Before the universe existed, not even parchment existed — no animals had yet been created to provide skins for scrolls. So the Torah was written on the arm of God Himself, in black fire upon white fire. And God would gaze at it, and from it He would build everything.
When God decided to create the world, every letter of the Hebrew alphabet came forward, each lobbying to be the one through which creation would begin. Tav stepped up first, arguing that Torah itself starts with tav. God refused — tav also begins the word terumah, inducement, and "an inducement-taking man destroys" (Proverbs 29:4). Shin came next, but God rejected it because shav (falsehood) and shochad (bribery) also begin with shin, and besides — a letter without a stable base cannot hold up a universe.
One by one, every letter stepped forward, and one by one, God found a flaw. Finally Bet entered and made its case: "By me, Your children will bless You — Barukh, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord" (Psalms 118:26). God agreed. "By you I will create My world." And so the Torah opens with Bet: "Bereshit bara Elohim" — "In the beginning God created" (Genesis 1:1).
But Alef stood to the side, silent. God called out: "Why do you not speak like the others?" Alef answered: "How can I? Every other letter has a higher numerical value than I do. I am only one." God replied: "Do not fear. You are one, and I am One. I will give the Torah through you — for the Ten Commandments will begin with Anokhi, I am the Lord your God" (Exodus 20:2).
When Mount Sinai shook and the Torah descended, all of Israel — men, women, children, even the unborn in their mothers' wombs — heard the commandments. God asked the children themselves to guarantee that their parents would keep the Torah. The infants answered yes to every affirmation and no to every prohibition. From the mouths of babies, God founded strength (Psalms 8:3).
Midrash on the Ten Commandments [Beit haMidrasch I:62, and Goldblatt Publishing] 1) The first commandment: It is written, “Who can tell the mighty acts of the LORD, make heard all His praise?” (Psalms 106:2) Even the angels cannot tell His mighty acts, but some can preach what He has done and what He will do, in order to exult and laud the Name of the Sovereign, Sovereign of Sovereigns? the Holy Blessed One. He created the Torah which is more pleasant than gold or aurum, sweeter than honey or the drippings of the honeycombs. And when the Holy Blessed One desired to create the universe He took counsel with it and said “I will create the universe so they will know My might.” When the Torah heard thus, it answered and said to Him, “Master of the Universe! You tell the end from the start, and all hidden things are revealed before You! Do what You desire!” When the Holy Blessed One heard the Torah’s words, its words were appropriate before Him, He took it and laid it out before Him. 2) We have found that before the universe was created, parchment skins were not found on which the Torah's script is written, for animals were not yet in existence. Rather, on what was it written? On the arm of the Holy Blessed One, in black fire upon white fire. And the Holy Blessed One took it and laid it out before Him, and would gaze at it. And when He desired to create the world, all the letters came in turn and each said before the Holy Blessed One: "Master of the Universe! May it be Your will that through me the world be created!" First, tav came before the Holy Blessed One and said to Him: "Master of the Universe! May it be Your will that through me the world be created, since Your Torah is named by me!" The Holy Blessed One answered her: I will not do as you wish, for inducements1terumot begin with you, and it is written, "An inducement-taking man destroys" (Prov. 29:4). Afterwards, shin entered before the Holy Blessed One etc. "It shall not be as to your wish, since vanity2shav' and bribery3shohad begin with you, and it is not fitting that a letter without a base4The letter ש has only one point on its lowest level. be the one on which the universe is created." Afterwards, all the letters entered in reverse order, until bet. Finally, bet entered and said: "Master of the Universe! May it be Your will that through me the world be created, for your children will bless Your name by me! As it is said, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD" (Psalms 118:26), "Blessed is the LORD each day" (Psalms 68:20), "Blessed is the LORD, the God of Israel" (Psalms 41:14). He said to her, "Thus I will do. By you I will create my world. "As it is written, (Genesis 1:1) "In the beginning God created"5bereshit bara Elohim. When alef saw that the Holy Blessed One desired to create the world through bet, she stood to one side and was silent, until the Holy Blessed One called her and said to her: "Alef, why are you silent? Why do you not speak as your companions?" Alef answered and said before Him: "Master of the Universe! While my companions amount to much, I am of comparatively little value." The Holy Blessed One said to her: No wonder that you are the first of them all and the sovereign, since I am One and