The Hebrew Letter BEIT

The Hebrew Letter
featured is the Beit.

Variant spellings - BET - BETH - BEIS - BAIT


Beit is the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet and its numerical value is 2. The meanings of BEIT are HOUSE, HOME, CONTAINER. The
Beit makes a sound like the B in Beautiful.

Torah begins with the letter
Beit. It was chosen for this honor because it is closed on top, bottom and on the right. It is open on the left, the direction of the text, to teach us to look forward and not backward, in our daily lives (Freedman, H. and Simon Maurice Tr. 1983. Genesis Rabbah. New York: Soncino P. 9).

When the time came to create the world all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet presented themselves to God in reverse order. Each one requested that God place it first in creation. God rejected each one in turn. The Beit then entered and suggested that it be put first since it represented the blessings - Brachot. God agree and thus Beit was put first in the creation of the world (Zohar 1978. v.1. TR. Harry Sperling and Maurice Simon. London: Soncino. 12).

Beit is female, Aleph, male. As Beit created, so Aleph, produced letters (Zohar. 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 1:30a).


Rab Hanuna the Venerable said: ‘We find here a reversal of the order of the letters of the Alphabet, the first two words “Bereshith bara” - ”in-the-beginning He-created”-commencing with Beit, whereas the two words following, “Eloheim Et” -”God the”-commence with Aleph (Zohar. 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 1:2b).


We have been taught that wherever the name Solomon occurs in the Song of Songs, it refers to “the King to whom peace belongs”, while the term “king”, simply, refers to the Female. The lower is contained in the upper, and the mnemonic is that the lower is heir to the upper, so that both are as one, together constituting Beth (=bayith, house), as it is written, “With wisdom a house (bayith) is builded” (Proverbs 24: 3) (Zohar. 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 1:29a).

I love sitting in the Beit when I meditate. I did that for many years.The Beit made me feel very safe. So whenever I am feeling a little afraid I return to the Beit for that secure feeling. Try it! And let me know how it works for you.

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