Dangerous Mix

For 26 generations, the letter alef stood and protested to the Creator, "I am the first of all the letters! Why did you create the world with 'beis', letter number two?"

Until G-d replied, "Tomorrow I will give the Torah, the purpose of all Creation, and I will give it beginning with you."

At first, the Creation required a protective shell. If the light from beyond, infinite and all-encompassing, were to enter, there would be no distinction of good and evil, nothing but chaos and destruction could result. The world had to begin with the constriction of Mind, and descend from there. The infinite light of the alef, beyond mind, hovered in outer space.

So too, in Man, all began with mind. The desires beyond mind, the inner yearnings, they were destructive to his survival. The ultimate being was one mastered by his mind.

But then the Torah was given and the purpose of all things revealed. In that purpose, all that is beyond and all that is within resonates in unison and finds peace.