Sefer Yetzirah 1:1

jmd

With thirty-two wondrous paths of Wisdom engrave Yah, the Lord of Hosts, with three books, with text (Sepher), with number (Sephar), and with communication (Sippur).
 

jmd

I thought I'd simply make the opening post the text, without comment, and of course posted from ONE of its versions.

There are a number of significant elements already presented right at the beginning:
  • Firstly, it talks of 32, this suggests (to me) that these are going to be somehow connected or founded on the Torah, that opens with Bet (2) and is completed with Lamed (30);

  • secondly, there is a threefoldness to the same, in that it has shape, number-value and sound. Therefore, an indication that the engraving can be seen, can be heard, and can be thought and conceptualised, and that these reflect:

  • wisdom.
 

Ventrue

My text is a little bit more wordy, so i'll put it in here quickly.

With 32 mystical paths of Wisdom
---engraved Yah
-----the Lord of Hosts
-----the God of Israel
---the living God
-----King of the universe
---El Saddai
-----Merciful and Gracious
-----High and Exalted
-----Dwelling in eternity
-----Whose name is Holy --
--------He is lofty and holy --
And He created His universe
---With three books (Sepharim),
-----with text (Sepher)
-----with number (Sephar)
-----and with communication (Sippur).
 

Ventrue

First off thing i'd like to add is that the 32 paths also signifies the 10 sefiroth and the 22 letters of the hebrew alphabet. The name of God appears 32 times in the first chapter of Genesis. The first ten times are what God 'said' to create the world. The latter 22 times paralells the 22 hebrew letters. 'God made' appears 3 times (3 mother letters), 'God saw' appears 7 times (double letters), the remaining are the 12 elementals.

On a seperate note, who here is familiar with what a Golem is, and do you think that it is literal or meditative? Do you think that it is possible to create a physical Golem or is it just something you create through vivid meditation?

Ven
 

isthmus nekoi

brief

I have no previous study in qabalah save Crowley's BOT and 777 so pls bear with me.

- 3 elements (air, water, fire) + 7 planets + 12 signs = 22

- structures divided by three -> can we divide the tree of life into threes? I recall Rachel Pollack doing this with:

1) "super-consciousness" Kether-Chokma-Binah
2) "consciousness" Chesed-Geburah-Tipareth
3) "manifestation in physical world" Nedzach-Hod-Yesod-Malkuth [1]

- "The word Qabbalah finds its root in the Hebrew word Qibel meaning 'to receive by oral tradition'."[2] This matches with the 1st verse in meaning.

Also suggests that the qabalah does not mistake itself for the thing itself (signified), but as a tool for communication (sign)? As in, " The tao that can be described is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be spoken is not the eternal Name. " [3]

[1] Rachel Pollack. 78 Degrees of Wisdom. London: Element, 1997.
[2] http://www.crystalinks.com/kabala.html
[3] http://www.wam.umd.edu/~stwright/rel/tao/TaoTeChing.html
 

Laurel

In this translation, two names of God are presented. Yah is the Tetragrammaton YHVH or at the least the first two letters and of course extremely kabbalistically significant. Symbolically, YH is YinYang, the male+female/heaven+earth/alpha+omega. Lord of Hosts, Adonai Tzevaot, speaks of God as the leader/creator of the angels.

In Hebrew, 32 is written as Lamed Beth (LB), Lev, which translates to heart. The heart "is king" of the body because of its central place, and Looking at other words which have a gemmatric value of 32 can lead to a lot of interesting thoughts about the 32 paths. The name of God as Elohim appears 32 times in the story of Creation in Genesis, and each of these can be ascribed to one of the kabalistic paths of wisdom.

Other versions of the Sepher Yetzirah describe God "engraving" his name in the 32 Paths of Wisdom and then creating the universe with SeFeR, SeFaR and SiPuR. This threefold formation of shape, number-value and sound are three books or Sepharim.. and of course the Sepher Yetzirah itself is "The Book of Formation", the Sepher which describes God's Creation.

One way of viewing this is:
"As G~D created the universe, his breath (ruach/spirit) engraved with sound and number and letter, forming a brilliant sphere/emanation (SeFiRaH)." The Three create the One, a theme seen in upcoming verses esp with the Mother Letters.
 

Ventrue

isthmus nekoi said:
- structures divided by three -> can we divide the tree of life into threes? I recall Rachel Pollack doing this with:

1) "super-consciousness" Kether-Chokma-Binah
2) "consciousness" Chesed-Geburah-Tipareth
3) "manifestation in physical world" Nedzach-Hod-Yesod-Malkuth [1]

It can be divided into 3 in several ways... the first one that comes to mind is the 3 columns, The right hand column, Wisdom (chokmah consciousness), the left hand column Understanding (Binah consciousness). With the middle column as that which decides between the two(the heart, again). the Sefer Yetzirah restates this in many different ways throughout the next couple chapters.


Ven
 

MikeTheAltarboy

From the E Benton commentary: the Letters, Numbers and Sounds with which YH created the universe are all SPR = 60+80+200=340. The Name (ShM) is also 340.

The Wescott translation actually words it, as Laural had mentioned: "In thirty-two mysterious Paths of Wisdom did Jah...engrave his name by the three Sepharim ..."
 

venicebard

Laurel said:
In this translation, two names of God are presented. Yah is the Tetragrammaton YHVH or at the least the first two letters and of course extremely kabbalistically significant. Symbolically, YH is YinYang, the male+female/heaven+earth/alpha+omega.
I will just state this, give a quick argument for it, and not belabor it: YH or Yah seems to be the male half of the Name. Each half contains the male-female polarity, but there is a male half and a female half, rooted in yod and vav respectively, the two ends of the vowel spectrum: “ee” or “y” and “oo” or “w” have polar meanings as sounds—smiling versus pouting lips, for example—and old Semitic vav is a breast pouring forth milk, vav itself the word ‘and’ in Hebrew and standing thus for the conjoining (of sexes). Vav as 6, the six directions of space, is the space for the male in the female, whilst the two hehs or 5s symbolize the covenant between them—the five fingers of the hand of each given in matrimony to the other—just as heh added to Abram to make Abraham signified the Covenant (of circumcision). Yod, then, is the will that their hands be conjoined in matrimony on the part of the male, being 10 (two hands’ worth).

Current tradition only preserves the polarities within each part, not the parts themselves, but these appear, through careful analysis. It's just an alternative viewpoint (mine, and I think the ancient Hebrews’), for any who wish to consider it.