Three Realms or Three Books?

Haven't I distorted the text of the first mishnah * of the Book of Formation?

Unlike any other English translation of the Book of Formation, I have written that G-d's creation of the Universe is in "three realms."

The Almighty engraved and created His world . . . in three realms – with a book, and a scribe, and a story.

I have supplied the Hebrew vowels sh'va, patach, and chirik.  The notable vowel here is the patach.  Seeing this vowel in the plural tells us that the singular is s'far (s' FAHR).  The ordinary usage of this word translates as "border," "boundary," or "edge."  People who live along the border of one country with another live al has'far.

If this word were associated with the kamatz vowel as the middle vowel, it would mean "books."  Ashkenazi Jews (from Europe) pronounce a kamatz distinctly from a patach.  Ashkenazi Jews (and Yemenite Jews) pronounce kamatz as AW, whereas you will hear AH in most other Jewish communities.  Nevertheless, when they supply the vowel signs in these other communities, they are careful to use the same vowel as Ashkenazi Jews although they differ in the pronunciation.

I base my translation on reading "three s'FAHR eem" in the Ashkenazi traditional pronunciation, which contrasts with reading s'FAWR eem, "books."

So why am I suggesting a translation that you will not find anywhere else?  For example,

• Aryeh Kaplan:

. . . with three books (Sepharim), *
with text (Sepher), *
with number (Sephar), *
and with communication (Sippur).*
(page 5)

Kaplan's translation is difficult to understand.  Although creation is with three books according to Kaplan, neither 'number' or 'communication' are books.  Only 'text' could be identified with 'book', but not 'number' or 'communication'.  Furthermore, although both speech, which is unwritten, and body language are forms of communication, they are not books.  Books are only one form of communication.

G-d communicates with people, but rarely by writing Himself.  By reading Scripture, we learn that G-d "speaks."  Moses or one of the prophets actually write the books.  This describes His communication with us in human terms — He has no body or anything resembling a body.  Nevertheless, unique individuals transcribe what they hear as being dictated.

In addition, the Hebrew word sippur ordinarily means "story."  For Kaplan (and Kalisch), this word in this context means something that is not what we find elsewhere in Hebrew usage.

No traditional text appears with vowel points.  Kaplan, like all students, is faced with supplying vowels himself.  He is faced with finding different translations for two words that are spelled the same in his text –

While students in the Chabad tradition must also supply vowels, our Rebbes read these lines out loud for the congregation.  The Rebbes clearly spelled out the vowels, thereby preventing any misunderstanding.  I've written below what we heard.

So, it remains unsatisfactory for me to follow Kaplan, that the universe was created "with three books."

• Isidor Kalisch:

. . . by three Sepharim,* namely
1) S'for; * [number, calculation or idea]
2) Sippur; * [the word]
and 3) Sapher * [the writing of the word] . . .
(page 14;  Kalisch only translates these Hebrew words in the notes at the end of the book.  Instead, he places the Hebrew words from the text next to the transliteration.  I placed his translations from the notes in square brackets.)

Kalisch's translation is also difficult to understand.  He doesn't explain what Sepharim means.  Also, the Hebrew word sippur ordinarily means "story" (as I explained above).  I'm not aware of a case where it means "word."  Later in the Book of Formation, in fact, a word is referred to as a "house."  Kalisch's translation is inconsistent with this usage.

In addition, sapher is the writing of a narrative. Kalisch's explanation for sapher, "the writing of the word," logically speaking, could refer to a dictionary, which it does not refer to in the Book of Formation.

In Hebrew, s'for does refer to number or calculation (and counting) but not "idea."

Kalisch's translation remains difficult to understand.

• Knut Stenring:

. . . by the three forms of expression:
Numbers,
Letters,
and Words
(page 21)

When reading the Hebrew texts, such as those printed in the elaborate edition that I am looking at, a typical translation of this first mishnah resembles this:

The Almighty engraved and created His world . . . with three books — with a book, and a book, and a story.

Hebrew texts are written without vowels.  The above translation is forced upon us by the absence of vowels.  Does this reading make sense?  Not to me.  A story is not necessarily a book – sometimes it remains an oral account rather than being written.  So, G-d created the world with only two books, not three.

Several commentaries are printed as companions to the text.  The commentators worked from manuscript copies which are unavailable to us.  One explanation of this triplet — three books — connects it to the triad of letters in the Hebrew alphabet – Mothers, Doublets, and Simple Ones.  Another connects the triplet with World, Year, and Soul (Location, Time, and Consciousness).  A further explanation connects the triplet with the three different letters which form G-d's ineffable name – Heh, Vav, and Yod.

Even with these commentaries, I cannot fathom how editors read the texts that they have published in English.

The Chabad system of understanding esoteric texts has a tradition for reading the first mishnah in the Book of Formation.  Within this tradition, the wording is clarified by reciting out loud that the spelling of the second word of the triplet is "with the letter vav" but that the first word is spelled "without the letter vav."  The published Chabad works include these phrases about spelling parenthetically.  The tradition reaches back to the students and writings of the Ari'zal – His Holiness, Rabbi Isaac Luria, of blessed memory (1534-1572).

Accordingly, a correct reading of the triplet should be:  "The Almighty engraved and created His world . . . with a book, and a scribe, and a story."

The Hebrew text reads, "with a book, and a scribe, and a story":

b'sefer, v'sofer, v'sipur.

