The kabbalistic symolism of Aleph and Beit
One of the meanings of Aleph is Ox, it is the first letter and its numberation is one, spelt in full 111. It is one of a couple of letters used as a single letter name of G-d ['one' being a name of G-d, in Job for example]. It divine appellation is 'G-d of Infinity'.
It symbolises, among other things, the creative power of G-d. Its form, likened to a yoke and plough, is of two yods seperated by a vau, symbolising the seperation of the waters of chaos into upper and lower by the firmanent. Some see in the yoke and plough a euphenism for phallus [Vau] and testes [two yod]. Note that two yods and a vau = 10+10+6= 26, the same as YHVH and also the middle pillar of the ToL, the pillar of air. Aleph is attributed to the principle 'air' in the SY. Ox is a symbol of 'strength', and is commonly a castrated animal, thus neuter, virgin, holy and bears the plough [that is, the phallic, creative power of YHVH]. The yod and vau of which it is formed are the male letters [yod-father, vau-son] in the name YHVH. Yod is attributed to Virgo and Vau to Taurus, the image being of the bull in the furrows of the virgin earth. Both signs attributed are earth signs, the most 'dense' of the elements.
It is attributed to the sephira Kether, the first sefirah, and to the divine name [aong others] AHIH meaning 'being being' or 'I AM that I AM'. Here we have the two Hs of the name YHVH, representing the femine divine, the mother and daughter, the Shekinah. It is connected through Kether with the Ain, 'nothingness' and so combines the two attrbutes of G-d, being and nothingness ["from his nothingness he created his existence" SY]. Thus in encompassing the divine male and female, being and nothingess [1 and 0] lies the symbolism of G-ds 'creative power'. Geometrically it relates to the point with zero dimensions and infinite density. The creative power is also symbolised by the dot [1] or three dots [111] in a circle [cosmic egg].
It is a silent letter, called 'silent before G-d', a reference to the silence before G-d, the void. The mystery of nothingness and being is said to be concealed/revealed in the anagram AIN [Nothing] and ANI [I AM].
"Why is the letter Aleph at the beginning? Because it was before every thing, even the Torah." [Sefer HaBahir 17. Trans., Kaplan]
Cognate ideas in reference to Aleph are alluded to in modern hermetic qabala by reference to parzival and the sacred lance, the babe in the egg, harpocrates god of silence.
The letter Beit is the second of the letters and number 2. It means, among other things, 'house' or 'dwelling place'. As house it can mean anything from a stable, to a palace, temple or even the cosmos as dwelling place of the spirit, God as 'immanent' or the Shekinah.
It is the first letter of the Bible and is symbolic of the beginning of creation. Beit [two] is 'first' in creation. "Why does Bet follow it? Because it was first. Why does it have a tail? To point to the place from which it came from. Some say, from where the world is sustained." [Sefer HaBahir 18. Trans., Kaplan]
In form it is open on one side and closed on three. The three sides represent heaven, earth and the holy spirit between them. According to Rabbi Eleazor 'These are the three holy supernal lights bound as one. They open an opening to faith and are the dwelling place of everything.....They are the totality of the Holy name in three knots of faith." The three knots are the the letter YHV in the divine name YHVH, they also correspond to the three supernal sefiroth. These sort of ideas are what led the Jewish orthodoxy of the middle ages to consider that kabbala was in fact not 'jewish' at all but a heresy of Christian origin. It certainly is indicatative of the influence of Christology on the early development of kabbalah.
Beit [two] as representing the beginning of creation is also the beginning of duality, which includes the beginning of evil. The open side, while representing faith, is open to the left, north symbolic of 'evil'.
There is a great deal more symolism to both Aleph and Beit, but this is sufficient I think to allow us to draw parallels between these, the first and second of the letters, and Shin and Tau, the penultimate and last of the letters already discussed. This allows us to bring the symbolism, whcih taken in isolation seems diffuse and all encompassing, and bring it into tighter focus.
While the letters have a rich depth of meaning I think it is clear there is a primary focus to the associations and attributions of each. There is a clear distinction I think between the first couple of letters and their assocition with the nature of G-d as creator and the beginning of creation; and the eschatological symbolism of the last letters concerned with the last days and the divine revelation in the world to come. In 'aleph' the first of the letters is symbolised the infinite, immeasurable and hidden G-d, in Tau the revealed G-d of the world to come. In Beit the second of the letters we see symbolised the beginning of 'this world' and of evil. in shin the 'last days' of this world in which evil will be judged and destroyed.
Kwaw