Adam's Large Alef — 1 Chronicles 1:1
אָדָם
What to look for
Chronicles opens with a single word — Adam — and its alef is enlarged.
What it is
An enlarged letter opening the book that retells all of Israel's story from the very first man.
Why it matters
In the Leningrad Codex's ordering of the Writings, Chronicles stands at their head, so this big alef opens an entire division of the Bible — echoing the big bet that opens Genesis.
How it has been understood
Tradition hears in the enlarged alef a return to beginnings: after kings, exile, and loss, Scripture starts the story again from Adam, as if to say the whole human family is still the subject. Alef is also the letter of oneness (its value is one), fitting for the man from whom all descend.