you are one! And since you have been humble, I will glorify you by making you a thousand6elef." And He also said to her, Be consoled that when I give the Torah, I will begin with you." Therefore the Holy Blessed One opened with anokhi when giving the Torah to Israel. [And why did the Holy Blessed One open with anokhi when giving the Torah to Israel?] For anokhi is an acronym: Ana nafshi katvit, yahavit7Aramaic: "My own soul wrote it, bestowed it!" and in reverse order yehiva, ketiva, ne'imim imreha8Hebrew: "A bestowing, a writing, pleasant are its statements!" Alternatively, why did the Holy Blessed One open with anokhi when giving the Torah to Israel? For anokhi is Egyptian9The Coptic word for "I" is ⲁⲛⲟⲕ anok, and in order to usethe language they used in Egypt He opened with anokhi. And the Holy Blessed One wanted to create the universe all at once, a width of a 500 years' walk and a length of a 500 years' walk, and the great sea surrounding all the universe like a dome atop a great column, and all the universe standing on the scales of the Leviathan standing in the abyssal waters to which is it compared to a small fish in the sea, and the abyssal waters stand upon the primordial waters, and the primordial waters upon the ocean's waters, and the ocean's waters upon the waters of Bokhim. And why are they called by the name Bokhim? For when the Holy Blessed One halved the waters, half He placed above and half He placed below, and the ones He placed below started crying9bokhim and saying "Woe is us, for we did not merit to be close to our Creator!" And they presumptuously souoght to ascend on high, until the Holy Blessed One rebuked them and crushed them under the sole of His feet. Thus they said before the Holy Blessed One, "It is well known before You that for Your glory's sake we did so!" The Holy Blessed One said, "Inasmuch as for my glory that You did so, know in truth that I will not give permission to the upper waters to say song before Me until they take permission from you!" As it it said, "From the voices of the many mighty waters, the wave's breakers, mighty on high is the LORD!" (Psalms 93:4) 3) The Holy Blessed One also created seven heavens, and the lowest of them is called Vilon, and it is like a curtain1vilon that is in front of the entrance to houses to those inside cannot see those outside and those outside cannot see the inside. And in Vilon there are windows, and the ministering angels see the humans going about on earth, whether walking in a good path or in a bad path. [One walking in a good path, they support him.] And one walking in a bad path, they set him up, making him succeed in wickedness until the day he is accounted for. 4) Above Vilon, Raqia', and in Raqia' there are stars and constellations and twelve windows corresponding to the twelve hours, and 365 angels watch over the sun and bring it proudly from window to window, so that the universe not turn around in a single hour, and in these windows they bring the moon proudly at night, and as it comes out they open and say a song, and they are not silent until the sun sets, and when the sun sets in the west they bow and say "We did all that You commanded us!" As it is said, "Can you send lightning and it goes, saying to you 'Here we are!'?" (Job 38:35). Why are the sun and moon and stars and constellations in Raqia'? As it is written, "And God put them in the firmament1raqia' of the heavens, to illuminate over the earth." (Genesis 1:17) 5) Above Raqia', Sheḥaqim, and in Sheḥaqim there are affixed millstones grinding manna for the righteous to come, as it is said, "And He commanded the welkin1sheḥaqim above, and the doors of heaven He opened, and rained down manna to eat." (Psalms 78:23-24). 6) Above Sheḥaqim, Zevul, and in Zevul there is a built altar and Michael the prince over Israel is the high priest and stands and offers sacrifice upon it every single day. But what are the sacrifices that he offers? Could he be offering sheep!? Rather, the sages said, Michael the prince over Israel is the high priest in heaven, and since the Holy Temple was destroyed — may it be rebuilt speedily in our days! — and the priesthood was nullified, he offers the souls of the righteous, until the Holy Temple is rebuilt, when the Holy Blessed One will bring down the Holy Temple in the Zevul to the Jerusalem below. 7) And above Zevul, Mekhon, and Mekhon has the treasuries of snow and the treasuries of hail and the ascent of dew and the chambers of storm and tempest, and for them all doors of fire. But could they be above and not on earth!? As it is said, "Praise the LORD from earth, sea-monsters and all abysses, fire and hail, snow and frost, stormwind doing His will!" (Psalms 148:7-8) Rather, the sages said, when David came to the world, he asked mercy upon them and and He brought them down to earth, as it is said, "For no wicked-desiring God are You, evil cannot abide You" (Psalms 5:5). 