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79-440: As revelations of the creator's will ( רצון rāṣon ), the sefirot should not be understood as ten gods, but rather as ten different channels through which the one God reveals His will. In later Jewish literature, the ten sefirot refer either to the ten manifestations of God; the ten powers or faculties of the soul; or the ten structural forces of nature. Alternative configurations of the sefirot are interpreted by various schools in

158-476: A "counting" or "enumeration"; or from the same triliteral root: sefer "text," sippur "recounting a story," sfar ("boundary" - ספר), and sofer , or safra "scribe"; or sappir "sapphire." This term had complex connotations within Kabbalah. The original reference to the sefirot is found in the ancient Sefer Yetzirah "The Book of Formation," attributed to the first Jewish patriarch, Abraham . However,

237-495: A delicious calf and eat it. Mystics assert that the biblical patriarch Abraham used the same method to create the calf prepared for the three angels who foretold Sarah 's pregnancy in the biblical account at Genesis 18:7. All the miraculous creations attributed to other rabbis of the Talmudic era are ascribed by rabbinic commentators to the use of the same book. Sefer Yetzirah ' s appendix (6:15) declares that Abraham

316-409: A distinction is also drawn between the seven "double" letters, which have two different sounds according to inflection, and the twelve "simple" letters, the remaining characters of the alphabet which represent only one sound each. Both the macrocosm (the universe ) and the microcosm ( human ) are viewed in this system as products of the combination and permutation of these mystic characters, and such

395-407: A double creation, one ideal and the other real. Their name is possibly derived from the fact that as numbers express only the relations of two objects to each other, so the ten sefirot are only abstractions and not realities. Again, as the numbers from two to ten are derived from the number one, so the ten Sefirot are derived from one "their end is fixed in their beginning, as the flame is bound to

474-414: A number of variant readings that have not yet been examined critically. As regards the relation of the two recensions, it may be said that the longer form contains entire paragraphs which are not found in the shorter, while the divergent arrangement of the material often modifies the meaning essentially. Although the longer recension doubtless contains additions and interpolations which did not form part of

553-469: A pair of commentaries printed side by side, one attributed to Eleazar of Worms ) on the outside of the pages and the other to Saadia Gaon on the inside of the pages. At the end of the volume is found the long version. In the middle of the 16th century, the leader of the school of Safed kabbalists, Moses Cordovero , established a working text based on ten separate manuscripts. His student and successor Isaac Luria further redacted this to harmonize it with

632-450: A thing may be called good or evil according to its influence over man by the natural course of the contrast. The book teaches that man is a free moral agent, and therefore a person is rewarded or punished for his or her actions. While the ideas of heaven and hell are left unmentioned in the book, it teaches that the virtuous man is rewarded by a favorable attitude of nature, while the wicked man finds it hostile to him. Sefer Yetzirah

711-606: A use of the letters by the Jews for the formation of the Holy Name for thaumaturgical purposes is attested by magic papyri that quote an "Angelic Book of Moses", which was full of allusions to biblical names. The linguistic theories of the author of the Sefer Yetzirah are an integral component of its philosophy, its other parts being astrological and Gnostic cosmogony . The three letters Aleph, Mem, Shin, are not only

790-500: Is a book on Jewish mysticism . Early commentaries, such as the Kuzari , treated it as a treatise on mathematical and linguistic theory as opposed to Kabbalah . The word Yetzirah is more literally translated as "Formation"; the word Briah is used for "Creation". The book is traditionally ascribed to the patriarch Abraham , although others attribute its writing to Rabbi Akiva or Adam . Modern scholars have not reached consensus on

869-545: Is an important concept in Jewish Kabbalah. Generally translated as "infinity" and "endless", the Ein Sof represents the formless state of the universe before the self-materialization of God. In other words, the Ein Sof is God before he decided to become God as we now know him. The sefirot are divine emanations that come from the Ein Sof in a manner often described as a flame. The sefirot emanate from above to below. As

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948-634: Is based on the exposition of Lurianic Kabbalah by the 20th century Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag ). Sefer Yetzirah Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.133 via cp1102 cp1102, Varnish XID 543454869 Upstream caches: cp1102 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 05:56:23 GMT Sefer Yetzirah Sefer Yetzirah ( Hebrew : סֵפֶר יְצִירָה‎ Sēp̄er Yəṣīrā , Book of Formation , or Book of Creation )

