The Origin of Letters and Numerals According to the Sefer Yetzirah

The first Mishnah The basic unit of text in the Book of Formation, similar to a verse or paragraph. reads as follows: original Hebrew: "sheloshim u-shtayim netivot peli’ot hakak Yah YHVH Tzeva’ot be-sofer ve-sippur ve-sefer"

“Thirty-two mysterious ways has the Lord, the Lord of hosts, ordained through Scribe, Script and Scroll.“

The thirty-two mysterious ways are the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, which represent thirty-two sounds.²)

In accordance with the belief of the ancients that the letters are of divine origin, the Book of Formation original: "Sefer Yetzirah" explains that the thirty-two ways of wisdom were ordained by God through:

(1) Scribe original Hebrew: "sofer", the man whom God inspired to invent the alphabet;

(2) Script original Hebrew: "sippur", the letters;

(3) Scroll original Hebrew: "sefer", the material on which the letters were displayed.

In order to show how the twenty-two letters of the alphabet constitute the thirty-two ways of wisdom, the author proceeds to the division of the letters in the second and following Mishnahs. He divides them into simple and double sounds, and also into vowels and consonants. The simple letters he called simple original Hebrew: "peshutot", and the double, double original Hebrew: "kefulot"; the vowels, mothers original Hebrew: "imot," also known as "avot" or fathers, and the consonants, generations original Hebrew: "toledot". Altogether they form thirty-two sounds: the twenty sounds of the ten³) double letters, and the twelve of the twelve simple letters.

²) All the commentators explain that the thirty-two ways of wisdom are the twenty-two letters and the ten Sefirot In Jewish mysticism, the ten divine attributes or emanations through which the universe was created.. Below will be found the reasons why the present writer cannot accept this interpretation.

³) Below will be explained that, according to the Book of Formation, there are ten double letters and not only seven, as is believed by all commentators since Saadya Saadia Gaon (882–942 CE), a major philosopher and the first to write a scientific commentary on the Book of Formation..