R. Yehuda bar Shalom said, "From before and from the beginning created Elokim is not written ere rather from the first, in the merit of Israel, which was called first, as it is written," The Holy of Israel is to God, the beginning of its crop. " As a metaphor, why does this resemble: a king of flesh and blood who did not have a son, and says, "Take him from Lenin and Kalmarin to Livni, and everyone would say, 'He has no son,' and he says: 'Take him out of Lenin and Kalmarin.' Rabbi Yehudah ben Pazi expounded why with "Bet": to tell you that there are two worlds, this world and the world to come.
The World Was Created in the Merit of Israel
Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 2:2
אָמַר רַבִּי יְהוּדָה בַּר שָׁלוֹם, "מִקֹּדֶם" וּ"מִתְּחִלָּה בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים" אֵין כְּתִיב כָּאן, אֶלָּא "בְּרֵאשִׁית", בִּזְכוּת יִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁנִּקְרְאוּ "רֵאשִׁית", שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר "קֹדֶשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל לַה' רֵאשִׁית תְּבוּאָתֹה". מָשָׁל לְמָּה הַדָּבָר דּוֹמֶה, לְמֶלֶךְ בָּשָׂר וָדָם שֶׁלֹּא הָיָה לוֹ בֵּן, וְאוֹמֵר, טְלוּ מִלָּנִין וְקַלְמָרִין לִבְנִי. וְהָיוּ הַכֹּל אוֹמְרִים, בֵּן אֵין לוֹ וְהוּא אוֹמֵר טְלוּ מִלָּנִין וְקַלְמָרִין לִבְנִי. חָזְרוּ וְאָמְרוּ הַמֶּלֶךְ אַסְטְרוֹלוֹגוּס וְכוּ'. דָּרַשׁ רַבִּי יְהוּדָה בֶּן פָּזִי, לָמָּה בְּבֵי"ת, לְהוֹדִיעֲךָ שֶׁהֵן שְׁנֵי עוֹלָמוֹת, הָעוֹלָם הַזֶּה וְהָעוֹלָם הַבָּא.