As we begin anew it would be natural to start with the letter Alef. So, THE question we want to raise is why don't we start with Alef? Why does the Torah start with the letter Beit? There is a recent book (sorry to not have the Author or title) which has compiled many answers to this question.

A popular joke on the internet a while back posed the question: Why are the ABC's in that order? Is it because of that song we sing?

We have suggested elsewhere that the Hebrew alphabet reflects a spiritual template, including the story of human development. The order of the Alef Beit is not arbitrary and this progression is revealed from the start with the sequence of Alef to Beit. Let us look at two examples.

Each morning we start our prayers with the recitation of many blessings (called the Birchot Hashachar). As is customary, a blessing or in Hebrew, B'racha starts with the letter Beit. The first blessing is on the ritual washing of the hands. We are up and already active in the world, grasping with our hands a vessel and pouring water over them. There is a prayer though that proceeds all of the B'rachot that we say at that first moment of awakening, the prayer that we teach young children, called Modeh Ani (I acknowledge... the return of my soul). This prayer is the Alef prayer! The Alef then reflects our transition from sleep to waking consciousness, an awakening into the world of vessels, the world where we experience our separation from G-d.

Beit means house (vocalized, Bayit). If you were building an actual house you might consider the shape of the three sided Beit a possible architectural design. If the Beit is the house, then what is the Alef that proceeds it? In architecture there is a space that is called , the transition. Transitional space or entrance transition (into a house or building) is a universally accepted pattern of architecture that " creates some kind of in between breathing space between the outside (public domain) and the inside (private domain)." ( Christopher Alexander, The Timeless Way of Building, P.256). The house which is our created universe ( the heavens and earth) is the Beit of creation. The Alef is the transition space between the infinite and the finite.