1027-535: Is continuously created from nothing. Since they are the attributes through which the unknowable, infinite divine essence becomes revealed to the creations, all ten emanate in each World. Nonetheless, the structure of the Four Worlds arises because in each one, certain sefirot predominate. Each World is spiritual, apart from the lower aspect of the final World, which is the Asiyah Gashmi ("Physical Asiyah"),

1106-539: Is described as being twofold. The philological is discussed first, since it is necessary for an elucidation of the philosophical speculations of the work. The twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet are classified both with reference to the position of the vocal organs in producing the sounds, and with regard to sonant intensity. In contrast to the Jewish grammarians, who assumed a special mode of articulation for each of

1185-408: Is no critical text of it. The editio princeps ( Mantua , 1562) contains two recensions, which were used in the main by the commentators of the book as early as the middle of the 10th century. The shorter version (Mantua I.) was annotated by Dunash ibn Tamim or by Jacob ben Nissim , while Saadia Gaon and Shabbethai Donnolo wrote commentaries on the longer recension (Mantua II.). The shorter version

1264-488: Is obscure since the relation of the twenty-two letters to the ten sefirot is not clearly defined. The first sentence of the book reads: "Thirty-two paths, marvels of wisdom, hath God engraved...," these paths being then explained as the ten sefirot and the twenty-two letters. While the sefirot are expressly designated as "abstracts", it is said of the letters: "Twenty-two letters: God drew them, hewed them, combined them, weighed them, interchanged them, and through them produced

1343-533: Is similar to various Gnostic systems. As the Sefer Yetzirah divides the Hebrew alphabet into three groups, so the Gnostic Marcus divided the Greek letters into three classes, regarded by him as the symbolic emanations of the three powers which include the whole number of the upper elements. Both systems attach great importance to the power of the combinations and permutations of the letters in explaining

1422-650: The Zohar , and then in the 18th century, the Vilna Gaon , known as "the Gra", further redacted it. This text is called the Gra or ARI-Gra version. In the 10th century, Saadia Gaon wrote his commentary based on a manuscript which was a reorganized copy of the Longer Version, now called the "Saadia Version". This was translated into French by Lambert and thence into English by Scott Thompson. This version and commentary

1501-602: The Sefer Yetzirah was placed by Richard August Reitzenstein in the 2nd century BCE. According to Christopher P. Benton, the Hebrew grammatical form places its origin closer to the period of the Mishnah , around the 2nd century CE. The division of the letters into the three classes of vowels, mutes, and sonants also appears in Hellenic texts. The date and origin of the book can not be definitely determined so long as there

1580-468: The sefirot of the Kabbalists do not correspond to those of the Sefer Yetzirah ), the system laid down in the latter is the first visible link in the development of Kabbalistic ideas. Instead of the immediate creation ex nihilo , both works postulate a series of emanations of mediums between God and the universe; and both consider God as the first cause only, and not as the immediate efficient cause of

1659-455: The 10 categories. The sefirot are described as channels of divine creative life force or consciousness through which the unknowable divine essence is revealed to mankind. The first sefirah, Keter , describes the divine superconscious Will that is beyond conscious intellect . The next three sefirot ( Chokmah , Binah and Da'at ) describe three levels of conscious divine intellect. In particular, Da'at represents Keter in its knowable form,

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1738-520: The Crown, is the first sefirah. It is the superconscious intermediary between God and the other, conscious sefirot. Three different levels, or "heads," are identified within Keter. In some contexts, the highest level of Keter is called "The unknowable head," The second level is "the head of nothingness" ( reisha d'ayin ), and the third level is "the long head" ( reisha d'arich ). These three heads correspond to

1817-605: The Ein Sof and the four lower Worlds. As the four Worlds link the Infinite with this realm, they also enable the soul to ascend in devotion or mystical states, towards the Divine. Each World can be understood as descriptive of dimensional levels of intentionality related to the natural human "desire to receive", and a method for the soul's progress upward toward unity with or return to the Creator. (The terminology of this formulation

