א is one of the most misunderstood consonants. It is not captured in writing in most languages, yet there is no human language where Aleph is not present. Here the genius of those who invented Hebrew/Aramaic alphabet shines.
Aleph is most visible in words like Ha'aretz, הארץ (הָאָרֶץ). It is the pause (glottal stop) we put between those 2 A. Not a long continuous HAAretz but HA ' Aretz. But hold fast, you might not have realized that we all use Aleph when a word starts with what we think it is a vowel or when we pronounce a vowel in isolation. It is impossible to pronounce a vowel "by itself" without using Aleph. Proof?
Put hour hand on your throat bellow your mouth. Now say:
BA and then A, a couple of times. Notice the difference in your throat, what happens when you say BA vs A? You cannot say A or E or U or any other vowel without saying אA or אE, etc. Most grammars would say that א in words like Elohim (אלהים) is silent. But no, א is there but missed in most languages, and not captured in writing. At least that is my strong opinion, and the inventors of Hebrew/Aramaic alphabet agree as well, by always prefixing an initial vowel with an א, in a word that according to common understanding, starts with a vowel.
Now it is true that in Hebrew and Aramaic א is silent at the end of a word or usually immediately after another consonant. But there are still other Semitic languages like Arabic where א is still pronounced immediately after a consonant or as the last consonant of the word (when pronounced it is called Hamza in Arabic). E.g.
Qur'ān, immediately after R there is a glottal stop and then A. It is not RA but R ' A.
ḥamrāʾ , can hear pronunciation here (https://www.howtopronounce.com/arabic/%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A1). Notice the glottal stop right at the end of the word.
These examples show Aleph is a real consonant in semitic languages, like any other. Although in some cases its pronunciation along centuries was lost and it became silent.
The Gematria value for Aleph is 1. In other words, to write the number 1 in Hebrew or Aramaic, one can use א