Sefer Yetzirah ( Sēp̄er Yəṣīrā, Book of Formation, or Book of Creation) is a work of Jewish mysticism. Early commentaries, such as the Kuzari, treated it as a treatise on mathematical and linguistic theory, as opposed to one about Kabbalah. The word Yetzirah is more literally translated as "Formation", the word B'riah being 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 the question of its origins. According to 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 humans the means to understand the unity and omnipotence of God, which appear multiform on the one hand, and yet, are uniform.

The famous opening words of the book are as follows:

Origin

A cryptic story in the Babylonian Talmud states,

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 cite earlier traditions appearing in 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 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. 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 Yetzirahs appendix (6:15) declares that Abraham 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 that Abraham wrote it and Akiva redacted it to its current form. Jewish Lore attributes 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 Hilkhot Yetzirah and declared to be esoteric lore not accessible to anyone but the truly pious.

Manuscripts

thumb|Title Page of Sefer Yetzirah, Mantua, Italy, 1562

The Sefer Yetzirah exists in many manuscripts, generally falling in categories known as:

  1. The Short Version,
  2. The Long Version,
  3. The Saadia Version, and
  4. The Gra Version

The long version contains entire paragraphs which are not found in the short version, while the divergent arrangement of the material often modifies the meaning essentially.

Influence

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 that it enjoyed for centuries. It may even be said that this work had a greater influence on the development of the Jewish mind than almost any other book after the completion of the Talmud. and such 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.

Editions and translations

;First edition

;Other important editions

  • Includes five commentaries.
  • Includes nine commentaries.

Translations

; Latin

; German

;English

;French

See also

  • Jewish views on astrology
  • Primary texts of Kabbalah

Notes

References

Attribution

Citations

Works cited

Further reading

  • cols. 552-554.
  • Sefer Yetzirah Gra Version 1 at Sefaria.org
  • Astrological Correspondences in the Sepher Yetsira