Each Letter Spelled a Holy Word and Also a Sin

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The Queue of Burning Letters

Before there was a world there was an alphabet, and the alphabet was afraid of being left out of it.

Twenty-two letters stood in a line of fire that ran past the edge of the light, each one shaped from flame, each one certain that creation should begin with itself. They had heard what was coming. The Holy One, blessed be He, was about to speak a world into the dark, and the first stroke of the first word would belong to one letter alone. Whoever received it would stand at the head of everything that followed. The rest would come after it forever.

So they climbed the steps to the Throne one at a time, from the far end of the alphabet inward, and each one carried its finest boast up into the light.

Shin Boasts of the Hidden Name

Shin went up first, three tongues of fire leaning toward the Throne. "Master of the universe," it said, "build Your world with me. Your own hidden Name is spoken through me, for I begin Shaddai, the Almighty."

The answer came down. "No."

"Why?"

"Because vanity is spoken through you, and so is falsehood," said the Holy One. "Shav, which is emptiness. Sheker, which is a lie. And a lie has nothing to stand on. Look at the word for it. Sheker has no feet, and neither do you. How shall I set a world on a letter that cannot hold itself up?"

Shin looked down at the point where its fire narrowed to nothing, and it understood. It went out from the Throne with its flame low.

Resh and the Head That Turns to Idols

Next came Resh, and it had learned nothing from watching Shin fall. "Master of the universe, build Your world with me. The opening of Your word is truth, and I stand at the front of it. I begin the name by which You are called Merciful. I begin healing itself."

"No."

"Why?"

"Because through you My people will one day make themselves a head and turn back toward Egypt," said the Holy One. "They will say, let us appoint a head and go back, and the head they crown will be an image of gold. You are the first letter of ra, which is evil. You are the first letter of rasha, the wicked man. I will not open a world with the letter that opens wickedness."

Resh went out from before the Throne with its fire low.

The Eye That Waits for Twilight

Ayin climbed slowly, a single open eye of flame. "Master of the universe, build Your world with me. Through me the eyes of the Lord roam across all the earth. Your watching is written in my shape. Nothing is hidden from You, and I am how You see."

The Throne did not soften. "No."

"Why?"

"Because through you the adulterer will watch for twilight," said the Holy One. "He will wait at the edge of the dark, sure that no eye will find him, and he will sin in the gap between the light and the night. The eye that hunts for the crime is your eye as well. And through you I will pass sentence, for the eyes of the wicked will fail in the end."

The eye of fire dimmed and turned away.

Yod Carries the Name and the Flaw

By now the letters near the front of the line had gone quiet. Yod was the smallest of them all, a single point of flame, and it went up anyway.

"Master of the universe, build Your world with me. I am the least of the letters, and still I begin Your holy Name. I am the first stroke of the way You are called the Only One. Every creature You make will thank You through me, all day long, for all Your works."

"No."

Yod did not ask why. It waited.

"Because through you," said the Holy One, "I will fashion the evil inclination, the pull that misleads every creature I am about to form. The inclination of the human heart is evil from its youth, and that inclination begins in you."

The smallest letter, which carried the Name and the flaw in the same body, went out with its flame low.

Chet and the Sin Cut in Iron

Last in that stretch of the line came Chet, and it had watched four letters climb and four letters fall, and it climbed anyway.

"Master of the universe, build Your world with me. Through me they will say Your kindness fills the earth. Through me You are called merciful and gracious. I am the letter of chesed, the love that holds a world together."

The answer was the same. "No."

"Why?"

"Because through you I will write down the sin of My people," said the Holy One. "The sin of Judah, cut with an iron pen, scored with the tip of a diamond, so deep it can never be scraped away. The letter of kindness is also the letter of chet, which is the sin itself. I will not begin a world with the word for the wound."

Chet went out from before the Throne with its flame low, and the line moved forward by one.

Five letters had come up holding a holy word in one hand and a sin in the other, and five had gone back down the steps burning low. The line kept moving inward, toward the older and smaller letters at the head of the alphabet, and the dark beyond the Throne kept waiting for its first stroke. Whatever letter finally received it would have to stand on its own feet, with no lie folded inside it, and carry a whole world without falling down.