Page:Ginzburg - The Legends of the Jews - Volume 1.djvu/29

 the world through me!” The first to step forward was the letter Taw. It said: “O Lord of the world! May it be Thy will to create Thy world through me, seeing that it is through me that Thou wilt give the Torah to Israel by the hand of Moses, as it is written, ‘Moses commanded us the Torah’” The Holy One, blessed be He, made reply, and said, “No!” Taw asked, “Why not?” and God answered: “Because in days to come I shall place thee as a sign of death upon the foreheads of men.” As soon as Taw heard these words issue from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He, it retired from His presence disappointed.

The Shin then stepped forward, and pleaded: “O Lord of the world, create Thy world through me, seeing that Thine own name Shaddai begins with me.” Unfortunately, it is also the first letter of Shaw, lie, and of Sheker, falsehood, and that incapacitated it. Resh had no better luck. It was pointed out that it was the initial letter of Raʿ, wicked, and Rashaʿ, evil, and after that the distinction it enjoys of being the first letter in the Name of God, Raḥum, the Merciful, counted for naught. The Ḳof was rejected, because Ḳelalah, curse, outweighs the advantage of being the first in Ḳadosh, the Holy One. In vain did Ẓadde call attention to Ẓaddik, the Righteous One; there was Ẓarot, the misfortunes of Israel, to testify against it. Pe had Podeh, redeemer, to its credit, but Peshaʿ, transgression, reflected dishonor upon it. ʿAin was declared unfit, because, though it begins ʿAnawah, humility, it performs the same service for ʿErwah, immorality. Samek said: “O Lord, may it be Thy will to begin the creation with me, for Thou art called Samek, after me, the Upholder of all that fall.” But God