Mystical Flyer: Flavor Profiles Are Mysterious and Radical Lesson 2: Sefer Yetzirah

Mystical Flyer: Sample Flavor Profiles of Mysterious and Radical

Intro: Merkavah and Heichalot literature are about transporting ourselves into the hidden world beyond. Sefer Yetzira is about perceiving the mysteries of our physical world.

Sefer Yetzira examines the role of sefirot and Hebrew letters in the act of Creation and associates the letters with planets, parts of the body, days of the week, months of the year, angels and the Zodiac.

Although Sefer Yetzira is traditionally attributed to the patriarch Abraham, scholars don't know for sure who wrote it and when. Possibly, there is more than one author. There is no one canonized version of the text so translations and commentaries vary.

ספר יצירה נוסח הגר"א א׳:א׳

בשלשים ושתים נתיבות פליאות חכמה חקק יה יהוה צבאות אלהי ישראל אלהים חיים ומלך עולם אל שדי רחום וחנון רם ונשא שוכן עד וקדוש שמו מרום וקדוש הוא וברא את עולמו בשלשה ספרים בספר וספר וספור:

Sefer Yetzirah Gra Version 1:1

With 32 mystical paths of Wisdom/ engraved Yah/ the Lord of Hosts/ the God of Israel/the living God/ King of the universe/ El Shaddai/ 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 numbers (Sephar)/ and with communication (Sippur)....

The 32 paths = 22 Hebrew letters + 10 digits... or possibly 10 sefirot. What does it mean to you philosophically, spiritually and Jewishly that Creation manifests through language and mathematics?

The 3 Books
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan: letters, numbers, and the way they're conveyed.
Rabbi Jill Hammer: tome, tally and tale

Text = universe/space/form of letters
Numbers = year/time/numerical value of letters
Communication = soul/spirit/pronunciation of letters

How do you factor "soul/tale/conveyance/pronunciation" into your understanding of how the aleph-bet reveals creation?

ספר יצירה א׳:ה׳

עשר ספירות בלי מה מדתן עשר שאין להם סוף עומק ראשית ועומק אחרית עומק טוב ועומק רע עומק רום ועומק תחת עומק מזרח ועומק מערב עומק צפון ועומק דרום אדון יחיד אל מלך נאמן מושל בכולם ממעון קדשו ועד עדי עד:

Sefer Yetzirah 1:5

Ten SEFIROT BELIMAH—Their measure is ten; they have no edge. Depth of Beginning, Depth of End; Depth of Good, Depth of Evil; Depth of Above, Depth of Below; Depth of East, Depth of West; Depth of North, Depth of South. The Unique Lord EL, the faithful king, governs them all from His Holy Abode, forever and ever and ever.

What does it mean the 10 sefirot "have no edge" and how does that pair with "forever and ever and ever."

What does the word "depth" mean to you? Why was it chosen to describe "no edge" instead of breadth or height?

ספר יצירה א׳:ב׳

(ב) עשר ספירות בלי מה ועשרים ושתים אותיות יסוד שלש אמות ושבע כפולות ושתים עשרה פשוטות:

Sefer Yetzirah 1:2

(2) Ten SEFIROT BELIMAH and Twenty-Two Letters of Foundation: Three Mothers, Seven Pairs, and Twelve Elemental Letters.

Foundation Letters = building blocks of the universe that can be subdivided into three catagories...

Mother Letters = alef, mem, shin. These letters are found in the beginning, middle and end of aleph-bet. What significance do beginning middle and end have?

Doubles Letters = bet, gimel, dalet, kaf, pey, taf. They all used to change pronunciation depending on whether they had a dagesh/dot. Bet/vet, kaf /khaf and pey/fey still do.

Elementals = the remaining letters.

What associations do you make with Judaism and the numbers 3, 7 and 12?

ספר יצירה א׳:ח׳

עשר ספירות בלימה בלום פיך מלדבר ולבך מלהרהר ואם רץ לבך שוב למקום שלכך נאמר והחיות רצוא ושוב. ועל דבר זה נכרת ברית:

Sefer Yetzirah 1:8

Ten SEFIROT BELIMAH—Keep your mouth from speaking and your heart from conceiving. If your heart should run, return to the place of which is said, “running and returning”. Upon this matter the covenant was cut.

How to meditate:
"keep your mouth from speaking" = quiet our voices
keep your "heart from conceiving" = silence our thoughts
" if your heart should run return" = refocus, refocus, refocus

We're instructed to return to"the place". What is "the place"?

What do you think, "upon this matter the covenant was cut" means?

ספר יצירה ב׳:ד׳

(ד) עשרים ושתים אותיות יסוד קבועות בגלגל ברל"א שערים וחוזר הגלגל פנים ואחור וזהו סימן לדבר אין בטובה למעלה מענג ואין ברעה למטה מנגע:

Sefer Yetzirah 2:4

(4) Twenty-Two Letters of Foundation—Fixed in a wheel with 231 gates. The wheel turns back and forth. This is a cypher for the matter: There is nothing in goodness higher than Delight, and nothing in evil lower than Affliction.

The image above was created by the artist Sonia Elena Hidalgo Zurita. I purchased this work for the class from Etsy.com If you would like to use this image after our class please support this artist too.

Origin: The concept comes from the Sefer Yetzirah, which states that God created the world using the 22 Hebrew letters arranged in a circle, with 231 "gates" or lines connecting each letter to every other letter.

Calculation: The number 231 is derived from the 22 letters, as there are 231 unique pairs when you connect each letter to every other letter. This is often represented as a mandala or diagram with the 22 letters on the circumference and 231 lines connecting them.

Symbolism: Each of the 231 gates is considered a "door" or "gateway" to spiritual understanding, representing a combination of divine powers that were used in creation.