1896-524: The God-world relationship, and the inner nature of the divine. These include the metaphor of the soul-body relationship, the functions of human soul-powers, the configuration of human bodily form, and female-male influences in the divine. Kabbalists repeatedly warn and stress the need to divorce their notions from any corporality, dualism, plurality, or spatial and temporal connotations. As "the Torah speaks in

1975-479: The Hebrew alphabet], [of which] three are principal [letters] (i.e. א מ ש ‎), seven are double-sounding [consonants] (i.e. בג"ד כפר"ת ‎) and twelve are ordinary [letters] (i.e. ה ו ז ח ט י ל נ ס ע צ ק ‎). A cryptic story in the Babylonian Talmud states, On the eve of every Shabbat , Rav Hanina and Rav Hoshaiah would sit and engage in study of Sefer Yetzirah , and create

2054-453: The Jewish mind than almost any other book after the completion of the Talmud . The Sefer Yetzirah is exceedingly difficult to understand on account of its obscure style. The difficulty is rendered still greater by the lack of a critical edition, the present text being much interpolated and altered. Hence there is a wide divergence of opinion regarding the age, origin, contents, and value of

2133-629: The Kabbalah to Adam , and holds that "[f]rom Adam it passed over to Noah , and then to Abraham, the friend of God." In a manuscript in the British Museum , the Sefer Yetzirah is called the Hilkot Yetzirah and declared to be esoteric lore not accessible to anyone but the really pious. According to modern historians, the origin of the text is unknown, and hotly debated. Some scholars believe it might have an early medieval origin, while others emphasize earlier traditions appearing in

2212-479: The Man-metaphor more radically to anthropomorphise particular divine manifestations on high, while repeatedly stressing the need to divest analogies from impure materialistic corporality. Classical proof texts on which it bases its approach include, "From my flesh I envisage God", and the rabbinic analogy "As the soul permeates the whole body...sees but is not seen...sustains the whole body...is pure...abides in

2291-514: The World effects no change in God; and the distinct, separate origins of the soul and the body, while in relation to God's omnipresence, especially in its acosmic Hasidic development, all creation is nullified in its source. As all levels of Creation are constructed around the 10 sefirot, their names in Kabbalah describe the particular role each plays in forming reality. These are the external dimensions of

2370-467: The Zodiac. In its relation to the construction of the cosmos, matter consists of the three primordial elements; they are not chemically connected with one another, but modify one another only physically. Power (δύναμις) emanates from the seven and the twelve heavenly bodies, or, in other words, from the planets and the signs of the zodiac. The "dragon" rules over the world (matter and the heavenly bodies);

2449-405: The beginning, however, these three substances had only a potential existence, and came into actual being only by means of the three letters Aleph, Mem, Shin; and as these are the principal parts of speech, so those three substances are the elements from which the cosmos has been formed. The cosmos consists of three parts, the world, the year (or time), and man, which are combined in such a way that

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2528-602: The book are as follows: By thirty-two mysterious paths of wisdom Yah has engraved [all things], [who is] the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, the living God, the Almighty God, He that is uplifted and exalted, He that Dwells forever, and whose Name is holy; having created His world by three [derivatives] of [the Hebrew root-word] s f r  : namely, sefer (a book), sefor (a count) and sippur (a story), along with ten calibrations of empty space, twenty-two letters [of

2607-474: The book. The history of the study of the Sefer Yetzirah is one of the most interesting in the records of Jewish literature. With the exception of the Bible, scarcely any other book has been the subject of so much annotation. An intimate relation exists between the Sefer Yetzirah and the later mystics; and although there is a marked difference between the later Kabbalah and the Sefer Yetzirah (for instance,

2686-626: The book. Most contemporary scholars date the text's authorship to the Talmudic period. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, the essential elements of the book are characteristic of the 3rd or 4th century; for a work of this nature, composed in the Geonic period, could have been cast only in the form of Jewish gnosis, which remained stationary after the 4th century, if indeed it had not already become extinct. The historical origin of