8) And above Mekhon, Ma'on, and in Ma'on there are squads of angels who say song at night and are silent during the day out of honor for Israel, and there are also treasuries of blessing, as it is said, "Look down from Your holy abode,1me'on from heaven, and bless Your people Israel!" (Deuteronomy 26:5) 9) And above Ma'on, 'Aravot, and in 'Aravot there is justice and righteousness and the dew of life and blessing and the souls of the righteous and the Throne of Glory and the holy beings and the snake-angels and the wheel-angels and the mount-angels, and they come to make known the glory of the Holy Blessed One who made them from fire and from water, and water over them and peace among them, for the water does not extinguish the fire nor does the fire dry out the water, and thus it is said, "Reigning and fear is with Him; He makes peace in His heights!" (Job 25:2). And the angels stand thirty-six thousand parasangs away from the Presence. But could angels stand? Don't we find that there is neither standing nor sitting in heaven, just bowing? Rather, they stand bowing before the Holy Blessed One, and do not see the place of His Presence, and sanctify the Name of the Holy Blessed One who sits on the throne high and exalted, and cloud and cumulus surround Him, as is written, "Cloud and cumulus around Him, righteousness and justice the base of His throne" (Psalms 97:2). 10) Blessed be the name of the Holy Blessed One who created seven heavens and seven earths and seven seas, and hung them on His mighty arm, as it is written, "And below the arms of the universe" (Deuteronomy 33:27). And the Holy Blessed One only created any of them for the sake of the Torah and so Israel would receive it. And He also created seven nations, and corresponding to them seven princes over them. And He also created Israel, one nation on earth. And when the angels saw Israel they quarreled with each other. One said "Israel will be in my portion!" and one said "Israel will be in my portion!" And when the Holy Blessed One saw this, He said to them, "Cast lots for My people Israel, and for whomsoever the lot falls it will be his." And thus they did, they cast lots, and the lot of the Holy Blessed One fell over Israel, and they set them before Him, as it written, "Borders delightful fell to Me; My inheritance is so lovely!" (Psalm 16:6) And the Holy Blessed One chose them and called them treasured, as it is said, "And you will be treasured over all the peoples, though Mine is all the earth" (Exodus 19:5). 11) Come and hear: anything of Torah has heaps upon heaps of midrash. And the Holy Blessed One cautioned Israel about them, saying "Look at these serifs. If you replace them you will destroy the universe! For instance, if you make ḥet into hei or hei into ḥet, you will destroy the universe!" For instance "Our souls hope for the LORD"1"nafshenu ḥikta l-Adonai." If "ḥikta" were replaced with "hikta" this would be read "our souls struck the LORD!" (Psalms 33:20), or "Let all with breath praise Yah,2"kol ha-nshama tehallel Yah" If "tehalel" were replaced with "teḥallel" this would be read "let all with breath desecrate Yah!" hallelujah!" (Psalms 150:6). "What's more, if you make dalet into resh or resh into dalet, you will destroy the universe!" For instance, "Hear, Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is one!3"Adonai eḥad" If "eḥad" were replaced with "aḥer," spelled the same in Hebrew without vowels, this would be read "the LORD is another!"" (Deuteronomy 6:4) or "Do not bow down to another deity4"el aḥer." If "aḥer" were replaced with "eḥad," spelled the same in Hebrew without vowels, this would be read "Do not bow down to the One Deity!"" (Exodus 34:14). From this can be learned that every single serif in the Torah has heaps and heaps of laws, all the more so an entire letter or an entire word. And the Holy Blessed One saw all the humans He created and found no find a man as worthy to be given the Torah by his hand as Moshe. And why did Moshe merit to be the groom of the Torah? Because of his humility and awe that was in him. From where? As it is written, "And Moshe hid his face for he was afraid to gaze upon God" (Exodus 3:6). The sages said, in reward for three things he did, Moshe merited three things. In reward for his fear, he merited "they were afraid to come near him" (Exodus 34:30). In reward for his hiding his face, he merited to have a glowing countenance. In reward for not gazing, he merited to "see the form of the LORD" (Numbers 12:8) and he merited "they gazed after Moshe until he entered the tent" (Exodus 33:8). And from where is humility found in Moshe? As it is said, "And now, go, and I will send you to Pharaoh, etc." (Exodus 3:10). The sages said, the hei of "go"5"lekhah" is closed. And why is it closed? When the Holy Blessed One said to Moshe, "Go and redeem Israel," out of his great humility that he had, he said, "Who am I to go to Pharaoh? Could I bring the children of Israel out of Egypt!?" He said, "There are those greater than me in the family with regards to wealth and silver and gold!" The Holy Blessed One said to him, to Moshe, "You are great," as it is said, "And the man Moshe was very great" (Exodus 11:3). 