Sepher Yetzirah (Book of Formation) - Westcott

tion of numbers and letters; every letter suggesting a number, and every group of letters having a numerical significance as vital as its literal meaning.

The Kabalisticoriginal: "Kabalistic"; referring to Kabbalah, a school of Jewish mysticism principles involved in the reversal of Hebrew letters, and their substitution by others according to definite schemes, should also be studied and borne in mind.

It is exactly on these principles that the "groundwork idea" of this discussion rests. These principles may be traced throughout the Kabalistic volumes which have succeeded it in time and development, and which are now associated together in one volume known as the Zohar, or "Book of Splendor." This is a collection of treatises which is mainly concerned with the essential dignities of the Godhead, the emanations which have sprung from it, the doctrine of the SephirothThe ten attributes or emanations in Kabbalah through which the Infinite reveals itself, and the ideals of Macroprosopusoriginal: "Macroprosopus"; Greek for "Great Face," representing the vast, hidden aspect of the Divine and Microprosopusoriginal: "Microprosopus"; Greek for "Lesser Face," representing the manifest aspect of the Divine.

The Sepher YetzirahThe "Book of Formation," one of the oldest Jewish mystical texts, on the other hand, is mainly concerned with our universe and with the Microcosm The human being viewed as a miniature replica of the entire universe. The opinions of Hebrew Kabalistic Rabbis and of two French mystics may be fitly introduced here.

The following interesting comment is from Rabbi Moses Botarel:

"It was Abraham our Father—blessed be he—who wrote this book to condemn the doctrine of the sages of his time, who were incredulous of the supreme dogma of the Unity. At least, this was the opinion of Rabbi Saadiah—blessed be he—as written in the first chapter of his book The Philosopher's Stone. These are his words: 'The sages of Babylon attacked Abraham on account of his faith; for they were all against him, although they were divided into three sects. The First thought that the Universe was subject to the control of two opposing forces, the one existing only to destroy the other; this is dualism. They held that there was nothing in common between the author of evil and the author of good. The Second sect admitted Three great Powers: two of them as in the first case, and a third Power whose function was to decide between...'"