D. Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Formation)
The Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Formation) attracts heated
debate about its authorship and date of origination. Many scholars attribute
a medieval or Hasmonean date to the book. It is not in the scope of the
present work to delineate the varied opinions that attribute a medieval
date to the book's inception. The references to the "Book of Abraham"
in the Qur'an (see Surahs 87:19 and 53:37) may allude to this
book or some version of it. If that is the case, since the Qur'an predates
the medieval period by centuries, it would at least substantiate that the
Sefer Yetzirah is not of medieval origin.
The Work of the Chariot Trust version was made using all six known textural
sources.The Hebrew text used for the Work of the Chariot Trust
translation of the Sefer Yetzirah was a composite of the
translator’s opinion of what the common text must have been
to give rise to the following six versions:
a. The Genizah text (940 CE),
b. The Saadia Gaon text (950 CE),
c. Two fifteenth century texts in the Jewish Theological
Seminary (believed to be from Spain),
d. Luria’s text, considered to be the best of the six,
e. A text of unknown origin published by Lewin-Epstein,
Ltd. Some of the versions contain considerable addenda whose language
points to the Hasmonean period, circa 130 BCE, and later. The additional
material was left out of the redaction the Work of the Chariot used as the
basis for its translation. Based upon astronomical information in the book
itself, the Work of the Chariot translator attributed authorship of the
Sefer Yetzirah to Master Abraham in the nineteenth century
BCE. An adjunctive note to the translation points out that the Procession
of the Equinoxes acts as an unforgeable clock, allowing us to determine
that the correspondence of the constellations given in the sixth chapter
to the twelve Hebrew months (with no variations in the six texts considered)
occurred during the time of Abraham, circa 4000 years ago. Allowing for
an optimal variation of plus or minus 800 years ago, it is still not anywhere
within the range of medieval times. A check on the data logs of the old
Chaldeans, Egyptians, and Greeks indicated that no one had astronomical
knowledge of the Procession (until about 1700 CE).
The Sefer Yetzirah is the first mystical manual on, and possibly
the source text for, the original Hebrew alphabet. Its chapters explain
the significance of the twenty-two letters and ascribe various attributes
to them. It is second only to the Sefer HaShmoth as the most
prolific source of distinct forms of the Tree of Life. The first chapter
of the book is the earliest known textual source for the six-pointed symbol
known as the "Star of David." The Six-Pointed Star has come to
be seen as a flat, two-dimensional symbol of two interlocking triangles.
The Sefer Yetzirah, however, presents the Star as a three-dimensional,
six-pointed form of the Tree of Life comprised of two interfacing pyramids.
The Sefer Yetzirah provides one of the two vastly different
sets of names commonly found in the Qabalah for the spheres (called Sefiroth)
on the Tree (the other set comes from the Sefer HaZohar).
The names for the Sefiroth in the Sefer Yetzirah are based
on elements (Spirit of Living Elohim, Air, Fire, Water), on four
"Celestial Heads of Messiah," and on the six directions.
Like the three innermost core texts of the Sefer HaZohar,
the Sefer Yetzirah stands out within primary qabalistic literature
for the depth, terseness, and obscurity of its language, and for its wealth
of mystical allusions. For a Mystical Qabalist, the book's power and value
are valid independent of academic considerations regarding its origins.
The full range of ideas and allusions presented in the Sefer Yetzirah
will be discussed in the course of this book.