12) "And what's more, I chose you over all Israel, and you will in the future be one prophesied over about this," as it is said, "Then You spoke in vision to Your faithful, and said, 'I have set a help to the mighty, I have exalted one chosen from the people'" (Psalm 89:22). Who is chosen from the people? Moshe. Despite all this, Moshe lowered himself and stood to one side. The Holy Blessed One said, "Why do you stand to one side? For if by your hand they are not redeemed, by another's hand they will not be redeemed!" 13) And also, come and hear the humility of Moshe, for when the Holy Blessed One said to him, "Make the Tent of Meeting," he did so. And when it was done, out of the great humility that was within him he went outside. The Holy Blessed One said to him, "Why did you go outside? Go, it is pleasant that You minister to me!" And from where did the Holy Blessed One call him and say thus to him? As it is said, "And he called to Moshe, and the LORD spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying..." (Leviticus 1:1). And so too the Torah testified that he was humble, as it is said, "And the man Moshe was very humble" (Numbers 12:3). Thus, Moshe merited to be given law by his hand, and for the Presence to dwell over him, for thus said Isaiah, "The spirit of the LORD is upon me, thus the LORD anointed me to herald to the humble" (Isaiah 61:1). What is written is not "to herald to the faithful," but "to herald to the humble." From here we derive that humility is the greatest commandment in the universe. The Holy Blessed One gazed upon all the mountains and found none as befitting to give the Torah on and for the Presence to dwell on like Mt. Sinai, and why did Mt. Sinai merit all this? Because it lowered itself, for when it saw that Mt. Hermon and Mt. Sirion were provoking each other — one saying "He'll dwell on me!" and the other saying "no, He'll dwell on me!" — when Sinai saw that they were provoking each other and increasing themselves, it lowered itself. Therefore the Holy Blessed One saw its lowliness and had His Presence dwell upon it, since God is high and exalted, "seeing the lowly, and loftily perceiving from afar." (Psalms 138:6) On the third month that Israel left the land of Egypt, on that very day they went to the desert of Sinai (Exodus 19:1) to receive the Torah, and on it the Holy Blessed One gave the Torah to Israel. And why didn't He give it to them when they were leaving Egypt? Because the Holy Blessed One said, "I will do good for them first, to demonstrate My might, and after that they will receive My Torah and My Commandments." I will explain a parable. What is this akin to? A king who wished to marry a woman. The king said, "I will do good for her, and after that I will marry her." Thus, the Holy Blessed One saw the congregation of Israel naked and clothed her, as it is said, "I dressed you... in linen... etc." (Ezekiel 16:10). He saw her barefoot and shod her, as it is said, "I sandalled you in dugong-skin." It came upon the sea, and He passed it though. He saw Amalek came upon her, and saved her. When Israel recognized the goodness and might of the Holy Blessed One, they all said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do and hear!" (Exodus 24:7) 14) Another interpretation: why did the Holy Blessed One give the Torah in the third month, rather than giving it when they were leaving Egypt? A parable to a king's son who was sick but stood from his sickness. His mother said to him, "Go study." The king said, "He has not healed from his sickness; he will wait two or three months and after that he will go study." Thus Israel, immediately upon leaving Egypt, were ready to receive the Torah, but were flawed from making bricks and mortar. The Holy Blessed One said, "Rest has still not come to My children from the enslavement, and how could they receive the Torah?" Thus He postponed them until the third month, and after that gave them the threefold Torah — alef, bet, gimel — by the hand of the threefold man. You can find all the works of the Torah are threefold! [The threefold Torah] (the Torah, prophets, and writings) with the threefold letters (alef, bet, gimel) by the hand of the threefold man — Moshe, his brother Aharon, and his sister Miriam were three, who came from the third tribe — Reuven, Shim'on, Levi (which is threefold in letters — lamed, vav, yod) — and bequeathed it to the threefold (priests, levites, and Israelites), children of threefold forefathers — Avraham, Yitsḥaq, and Ya'aqov — on the threefold day — as it is written, "On the third day" (Exodus 19:16) — and on the threefold month — as it is written, "On the third month that Israel left the land of Egypt." On the day that the Holy Blessed One rejoiced in Israel His people and Moshe His servant, Moshe celebrated in his heart, for he saw all that was with him. The land and those dwelling on it was shocked when they saw that Moshe son of 'Amram had taken the king's daughter and come down in great rejoicing, as it is said, "You ascended on high, took captives" (Psalms 68:19) The king's daughter is Torah, the gemstones are the twelve tribes. 