The primary sources for this composition are the following books –
¶ Sefer Yetsira. Hebrew. A photo offset of a European edition. This edition was reprinted in Jerusalem by Yeshivat HaChaim v'HaShalom Publishing, 1990. The colophon of this edition was laid over that of the original publisher, an unfortunate contemporary convention used in reprints of old books, thereby obliterating information about the provenance of the original edition. Based on the original approbations on page 3, this book was published no earlier than 1806.
This book contains four versions of the Book of Formation –
1) The conventional version that has been printed before. This text is surrounded by a number of classical commentaries like the text of the Talmud which is surrounded by commentaries. Some of these commentaries are by:
2) A critical edition by the Vilna Gaon (1720-1797) with his commentary.
3) A version embedded in an essay by
Italian physician and Torah scholar Shabtai Donolo
4) A version, without commentary, that was printed in Mantova (Mantua), Italy in 1562 "on which most of the commentators based their commentaries. And without it their words are not understandable. . . ." His Holiness, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, favored this version by disseminating its last lesson. (See his Likkutei Sichot, volume 28, p. 315.) This version's final lesson is not contained within the texts of the other three versions. Also, Rabbi Yosef Karo, author of the Code of Jewish Law (Shulchan Aruch) apparently favored this version because he quotes this final lesson. As a student of Lubavitch/Chabad, I have chosen this version for my work.
¶ Online text of Sefer Yetzirah in the original Hebrew as part of the Hebrew Library of Kabbalistic Texts (books of magic spells and invocations). Retrieved December 2024.
¶ Sefer Yetsira / Sefer HaBahir (Book
of Clarity) with a commentary by the Kabbalist David Havilyu
¶ Tikun Leyl Shavuot. Hebrew. Content of what is recited on the night of the holiday Shavuot. The first and last lessons from the Book of Formation appear here. No location, 1864. Offset reprint by Chevrat Me'orer Yesheinim, Brooklyn, New York, 1965.
¶ Sefer Yetzirah: The Book of Creation in Theory and Practice by Aryeh Kaplan. The text in Hebrew with English translation and commentary. York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, 1990.
¶ Sefer HaKuzari by Rabbi Yehuda (Judah) Halevi (c. 1075-1141) from Muslim Spain. The Arabic text was translated into Hebrew in the 12th century by Judah ibn Tibbon (1120- after 1190) some thirty years after Halevi finished writing his book. Halevi tells the true story of Rabbi Yitzchak HaSangari having converted the king of the Khazar Kingdom to Judaism. Halevi's basis is scattered documents that he had at hand from HaSangari. The format of the book is a conversation of successive questions from the king and answers from HaSangari. The book also includes a philosophical debate between an Aristotelian philosopher, a Muslim, a Christian, and Rabbi HaSangari in front of the king, and then he chooses Judaism for himself. Previously he was a Turkic pagan.
A lesson from the Book of Formation appears in the fourth of five essays.
The Kuzari is historical fiction depending on how much primary source material Halevi was working with. He seems to have created the debate in his imagination, though. The Kuzari could also be deemed a pious fraud. However, correspondence purporting to be between a Khazar king Joseph Khagan and Hasdai ibn Shaprut (c. 915- c. 970), a Jewish scholar, physician, diplomat, and patron of science in Muslim Spain, have been found in the Cairo Geniza.
The land of the Khazars – Khazaria – extended between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea primarily north of the Caucasus mountain range. It was a trading entrepôt on the Silk Road, between Europe to the north and west, Muslim lands to the south, and lands to the east. Khazaria was also a neutral buffer state between the Christian world and the Muslim world to the south.
In my opinion, Kevin Alan Brook is the foremost English speaking scholar who has studied and written about the history, archaeology, and genetics of Khazaria.
I have four editions of the Kuzari –
1) A photo offset of a European edition. Hebrew. The text is augmented by two commentaries. Originally published in Warsaw in 1880. The current edition is from Hadaran Publishing, Israel, 1959.
2) Sefer HaKozari l'Rabi Yehuda Halevi. Hebrew. Translated from Arabic, annotated, and introduced by Yehuda Even Shmuel. Vowels have been added. Tel Aviv: D'vir Publishing House, 1994.
3) The Kuzari: in Defense of the Despised Faith. English. Translated and annotated by N. Daniel Korobkin. Northvale, New Jersey: Jason Aronson, 1998.
4) Fundamentals of the Kuzari. Hebrew and English. Translated by Rabbi Avrohom Davis from the arrangement of Hagaon R' Yechezkel Sarne, of blessed memory. Abridged. New York: The Rabbi Jacob Joseph School Press, 1979.
¶ The late Rabbi Moshe Miller. He passed away some time after April 2022 when he last posted to his Facebook page, "Kabbalah Decoded." I've found ten of his lectures on the Book of Formation on YouTube –
¶ Sefer Yetzirah: HaGR"A Version. "Translation, transliteration, and commentary, with special attention to the underlying philosophical origins, ancient Jewish mysticism, cosmology, and astrology," by Meira Epstein, C.A., NCGR-PAA. New York: BearStar.com, 2018. (I don't know what the abbreviations after Epstein's name mean.)
