Sefer Yetzirah

Uncommon card · No. 191484

Sefer Yetzirah (Hebrew: סֵפֶר יְצִירָה‎ 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: By thirty...

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