2765-522: The coal" (i. 7). Hence the Sefirot must not be conceived as emanations in the ordinary sense of the word, but rather as modifications of the will of God, which first changes to air, then becomes water, and finally fire, the last being no further removed from God than the first. The Sefer Yetzirah shows how the sephirot are a creation of God and the will of God in its varied manifestations. Besides these abstract ten sefirot, which are conceived only ideally,

2844-399: The concept of knowledge. Will and knowledge are corresponding somewhat dependent opposites. The seven subsequent sefirot ( Chesed , Gevurah , Tiferet , Netzach , Hod , Yesod and Malkuth ) describe the primary and secondary conscious divine emotions. The sefirot of the left side and the sefira of Malkuth are feminine, as the female principle in Kabbalah describes a vessel that receives

2923-450: The conceptual paradigm in Kabbalah for understanding everything. This relationship between the soul of man and the divine gives Kabbalah one of its two central metaphors in describing divinity, alongside the other Ohr (light) metaphor. However, Kabbalah repeatedly stresses the need to avoid all corporeal interpretation. Through this, the sefirot are related to the structure of the body and are reformed into partzufim (personas). Underlying

3002-473: The contrasting elements fire and water are equalized by air; corresponding to this are the three "Rulers" among the letters, the mute Mem contrasting with the hushing Shin, and both being equalized by Aleph. Seven pairs of contrasts are enumerated in the life of man: From these premises the Sefer Yetzirah draws the important conclusion that subjective "good and evil" have no real existence, for since everything in nature can exist only by means of its contrast,

3081-434: The difference between the single body of the sun and the multiple rays of sunlight that illuminate a room. In Kabbalah, there is a direct correspondence between the Hebrew name of any spiritual or physical phenomenon and its manifestations in the mundane world. The Hebrew name represents the unique essence of the object. This reflects the belief that the universe is created through the metaphorical speech of God, as stated in

3160-455: The doctrine of the Sefirot and the letters, the theory of contrasts in nature, or of the syzygies ("pairs"), as they are called by the Gnostics, occupies a prominent place in the Sefer Yetzirah . This doctrine is based on the assumption that the physical as well as the spiritual world consist of pairs mutually at war, but equalized by the unity, God. Thus in the three prototypes of creation

3239-608: The emanation of the material world from the spiritual realms, the analogous anthropomorphisms and material metaphors themselves derive through cause and effect from their precise root analogies on High. Describing the material world below in general, and humans in particular, as created in the "image" of the world above is not restricted in Rabbinic Judaism to Kabbalah, but abounds more widely in Biblical , Midrashic , Talmudic and philosophical literature. Kabbalah extends

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3318-458: The first Sefira is closest to Ein Sof, it is the least comprehensible to the human mind, while in turn the last is the best understood because it is closest to the material world that humanity dwells on. The singular, sefira ( ספירה səpirā ), was a loanword from Koinē Greek : σφαῖρα , lit.   'sphere'). However, early Kabbalists presented several other etymological possibilities:

3397-886: The first chapter of the Book of Genesis . Kabbalah expounds on the names of the sefirot and their nuances, including their gematria (numerical values), to reach an understanding of these emanations of God's essence. In the 16th-century rational synthesis of Moses ben Jacob Cordovero (Cordoveran Kabbalah), the first complete systemization of Kabbalah, the sefirot are listed from highest to lowest: 3 Binah - "Understanding" 4 Chesed - "Kindness" 5 Gevurah - "Discipline" 6 Tiferet - "Glory" (Secondary emotions:) 7 Netzach - "Victory" 8 Hod - "Splendour" 9 Yesod - "Foundation" (Vessel to bring action:) 10 Malkuth - "Kingdom" Kingship Kabbalah uses subtle anthropomorphic analogies and metaphors to describe God in Judaism , both

3476-415: The five groups of sounds, the Sefer Yetzirah says that no sound can be produced without the tongue, to which the other organs of speech merely lend assistance. Hence the formation of the letters is described as follows: The letters are distinguished, moreover, by the intensity of the sound necessary to produce them, and are accordingly divided into: Besides these three letters, which are called "mothers,"

