Sepher Yetzirah (Book of Formation) - Westcott

...or does exist outside of Himself; His substance is the foundation of all, and all things bear His imprint and are symbols of His intelligence.”

Hebrew tradition assigns the doctrines of the oldest portions of the Zohar The "Zohar" or "Book of Splendor" is the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. to a date before the building of the Second Temple. However, Rabbi Simeon ben Jochai, who lived during the reign of the Emperor Titus (70–80 A.D.), is considered to have been the first to commit these teachings to writing. Furthermore, Rabbi Moses de Leon of Guadalajara, Spain, who died in 1305, certainly reproduced and published the Zohar.

Ginsburg Christian David Ginsburg (1831–1914), a noted scholar of the Masorah and Kabbalah., speaking of the Zoharic doctrines of the Ain Suph original: "Ain Suph" — The Infinite or Boundless; the divine origin of all existence., says that they were unknown until the 13th century. However, he does not deny the great antiquity of the Sepher Yetzirah The "Book of Formation," one of the earliest surviving books on Jewish mysticism., in which it will be noticed the Ain Suph Aur original: "Ain Suph Aur" — The Limitless Light. and Ain Suph are not mentioned.

I suggest, however, that this omission is no proof that the doctrines of the Limitless Light and the Infinite did not then exist. It is a reasonable supposition that the Sepher Yetzirah was the volume assigned to the Yetziratic World (the third of the four Kabbalistic Worlds of Emanation). Meanwhile, the Asch Metzareph The "Purifying Fire," a Kabbalistic-alchemical text. is concerned with the Assiatic World—the fourth or lowest World of Shells—and is clearly an alchemical treatise. Again, the Siphra Dzenioutha The "Book of Concealed Mystery." may be fittingly considered an Aziluthic work, treating of the Emanations of Deity alone. There was doubtless a fourth work assigned to the World of Briah (the second type of world), but I have not been able to identify this treatise.

Both the Babylonian and the Jerusalem Talmuds refer to the Sepher Yetzirah. Their treatise named Sanhedrin A section of the Talmud dealing with law and the legal assembly. certainly mentions the "Book of Formation" and another similar work. Rashi The famous medieval French rabbi and commentator (1040–1105)., in his commentary on the treatise Erubin, considers this a reliable historical notice. This work, then, or a similar predecessor, is at least as old as 200 A.D.

Other positive historical notices are those of Saadjah Gaon, who died in 940 A.D., and Judah Halevi, who lived around 1150 A.D.