[Avodah] Bereshis "Begin With A Blessing"

[Micha Berger]

On Sun, Oct 07, 2007 at 06:12:56AM -0400, R Wolberg wrote:
: The Midrash relates that the Torah begins with the letter bet, rather than
: with the letter alef, because bet connotes beracha, blessing, while alef
: connotes arirah, curse.  The HaKodosh, Baruch Hu, said, "I will begin with a
: bet, with an expression of blessing.  May it be that the creation will be
: able to endure."  Another Kabbalistic Midrash says that the Torah begins
: with the letter Bet because it looks like a box open only towards the front,
: teaching us to not ask about what comes before, or beyond, or beneath this
: creation.

I assume people read this assuming the Bavli's conclusion that "mem
vesamech beneis hayu omedim" - implying that the Torah was originally
given in Kesaf Ashuris. If, as the Y-mi states, it was ayin and
tes that were the closed forms on the luchos, that would imply some
variant of kesav Ivri, and thus a beis along the lines of the one at
<http://www.omniglot.com/writing/aramaic.htm> -which is also only open
on he left, despite being a very different shape.


Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             It's nice to be smart,
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