3555-507: The forces of creation are considered autonomous forces that evolve independently. By contrast, in Lurean or Lurianic Kabbalah (the Kabbalah of Isaac Luria ), the sefirot are perceived as a constellation of forces in active dialogue with one another at every stage of that evolution. Luria described the sefirot as complex and dynamically interacting entities known as partzufim "faces," each with its own symbolically human-like persona. Keter,

3634-471: The genesis and development of diversity from unity. The Clementine literature present another form of gnosis that agrees with the Sefer Yetzirah . As in the latter, God is not only the beginning but also the end of all things, so in the former He is the arche ( Koinē Greek : ἀρχή , Hebrew : ראשית ) and telos ( τέλος , תכלית ) of all that exists; and the Clementine writings furthermore teach that

3713-465: The historical evolution of Kabbalah, with each articulating differing spiritual aspects. The tradition of enumerating 10 is stated in the Sefer Yetzirah , "Ten sefirot of nothingness, ten and not nine, ten and not eleven". As altogether 11 sefirot are listed across the various schemes, two ( Keter and Da'at ) are seen as unconscious and conscious manifestations of the same principle, conserving

3792-525: The infinite divine essence. This was necessary due to the inability of humanity to exist in God's infinite presence. God does not change; rather, it is our ability to perceive his emanations that is modified. This is stressed in Kabbalah to avoid heretical notions of any plurality in the Godhead. One parable to explain this is the difference between the Ma'or "Luminary" and the ohr "Light" that it emanates, like

3871-402: The inner dimensions of the sefirot: These ten levels are associated with Kabbalah's four different "Worlds" or planes of existence, the main part from the perspective of the descending "chain of progression" ( Seder hishtalshelut ), that links the infinite divine Ein Sof with the finite, physical realm. In all Worlds, the 10 sefirot radiate, and are the divine channels through which every level

3950-538: The inner life of man. Articulation of the sefirot in Hasidic philosophy is primarily concerned with their inner dimensions, and exploring the direct, enlivening contribution of each in man's spiritual worship of God. Kabbalah focuses on the esoteric manifestations of God in creation, the vessels of divinity. Hasidut looks at the lights that fill these vessels, how the structures reveal the divine essence, and how this inwardness can be perceived. This difference can be seen in

4029-466: The innermost precincts...is unique in the body...does not eat and drink...no man knows where its place is...so the Holy One, Blessed is He..." Together with the metaphor of light, the Man-metaphor is central in Kabbalah. Nonetheless, it too has its limitations, needs qualification, and breaks down if taken as a literal, corporeal comparison. Its limitations include the effect of the body on the soul, while

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4108-415: The language of Man", the empirical terms are necessarily imposed upon human experience in this world. Once the analogy is described, its limitations are then related to stripping the kernel of its husk to arrive at a truer conception. Nonetheless, Kabbalists carefully chose their terminology to denote subtle connotations and profound relationships in the divine spiritual influences. More accurately, as they see

4187-499: The material often modifies the meaning essentially. The short version comprises about 1300 words and was annotated by Dunash ibn Tamim , and it formed the basis of the first printed Hebrew edition, published in Mantua in the year 1562, and most main versions printed thereafter. The long version is 2500 words and is present with a commentary by Shabbethai Donnolo . It is frequently printed with this commentary as an appendix to editions of

4266-434: The names of the sefirot as given in later Kabbalah are not specified there, but rather are only identified by their attributes "forward," "backward," "right," "left," "down," "up," "light," "darkness," "good" and "evil." Further references to the sefirot, now with their later-accepted names, are elaborated on in the medieval Kabbalistic text of the Zohar , which is one of the core texts of Kabbalah. In Cordoveran Kabbalah,

4345-452: The names of these two stages of Jewish mysticism. "Kabbalah" in Hebrew is derived from "kabal" (to "receive" as a vessel). "Hasidut" is from "chesed" ("loving-kindness"), considered the first and greatest sefirah, also called "Greatness", the wish to reveal and share. The names of the sefirot come from Kabbalah, and describe the Divine effect that each has upon Creation, but not their inner qualities. Hasidic thought uses new descriptive terms for

4424-420: The original text, it has many valuable readings which seem older and better than the corresponding passages in the shorter version, so that a critical edition of the text must consider both recensions. The Sefer Yetzirah exists in many manuscripts, generally falling in categories known as: The long version contains entire paragraphs which are not found in the short version, while the divergent arrangement of

