זוהר בראשית — דף רה ע”ב

The Zohar relates that before the creation of the world the letters entered one by one before the Holy One, blessed be He: the Tav, then Shin, Qof and Resh, were set aside, until the world was created with the Bet, a sign of blessing; the Alef was not chosen, so as not to give place to the Other Side. The text explains “For You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us.” Rabbi Yitzhak and Rabbi Yehuda then study through the night: the lower world is made to correspond to the upper, and man was created for the earth; the holy land gives the soul, which descends from the flowing river. The soul comprises three levels, nefesh, ruaḥ and neshamah, from the lowest to the highest.