Torah transcends the boundaries of creation

איתא העולם נברא בב' בראשית מה ב' סתומה מכל צד ופתוח מצד אחד כך לא תהרהר מה למעלה מה לפנים כו'.

It is taught: the world was created with a "beis" — [the beis of] "Bereishis" — [and] just as the beis is closed on every side and open on one side, so too do not speculate about what is above, what is below, what is before…

The Torah opens with the letter beis, whose shape is sealed on three sides and open only toward the front (where the next letters continue). This teaches that one should not probe into what lies "behind" creation — above, below, or before it; the only open direction is forward, into what Hashem has revealed.

א"כ התורה שהתחילה בא' אנכי והא' פתוחה לכל הד' קצוות ולמעלה ולמטה לפי שהתורה קדמה לעולם וע"י התורה יכולין בנ"י להכיר את הבורא ית"ש כמ"ש אנכי ה' אלקיך ביחוד שלא ע"י אמצעיות מעשה בראשית.

If so, the Torah [of the giving at Sinai] began with an "alef" — "Anochi" — and the alef is open to all four directions and above and below, because the Torah preceded the world; and through the Torah Bnei Yisrael can recognize the Creator, may He be blessed, as it says "Anochi Hashem Elokecha (I am Hashem your God)" — directly, not through the intermediary of the act of creation.

Unlike the closed beis of creation, the Aseres HaDibros open with the wide-open letter alef of "Anochi," which faces every direction. This is because Torah is above and before creation. Through Torah, Israel knows Hashem directly — "I am Hashem your God" — without needing to deduce Him merely from the natural world, since Torah transcends those limits.

ולכן לא כתיב אשר בראתיך רק אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים שהתורה היא נחלה בלי מצרים וגבולים.

Therefore it does not say "[I am Hashem your God] who created you," but rather "who took you out of the land of Mitzrayim (Egypt)," for the Torah is "a heritage without boundaries (nachalah b'li metzarim)" and limits.

The first commandment deliberately invokes the Exodus rather than creation. The Sefas Emes hints at the wordplay "Mitzrayim"/"metzarim" (limits): Torah took us out of all narrow boundaries and is an inheritance free of any limits — fitting that it identify Hashem through liberation rather than through bounded creation.

וכ"כ שאל נא לימים כו' ולמקצה השמים כו' הנהי' כדבר הגדול הזה כו'.

And so it is written: "Ask now of the days [that are past]… and from one end of the heavens [to the other]… has there ever been anything like this great thing…" (Devarim 4:32).

The Torah challenges us to search the entire span of time and the farthest reaches of the heavens to find a parallel to the Giving of the Torah — implying that nothing within creation can compare to it.

א"כ התורה חוץ מכל הבריאה וכל הקצוות והיא בחי' אמת שכולל ראש תוך סוף:

If so, the Torah is outside of all creation and all its extremities, and it is the aspect of "emes (truth)," which encompasses beginning, middle, and end.

Since nothing in creation compares to it, the Torah stands beyond creation and all its boundaries. It is the quality of emes — and just as the letters of "emes" (alef, mem, taf) span the beginning, middle, and end of the alphabet, the Torah embraces and unifies the entire span of reality.

Summary: Creation begins with the closed letter beis, warning against probing what lies beyond it; but the Torah given at Sinai begins with the open alef of "Anochi," through which Israel knows Hashem directly rather than via the natural world. Because Torah preceded and transcends creation, the first commandment identifies Hashem by the Exodus ("a heritage without boundaries") rather than by creation. The Torah stands outside all of creation's limits and is the quality of emes, encompassing beginning, middle, and end.