4503-432: The other parts of the body (equivalent to water). The seven double letters produced the seven planets, the "seven days," and the seven apertures in man (two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, and one mouth.) Again, as the seven double letters vary, being pronounced either hard or soft, so the seven visible planets are in continuous movement, approaching or receding from the earth. The "seven days," in like manner, were created by

4582-526: The outward male light , then inwardly nurtures and gives birth to the sefirot below them. Kabbalah sees the human soul as mirroring the divine (after Genesis 1:27, "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them"), and more widely, all creations as reflections of their life source in the sefirot. Therefore, the sefirot also describe the spiritual life of man, break down man's psychological processes, and constitute

4661-410: The particular characteristic of inner light within each sefirah. Understanding the sefirot throughout Jewish mysticism is achieved by their correspondence to the human soul. This applies to the outer, Kabbalistic structure of the sefirot. It applies even more to their inner dimensions, which correspond to inner psychological qualities in human perception. Identifying the essential spiritual properties of

4740-554: The physical Universe. Each World is progressively grosser and further removed from consciousness of the Divine, until in this World it is possible to be unaware of or to deny God. In descending order: In the Zohar and elsewhere, there are these four Worlds or planes of existence. In the Lurianic system of Kabbalah, five Worlds are counted, comprising these and a higher, fifth plane, Adam Kadmon-manifest Godhead level, that mediates between

4819-459: The question of its origins. According to Rabbi Saadia Gaon , the objective of the book's author was to convey in writing how the things of our universe came into existence. Conversely, Judah Halevi asserts that the main objective of the book, with its various examples, is to give to man the means by which he is able to understand the unity and omnipotence of God, which appear multiform on one side and, yet, are uniform. The famous opening words of

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4898-452: The sefirot, describing their functional roles in channelling the divine, creative Ohr (Light) to all levels. As the sefirot are viewed to comprise both metaphorical "lights" and " vessels ", their structural role describes the particular identity each sefirah possesses from its characteristic vessel. Underlying this functional structure of the sefirot, each one possesses a hidden, inner spiritual motivation that inspires its activity. This forms

4977-399: The seven double letters because they change in time according to their relation to the planets. The seven apertures in man connect him with the outer world as the seven visible planets join heaven and earth. Hence these organs are subject to the influence of the planets, the right eye being under Saturn, the left eye under Jupiter, and the like. The twelve "simple" letters were used to create

5056-485: The short Version. In the 13th century, Abraham Abulafia noted the existence of both of these versions. The Mantua 1562 edition was printed with the short version surrounded by commentaries attributed to Abraham ben David (outside of the page), Nachmanides (bottom of the page) and Moses Botarel (inside of the page; the printer notes that Botarel followed the first two rabbis and also collected all other commentaries that preceded him). An appendix following this contains

5135-598: The soul gives the best insight into their divine source, and in the process reveals the spiritual beauty of the soul. In Hasidic thought these inner dimensions of the sefirot are called the Powers of the Soul ( Kochos HaNefesh ). Hasidism sought the internalisation of the abstract ideas of Kabbalah, both outwardly in joyful sincerity of dveikus in daily life, acts of loving-kindness and prayer; and inwardly in its profound new articulation of Jewish mystical thought, by relating it to

5214-463: The sphere rules time; and the heart rules over the human body. The author sums up this explanation in a single sentence: "The dragon is like to a king on his throne, the sphere like a king traveling in his country, and the heart like a king at war." To harmonize the Genesis creation narrative , which is a creatio ex nihilo , with the doctrine of the primordial elements, the Sefer Yetzirah assumes

5293-471: The spirit of God is transformed into pneuma ( πνεῦμα , רוח ), and this into water, which becomes fire and rocks, thus agreeing with the Sefer Yetzirah , where the pneuma, air, water, and fire are the first four Sefirot . The remaining six Sefirot , or the limitations of space by the three dimensions in a twofold direction, are also found in the Clementina, where God is described as the boundary of

