction: not to claim to probe what precedes creation, and to dwell in the world that has been given. In Sefer Yetzirah, it carries life; for the children of Shabbat 104a, understanding. The house begins with what one learns in it.

Source text

למה ב סתומה מכל צד ופתוחה מלפניה ללמדך שהוא בית לעולם והיינו דקב"ה מקומו של עולם ואין העולם מקומו, ואל תקרא ב אלא בית

Why is Bet closed on every side and open in front? To teach you that it is a house for the world: the Holy One, blessed be He, is the place of the world, and the world is not His place. Do not read Bet, but bayit, house.

Sefer HaBahir 14, Wikisource Sefer HaBahir, CC-BY-SA.

Key terms

HebrewTransliterationMeaning
בbettwo; the house, bayit
ברכהberakhablessing
בינהbinaunderstanding
כפולותkefoulotthe seven doubles

Sources

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In the same section

The letters, stones of creationThree mothers, seven doubles, twelve simples. For Sefer Yetzirah, G-d formed the world by engraving and combining twenty-two letters.Alef, the first letterValue one, a breath. Alef complained that it did not open creation; G-d reserved for it the first word at Sinai.Bet, the houseValue two, the letter that opens the Torah. Closed on three sides, open to the front: a house, and a blessing.Gimel, the one who givesValue three. The foot of Gimel stretches toward Dalet, for the one who does good runs after the poor.Dalet, the poor oneValue four. Dalet makes itself available to Gimel, but turns its face away, so that the gift is given in secret.Heh, the open doorValue five. This world was created through Heh: open below for whoever wants to leave, with an opening above for whoever returns.Vav, the hook and six directionsValue six. A straight line that joins, the hook of the Tabernacle pillars, and the seal of the six directions of the world.Zayin, the crowned letterValue seven. Moses found G-d binding crowns to the letters, and Zayin is among those that carry three.Chet, life at the summitValue eight. Scribes draw a hump on the roof of Chet: He lives, at the height of the world.Tet, the letter of goodValue nine. The first Tet in the Torah is that of "it is good." Seeing a Tet in a dream is a good sign.Yod, the smallest letterValue ten. The world to come was created through Yod, for the righteous there are few, and their heads are bowed.Kaf, the palm and the crownValue twenty. Kaf is the palm and the pan of the scale; the children of the house of study read in it the crown promised in the world to come.Lamed, the heart that learnsThirty, the letter of Tishrei in Sefer Yetzirah. Rabbi Akiva reads its name as a heart that understands knowledge.Mem, water and the hidden wordForty, mother of water in Sefer Yetzirah. Open in the middle of a word, closed at the end: a revealed word, a hidden word.Nun, the faithful one bent, then uprightFifty. Bent in the middle of a word, straight at the end: the humble faithful one and the upright one. For Rabbi Akiva, the lamp of the soul.Samekh, support for those who fallSixty, a closed letter that stood by a miracle in the tablets. The children of the study hall read in it: support the poor.Ayin, the eye of the TorahSeventy, a letter of the throat. The children read in it the poor; Rabbi Akiva, the eye of the Torah, light of every light.Peh, the open and closed mouthEighty, bent in the middle of a word, straight at the end. The children of the study hall read in it: open mouth, closed mouth.Tzadi, the righteous one bent, then uprightNinety. The Talmud adds the bending of the righteous to that of the faithful: hence the Torah was given with bowed head.Kuf, holiness that waitsOne hundred. The Talmud reads in it the Holy One who turns His face from the wicked, yet turns His crown toward him and leaves him an open door.Reish, the head and the fallTwo hundred. Head of all things for Rabbi Akiva, the wicked for the children of the study hall: the same letter carries the beginning and the fall.Shin, the fire with three branchesThree hundred, mother of fire in Sefer Yetzirah. It opens the name Shaddai, but also the word sheker, and falsehood has no feet.Tav, the mark of truthFour hundred, the last letter. For the children of the study hall, truth on wide bases; for Rabbi Akiva, the first to come forward.

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