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Audio: Track 10 40
The Book of Exodus – ‫חומש שמות‬

Torah Portion Yitro

In the Torah portion of Yitro we read the Ten Commandments. The Ten
Commandments start with the verse:

"I am the Lord your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt, out
of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me."

(20:2)

Our Sages say that the Ten Commandments start with the word "Anochi" (I) in
order to teach us that the giving of the Torah was more important than the
creation of the world.

How does it teach this? The first letter in the word "Anochi" is aleph, which is
the first letter of the alphabet. The description of the creation of the world starts

with the word "Be'Reshit" (in the beginning): "In the beginning God created
the heaven and the earth." (Be'Reshit 1:1) The first letter of the word

"Be'Reshit" is bet, which is the second letter of the alphabet.

There is a legend which relates that the letter aleph was sad at the time of the
creation of the world because the first letter of the creation of the world was bet.

Throughout the course of the twenty-six generations from the creation of the
world to the giving of the Torah, she would say: Master of the Universe, I am
the first of all the letters, and yet you did not create the world with me, but rather
with the letter bet!

God said to her: I am reserving for you the first place in the giving of the Torah,
which is so important that the entire world was created in its merit, as it says,

"I (Anochi) am the Lord your God…"

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