The rabbis of old tell us that not only every verse, not only every word, but literally every letter of the Torah has meaning. Nowhere is this more clearly demonstrated than in a midrash on the Hebrew letter bet, with which the Torah begins. Several rabbis give several interpretations, each of which has a message for us.

The first rabbi tells us that the shape of the letter tells us about appropriate inquiry. Because the bet is closed at the top, the bottom and the back, we learn that it is futile to question what is above, below and before creation, but from creation forward we may explore. Asking questions like, "Where did God come from?" and "Why did God create the world?" are interesting, but essentially futile. Better we should spend our time contemplating questions about the nature of the world, how it works, what is expected of us, how do we cope with the world as it is - better to take advantage of being here than wondering why we're here.

The second rabbi tells us that the Hebrew word for blessing (brachah) begins with bet, while the Hebrew word for curse (arur) begins with aleph. From this we are to learn that no matter how difficult life may be, the world is a good place and we should spend our time seeking out its blessings and seeking to perform blessings.

The third rabbi tells us that the shape of the bet contains two points that remind us that it is God who created us. The point upward is toward "heaven" and the point backward is toward the aleph, which is the first letter in Elohim, the name for God used in the creation story.

The fourth rabbi contends that the aleph complained to God that he wasn't used as the opening letter to creation. God responds that the world was created for the sake of Torah, so when God began the Ten Commandments, aleph was used as the first letter (Anochi, the Hebrew word for I begins with aleph). This teaches us that the Torah is as important as creation itself, since without Torah the world we be empty of values.

Finally, a fifth rabbi tells us that aleph complained to God that he was not used as the first letter and God replied, "I called for volunteers and you didn't speak up (aleph has no sound of it's own)." From this the rabbi teaches that one shouldn't be too humble. It's important to speak up in the world. If you find this kind of interpretation interesting, you ought to join us for Bible study at 9:15 on Saturday mornings. We spend lots of time looking more deeply into the text for ideas, values and meaning.