ALPHABET OF JUSTICE
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world with the letter "B." The boy who begins to recite the Torah
rushes past the opening word of Genesis,
Bereshit,
to show how well
he can read. But the Rabbi halts him. God is not a capricious God.
To undertake such an awesome task as creating the world is not to be
done lightly. Why the letter "B?" Each letter of the alphabet, eager
to have the glory of initiating the world, presses its claim before the
Lord.
Taw
steps forth and points out that Moses will give the law
(Torah) to Israel, and thus the "T" is pre-eminent; but God points out
that
Taw
will also
be
placed on the foreheads of men as a sign of
death.
Shin
pleads that it stands for
Shaddai,
one of the ineffable names
of the Lord; but it also stands for
Shaw
which is a lie, and the world
cannot begin so compromised. Among the letters,
Daled
presses its case,
but as the Talmud points out,
"If
Daled
had stood only for
Dabsr,
the Divine Word, it would have been used, but it stands also for
Din,
justice, and under a law of justice, without love, the world would
fall to ruin." And why "B?" The letter Beth stands for Baruch,
which means blessing, and "blessed be the Lord forever."
(Daniel Bell's piece continues the discussion of Hannah Arendt's
book,
Eichmann in Jerusalem,
dealt with in the last issue. For reasons
of space, we have had to put olf the publication of several letters about
Lionel Abel's essay and a reply by Mr. Abel.)
