Rabbi Yona said in the name of Rabbi Levi: Why was the world created with the letter beit?33It is the first letter of “bereshit – in the beginning.” It is because just as the beit is closed on all [three of] its sides but open in its front, so, you do not have permission to ask: What is below, what is above, what was before, and what is after,34Ḥagiga 2:1. One should not ponder what is above the firmament and what is below the earth, what was before Creation, and what will be after the end of the world. but only from the day when the world created and onward.
Bar Kapara said: “For ask now of the early days that were before you, from the day [that God created man upon the earth]” (Deuteronomy 4:32) – from the day they were created, you may inquire, but you may not inquire what was before that. “From one end of the heavens to the other end” (Deuteronomy 4:32), you may inquire and investigate, but what is beyond that you may not investigate. Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi expounded regarding the act of Creation together with bar Kapara: Why was the world created with the letter beit?
It is to inform you that there are two worlds,35The numerical value of beit is two. this world and the World to Come. Another matter, why with a beit? Because it alludes to an expression of blessing [berakha]. And why not with an alef?
Because it alludes to an expression of curse [arira]. Another matter, why not with an alef? It is to avoid giving recourse to the heretics to say: How can the world endure, as it was created with an expression of curse? Rather, the Holy One blessed be He said: ‘Behold, I will create it with an expression of blessing, and there is hope that perhaps it will endure.’
Another matter, why with a beit? It is because just as the beit has two protrusions, one above it and one below and behind it, if one says to the beit: ‘Who created you?’ It points with its upper protrusion, saying: ‘That One who is above created me.’ ‘And what is His name?’ It points with its rear protrusion and says: ‘The Lord [Adonai] is His name.’36It points to the letter that is behind it, the alef, which is the first letter of Adonai, one of God’s names.
Rabbi Elazar bar Ḥanina said in the name of Rabbi Aḥa: For twenty-six generations37This is the number of generations that passed from Creation to the giving of the Torah. the alef complained before the throne of the Holy One blessed be He. It said before Him: ‘Master of the universe, I am the first of the letters, but You did not create Your world with me.’ The Holy One blessed be He said to it: ‘The world and all its contents were created only for the sake of the Torah, as it is stated: “The Lord founded the earth with wisdom…”38See earlier, section 4. (Proverbs 3:19).
Tomorrow, I will be coming to give the Torah at Sinai, and I will open it at its beginning only with you, as it is stated: “I [anokhi] am the Lord your God”’ (Exodus 20:2). Rabbi Hoshaya says: Why is it called alef? It is because He consented concerning a thousand, as it is stated: “The word that He commanded for one thousand [elef] generations” (Psalms 105:8).39The Torah was originally supposed to be given to the thousandth [elef] generation (Bereishit Rabba 28:4). The first letter of that Torah was therefore given the name alef.