The Hebrew letter for the English (Latin) letter 'b' means "with" and the letter 'v' means "and."  Now let me present this triplet with the actual Hebrew letters for 'book scribe story'.

All three Hebrew words are based on a three letter root:  Samekh, Feh, Reish.  Words with the same Hebrew root generally belong to the same semantic category.  Different meanings result by permuting a root with different vowels.  Also, in the word sipur, the Feh is "doubled."  The dot in the center of this letter indicates "doubling."  What I'm referring to as "doubling" results in a change of pronunciation – /f/ becomes /p/.  We even give the "doubled" Feh a different name, Peh, reflecting this pronunciation change.

Looking at the Hebrew text of the Book of Formation, we see that the Hebrew word that I've been translating as "vowel" is s'firah (Chapter I, Mishnah 1).  This word is spelled:  Samekh Feh Yod Reish Heh and comes from the same root as 'book', 'scribe', and 'story'.

In the Book of Formation, the Hebrew word s'firah cannot mean 'counting' because this makes no sense.

In the context of this book, the word s'firah is related to the Hebrew word ts'firah which carries a number of meanings.  A primary meaning signifies 'light of the morning' and a 'ray of light'.  We find here a suggestion of the essence of a vowel.  A vowel is like an illumination for speech.  No consonant can stand alone without a vowel.  A vowel sound that is wrapped by consonant sounds – a syllable – is the smallest unit of speech that illuminates.  Think of a ray of sound.

Another meaning of the Hebrew word ts'firah is a weave in a basket.  This meaning suggests a function of vowels – weaving vocal sounds together.

The Hebrew word ts'firah also refers to a type of flute and its sound.  A flute is a wind instrument, and the open vocal tract renders flute-like sounds.

Are there any other Hebrew words derived from the same root Samekh Feh Reish?  Yes, there is one more * that fits into the text of the Book of Formation.  This word is s'far, which means "border," "boundary," or "edge."  This is the word that I have translated as 'realm'.  The Almighty engraved and created His world . . . in three realms – with a book, and a scribe, and a story.

Notes:

mishnah -

Sepharim - also spelled 'sefarim', 's'farim', pronounced seh fah REEM, seh FAW reem

Sepher - also spelled 'sefer', pronounced SEH fer

Sephar - also spelled 's'far', 's'for' (Kalisch), pronounced s' FAHR

Sippur - Ordinarily, this word means "story" in Hebrew.  However, Kaplan translates this as "communication."  Kalisch translates this as "the word."  A story is made up of words, also spelled 's'far', 's'for' (Kalisch), pronounced s' FAHR

S'for - also spelled 's'far' (Kaplan), pronounced s' FAWR

Sapher - also spelled 'sefer', 'sepher' (Kaplan), pronounced SAY fer

one more - Actually, I can think of about five more Hebrew words that emerge from the root Samekh Feh Reish.  Only two words, though, s'fara and mispar, relate to the first chapter of the Book of Formation.  Mispar means "number."  However, to try to use it in the first mishnah of the text forces us to add another letter, Mem, to the text.  Similarly, s'fara, "digit," forces us to add another letter, Heh, to the text.

References / Bibliography

English

^  Sefer Yetzirah: The Book of Creation, by Aryeh Kaplan (York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1990)
BM525.A4212K37 1990
296.1'6 -- dc20 89-24820
ISBN 0-87728-726-0 paperback

^  Sepher Yetzirah: The Book of Creation, Two Versions, Explaining Jewish Mystical Philosophy and the Cabala
Translated by Rev. Dr. Isidor Kalisch and Knut Stenring
(San Diego, California: The Book Tree, 2006)
Originally published 1877 by L. H. Frank & Co., New York
and 1923 by William Rider & Son, Limited, London
ISBN 978-1-58509-282-6

^  The Book of Formation, or Sepher Yetzirah: Attributed to Rabbi Akiba ben Joseph
Translated from the Hebrew, with annotations, by Knut Stenring
Foreword by R. A. Gilbert
Introduced and edited by Arthur Edward Waite
(Berwick, Maine: Nicolas-Hays, Inc., 2004)
ISBN 0-89254-094-X

Hebrew

^  Sefer Yetzirah: Nuscha Y'shana
Hebrew text, called the "Old Version" (Nuscha Y'shana)
According to the Mantua (Mantova) edition, printed 1552 (5322 a.m.).
The version of the text used by the first commentators:

• Shabtai Donolo (913-970) [4673-4730 a.m.],
• Sa'adiah Ga'on (flourished 928),
• Ravad - Rabbi Avraham ben David of Posquieres, Provence (1120?-1198),
• Elazar of Wörms (1160?-1237?),
• and others.
  

Five chapters, pp. 62-64,
Appended to Sefer Yetzirah with a commentary by the Ga'on Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna (haG"RA)
Edited by Shmuel Luria of Mohiliv * (son of Eliezer Aharon)
* Mohyliv-Podilskyy, Ukraine, or Mahilyow, Belarus
(Warsaw: Yitzchok Goldman Press, 1884 [5644 a.m.]).
Which, in turn, is appended to Sefer Yetzirah: m'yuchas l'Avraham Avinu, alav hashalom
Hebrew edition
Edited by Menachem Mendel son of Baruch Bendet of Shklov
Horodna (Horodnya, Ukraine), or () c. 1806 (5566 a.m.).
Offset reprint by Yeshivat haChaim v'haShalom, Jerusalem, 1990.