Introduction | Book of Formation

Everything is given over from the hands of Heaven, and this project is no exception. What I've seen and heard Providentially over the years has made this work possible. More about this in the sections on Methodology and Sources.

The Jewish Book of Formation – Sefer Yetzirah – explains the structure of the universe, both the physical and metaphysical realms, in six chapters. This is the Jewish mystical system called the Structure of Creation – Ma'aseh Breisheet. The book is itself mystical in the sense that it is concise, figurative, and sometimes poetic.

It is an ancient work. There are discussions whether the book was authored by the Patriarch Abraham or whether it is post-Biblical. Both may be true if material was added since the time of Abraham.

The Book of Formation has persevered through the vicissitudes of the generations. In contrast, I've seen a list of about two dozen holy books whose titles are known but the manuscripts never reached a printing press.

The Book of Formation is based on the creation narrative in the first chapter of Genesis. There we find that G-d utters "let there be . . ." or something similar nine times. So we see that creation is like a verbal exercise on G-d's part even though He has no mouth, and of course there was no one there to hear Him. The Torah asks us to look into ourselves and learn from human speech in order to understand the Ten Utterances of Genesis.

Speech reveals what is hidden in the mind and heart. Likewise G-d's speech reveals his desire for a universe just as it is right now. In regard to the human dimension, what was once hidden within us has been revealed by our own speech and cannot be taken back (except with more words). What we say takes on an independent existence. This is exactly what G-d wants with His Divine Speech, that there be a universe which feels itself to have complete autonomy. The universe seems to be independent of the Creator.

The fundamental particles of speech are consonants and vowels. Hebrew has twenty-two letters which represent the consonants and also ten vowels which are ordinarily not written in holy texts. The Ten Utterances consist of these particles.

On the surface, Genesis is a meaningful and coherent narrative. As it is, the first chapter of Genesis is indeed simple exposition, but it's also a grand theory of everything.

לעילוי נשמת משה ארי'ה לייב בן דוד מרדכי