5372-455: The structural purpose of each sefirah is a hidden motivational force which is understood best by comparison with a corresponding psychological state in human spiritual experience. In Hasidic philosophy , which has sought to internalise the experience of Jewish mysticism into daily inspiration ( devekut ), this inner life of the sefirot is explored, and the role they play in man's service of God in this world. The Ein Sof (lit: without end)

5451-454: The superconscious levels of faith, pleasure and will in the soul. In its early 12th-century dissemination, Kabbalah garnered criticism from some rabbis who adhered to Jewish philosophy for its alleged introduction of diversity into Jewish monotheism. The seeming plurality of the One God is a result of the spiritual evolution of God's light, which introduced a diversity of emanations from

5530-402: The three "mothers" from which the other letters of the alphabet are formed, but they are also symbolic figures for the three primordial elements, the substances which underlie all existence. According to the Sefer Yetzirah , the first emanation from the spirit of God was the ruach ( רוּחַ ‎ rúaħ "spirit", "air") that produced water, which, in its turn, formed the genesis of fire. In

5609-407: The three primordial elements are contained in each of the three categories. The water formed the earth; heaven was produced from the fire; and the ruach produced the air between heaven and earth. The three seasons of the year—winter, summer, and the rainy season—correspond to water, fire, and ruach in the same way as man consists of a head (corresponding to fire), torso (represented by ruach ), and

5688-410: The twelve signs of the zodiac, whose relation to the earth is always simple or stable; and to them belong the twelve months in time, and the twelve "leaders" in man. The latter are those organs which perform functions in the body independent of the outside world, being the hands, feet, kidneys, gall, intestines, stomach, liver, pancreas, and spleen; and they are, accordingly, subject to the twelve signs of

5767-465: The twenty-two letters of the alphabet produced the material world, for they are real, and are the formative powers of all existence and development. By means of these elements the actual creation of the world took place, and the ten sefirot, which before this had only an ideal existence, became realities. This is, then, a modified form of the Talmudic doctrine that God created heaven and earth by means of letters ( Berakhot 58a). The explanation on this point

5846-555: The viewpoint of Thelema , a new religious movement founded by Aleister Crowley early in the 20th century. The Sefer Yetzirah describes how the universe was created by the "God of Israel" (a list of all of God's Hebrew names appears in the first sentence of the book) through "32 wondrous ways of wisdom": The book describes the method for using the ten sefirot and the 22 Hebrew letters to gain Divine Insight/Secret using Abraham's tongue. God's covenant with Abraham

5925-399: The whole creation and everything that is destined to come into being" (ii. 2). The letters are neither independent substances nor yet as mere forms. They seem to be the connecting-link between essence and form. They are designated as the instruments by which the real world, which consists of essence and form, was produced from the sefirot, which are merely formless essences. In addition to

6004-509: The world. A book of the same name was circulated among the Ashkenazi Hasidim between the 11th and 13th centuries, for whom it became a source of Practical Kabbalah . This book seems to be a mystic work on the six days of creation, and corresponded in part to the small midrash , Seder Rabbah deBereshit . Charles Stansfeld Jones , in his book called The Anatomy of The Body of God has written interpretations of this book from

6083-480: Was also used by most of the later commentators, such as Judah ben Barzillai and Nachmanides , and it was, therefore, published in the ordinary editions. The longer recension, on the other hand, was little known, the form given in the editio princeps of the Sefer Yetzirah being probably a copy of the text found in Donnolo's commentary. In addition to these two principal recensions of the text, both versions contain

6162-402: Was more philosophical in nature rather than mystical and had virtually no impact on subsequent kabbalists. The Sefer Yetzirah is devoted to speculations concerning God's creation of the world. The ascription of its authorship to the biblical patriarch Abraham shows the high esteem which it enjoyed for centuries. It may even be said that this work had a greater influence on the development of

6241-454: Was the recipient of the divine revelation of mystic lore; so that the rabbis of the classical rabbinic era and philosophers such as Shabbethai Donnolo and Judah HaLevi never doubted that Abraham was the author of the book. In Pardes Rimonim , Moses ben Jacob Cordovero (Ramak) mentions a minority opinion that Rabbi Akiva authored it, and takes it to mean Abraham wrote it and Akiva redacted it to its current form. Jewish Lore attributes

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