¶ Sepher Yetzirah: Two Versions, Explaining Jewish Mystical Philosophy and the Cabala, Attributed to Akiba Ben Joseph. English. Translated by Rev. Dr. Isidor Kalisch and by Knut Stenring, publisher's introduction by Paul Tice. San Diego, California: The Book Tree, 2006.
This book combines two books in the public domain –
1) Sepher Yezirah: a Book on Creation; or, the Jewish Metaphysics of Remote Antiquity, by Rev. Dr. Isidor Kalisch, Hebrew with vowels, an English translation, preface, explanatory notes, and glossary. New York: L. H. Frank & Company, 1877. Kalisch believes that his is the first translation into English. He seems to be working from the edition of Sefer Yetzirah published in Lemberg in 1860 and with Rabbi Yehuda Halevi's The Kuzari.
2) Sepher Yetzirah: Attributed by Rabbi Akiba Ben Joseph. Translated from the Hebrew into English with annotations by Knut Stenring, including the 32 Paths of Wisdom, their correspondence with the Hebrew alphabet and the Tarot symbols; introduction by Arthur Edward Waite. English with Latinized letters in place of Hebrew letters. London: William Rider & Son, 1923.
¶ The Book of Formation, or Sepher Yetzirah: Attributed to Rabbi Akiba Ben Joseph. Translated from the Hebrew into English with annotations by Knut Stenring, new foreword by R. A. Gilbert (2004), introduction by Arthur Edward Waite, appendix by H. Stanley Redgrove. Contains everything that is in the William Rider & Son, 1923, edition (previous entry). Appears to be newly typeset.
Hasidic works that are primary sources for my composition –
¶ Rebbe Schneur Zalman of Liadi
The overall work that is called Tanya started to be published around 1796 in Russia.
¶ Rebbe Shmuel Schneersohn of Lubavitch
The proper pronunciation of the first two realms in the Book
of Formation, Chapter I, Lesson 1, is given in this
discourse as SAY fehr and soh FEHR –
". . . a book, a scribe . . ." (pp.
Rebbe Shmuel explains –
"Sefer Yetzirah states,
'G-d created the world with three Sefarim – Sefer, Sofer, and Sippur (Book, Scribe, and Story).' Our Sages said,'G-d created the world with ten qualities: with wisdom, understanding, and knowledge,' as it says [Proverbs 3:19-20],'G-d founded the earth with wisdom, established the heavens with understanding. With His knowledge the depths were split. . . .' Why does the Sefer Yetzirah use the terms 'Sefer etc.,' while Our Sages said, 'with wisdom?' In truth, both refer to the same thing, for Sefer is binah, or understanding, as it is known regarding a Sefer Torah (which is parallel to binah), and is written by a Sofer, spelled with a vav, corresponding to chochmah, for it is a Sofer who writes the Sefer. And Sippur is knowledge, as it is written [Proverbs 2:6], 'knowledge . . . by His decree.'" (Channeling the Divine, pp.36-7, note 72, from Torat Shmuel – Sefer 5633, vol. 2, p. 544)
We find in a footnote in Channeling the Divine that Rebbe Shneur Zalman of Liadi writes –
"Sofer is chochmah (the wisdom), which is provider for the Sefer, binah (thought). Sippur is the speech, which receives from binah, for without thought one cannot speak. Thus, 'G-d created the world with three Sefarim,' for the world came into existence from the Word of G-d, which is Speech, which receives from divine thought (Sefer), which, in turn, receives from the wisdom of
G-d, the Scribe (Sofer). Hence, the phrase 'Breisheet [bara Elokim – In the beginning, whenG-d created . . .'] is translated by Targum Yerushalmi as B'chuchma – 'With wisdom'." (Channeling the Divine, pp.36-7, note 72, from Likkutei Torah, Drushim l'Sukkot, 80b)
We see from both Rebbe Schneur Zalman of Liadi and Rebbe Shmuel of Lubavitch that the Chabad tradition is clear as to how to read the triad in the first lesson of the first chapter of the Book of Formation. We will read it as "a book, and a scribe, and a story."
¶ His Holiness, Grand Rabbi Menachem M.
Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe (1902-1994). Likkutei
Sichot. 39 Volumes. Hebrew and Yiddish. Brooklyn, New York:
Kehot Publishing Society,
¶ --------. Sefer Hasichos –
5747-5792. 12 Volumes covering the years 1987 through 1992.
Each volume covers a half year. Brooklyn, New York: Kehot
Publishing Society,
Biographical information (and other information) comes from –
• Codex Judaica: Chronological Index of Jewish History by Rabbi Mattis Kantor. New York: Zichron Press, 2005.
• Encyclopaedia Judaica. 16 Volumes. Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House, 1972.
• The Jews of Khazaria by Kevin Alan Brook. 3rd Edition. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2018. (I also have the 1st edition from 1999.)