15) The sages said: The Torah was created two thousand years before the universe was created, as it is said, "And I was with him a confidant, I was delightful day after day, having fun before Him" (Proverbs 8:30) — and we've already found that the day of the Holy Blessed One is a thousand years as it is said, "For a thousand years in Your eye is like yesterday gone" (Psalms 90:4). And the Torah would be annoyed before the Holy Blessed One and say, "Why was I created two thousand years before the universe was created? Will You not give me to humanity?" The ministering angels said to it, "We are restraining you because people in the future will sin, and thus it is better that you be with us."Note in textThis is not an explanation for the Torah's question of why it was created two thousand years before creation, because at the time the angels had not yet been created. Perhaps the Holy Blessed One's answer is missing here, and the angels' restraint was in the time of the giving of the Torah. At that time the Torah would having fun before the LORD, as it is said, "having fun before Him," and the Holy Blessed One would say to the angels, "the Torah is making fun of you, saying, what is the Torah to you? Were you enslaved to Pharaoh? Do you eat and drink? Is there an impure thing among you? And why do you want the Torah? You have no need to receive the Torah, but a human who receives impurity must atone for himself, and fix it, and purify his soul." Immediately they all were silenced, until Moshe came and was victorious over them with this answher, and gave the Torah to Israel in joy. And before giving the Torah to His people Israel the Holy Blessed One came to every nation and language to give them the Torah, so as not to give them an opening for the future to come, to say "If it happened to us that the Holy Blessed One were to give us the Torah we would have received it!" He went by the children of Esau. He said, "Will you take the Torah?" They said to him, "What is written in it?" He said to them, "You will not murder." They all answered and said, "You want to uproot the blessing with which Esau our father was blessed from us!? As it is written, 'By your sword you will live' (Genesis 27:40). We do not wish to receive it!" He went by the children of Lot ('Ammon and Moav). He said to them, "Will you take the Torah?" They said to him, "What is written in it?" He said to them, "You will not commit adultery." They said, "From adultery we came! We do not wish to receive it!" He also went by the children of Ishmael. He said to them, "Will you take the Torah?" They said to him, "What is written in it?" He said to them, "You will not steal." They said, "You want to uproot the blessing with which Esau our father was blessed from us!? As it is written, 'his hand against all and the hand of all against him' (Genesis 16:12). We do not wish to receive your Torah!" Immediately the Holy Blessed One went around to all the nations of the universe, but they did not want to take it. And after that He went by Israel. He said to them, "Will you take the Torah?" They said before him, "What is written in it?" He said to them, "Six hundred and thirteen commandments." They said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do and hear!" (Exodus 24:7) Immediately a hundred and twenty thousand angels came down and tied to each of them two crowns, one corresponding to "we will do" and one corresponding to "we will hear," and they received the Torah in joy. And when He gave Israel the Torah, He said to them, "Give me guarantors that you will uphold it." They said before him, "Behold, Avraham will be guarantor for us!" He said to them, "he is liable for Ishmael, who will in the future kill My children with thirst." They said to him, "Here is Yitzḥaq!" He said to them, "He is liable to Me for he loved Esau who hated me." They said, "Behold Ya'aqov!" He said to them, "He is guilty to Me because he did not fulfill his vow upon leaving Paddan Aram." They said before Him, "Here are our children!" Immediately the Holy Blessed One said, "Give me those guarantors and I will receive them." Immediately the children of Israel brought their wives with their suckling babies and their fetuses, and the Holy Blessed One made their bellies like glass, and they spoke with Him. He said to them, "See that I wish to give the Torah to your parents, and you are guarantors for them that they will fulfill it." They said to him, "Yes." He said to them, "I am the LORD your God who brought you out!" They said to him, "Yes." "You will not have any other gods!" They said to him, "No." "You will not take the name of the LORD your God in vain! They said to him, "No." And thus they answered him, for the yesses "yes" and for the nos "no." And from where do we derive that in the embryos in their mothers' gullets and the mouths of babies is the Torah founded? As it is said, "From the mouths of infants and babies You founded strength" (Psalm 8:3), and strength is only Torah, as it is said, "The LORD gives strength to His people" (Psalm 29:11). And when the Holy Blessed One saw Israel intending with all their hearts, out of great love hurrying to receive the Torah, He praised them and called them content, as it is said, "Content are you, Israel, who is like you?" (Deuteronomy 23:29)
