The Torah begins with the letter Bet (בּ), representing the number two, because God created not one world, but two. There is the realm of this world, called olam ha-zeh (עוֹלָם הַזֶּה), and there is the realm of the world to come, called olam ha-ba (עוֹלָם הַבָּא). The letter Bet therefore represents a two-fold house (בַּיִת) – the “house” of physical creation and the “house” of spiritual reality. The letter itself is formed from three Vavs (ו), which add up to 18, the same value for the word chai (חי), or “alive.”
“We walk by faith, not by sight…”
We are strangers and sojourners here. Life is this present world is likened to a walking a corridor that leads to the next world. Awaken to your eternal end in the world to come: “Know whence you came and to where you are going and before Whom you are destined to give a final accounting” (Pirkei Avot 3:1). Learn to discern “the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world” (Rom. 1:20). “So do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:16-18). Press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Yeshua our Messiah (Phil. 3:14).
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