<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 8px/normal Helvetica; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">It is said that God's first creation were the Hebrew letters of the </span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 8px/normal Helvetica; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">language itself. From what is this idea derived? This creation is</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 8px/normal Helvetica; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">alluded to in the words "<i>Bereshis bara Elokim</i>" (In the beginning </span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 8px/normal Helvetica; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">of God's creating) followed in the Hebrew by the untranslatable </span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 8px/normal Helvetica; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">word "es" (aleph, saf). This word alludes to all the letters of the </span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 8px/normal Helvetica; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">Hebrew alphabet, from the first letter (aleph) to the last (saf).</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 8px/normal Helvetica; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">Allegorically, then, the first phrase in the Torah can be read: "In</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 8px/normal Helvetica; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">the beginning, God created language" (followed by the rest of</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 8px/normal Helvetica; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">creation).</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 8px/normal Helvetica; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><br></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 8px/normal Helvetica; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Chassidic Insight</span></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 8px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="font: 16.0px Helvetica"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">T</span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">here is a lesson to be learned from the fact that God’s </span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 8px/normal Helvetica; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">spirit was present even in the void and darkness of pri</span></font><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">mal </span></font></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 8px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">reality. Even when prospects seem bleak, the spirit </span></font></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 8px/normal Helvetica; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">of messianic optimism is there; all we have to do is reveal</span></font><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"></span></font></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 8px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">it. How do we do this? "<i>Vay'hi or</i>" "And there was light!" By </span></font></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 8px/normal Helvetica; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">illuminating the world with the light of Torah.</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 8px/normal Helvetica; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><br></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 8px/normal Helvetica; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">rw</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br></span></font></div></body></html>