To arrive at a hidden meaning of words, the Kabbalah sometimes uses reflection where the first letter of the alphabet becomes the last, the second letter becomes the one before the previous, and so on. Therefore, א becomes ת, and ב becomes ש, and so on. This method is called את-בש.
The first three letters of the alphabet, aleph (א), bet (ב), and gimel (ג), have the combined gematria of 6, vav (ו). This hints at the six directions (winds) of the world (space), which were kneaded together with heaven and earth. After that, the earth (physical matter) was formed, which corresponds to the letter dalet (ד), and dalet includes the four principal elements - fire, wind, water, and dust (ארמע).
Then comes the letter hey (ה), which is found in the word "He created them" (בהבראם), which can also be understood as "With hey He created them" - this is the second letter hey in the name of God, the "small hey."
These are the five holiness letters standing at the beginning of creation. Then come the four letters of the evil forces (תשרק), hinted at by "empty and void." Thus, with the letter aleph came the letter tav (ת), the evil deceiving husk. This is the rule: when holiness ends, evil, or concealment, begins.
Then came the three letters representing falsehood, sheker (שקר), and the following letters at the end of the alphabet. In the letter kuf (ק), there is a long hanging vav (ו), representing the snake, who spoke falsehood and walked on his belly. It also hints at Haman, who is a snake, and who prepared for Mordechai a gallows of 50 amot high.
Since evil has no power to act on its own, at the beginning of "falsehood" (שקר) stands the letter shin (ש), which is also a letter of holiness.
Art: Paul Gauguin - Fire By The Water
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