Book of Formation - Sefer Yetzirah

Chapter I

Mishnah 8, part 1

Mishnah * I.8.1.  [The set of] ten vowels [which are rounded in the mouth] without standing alone,

and twenty-two letters [consonants of the Hebrew alphabet] — a foundation.

Companion

Mishnah I.8.1.  []  set of ten - one set for all purposes of speaking.

vowels - Voiced speech sounds which are pushed freely through the open mouth.  Airflow from the lungs passes through the vibrating vocal cords – voice box – and then through the throat into the cavity of the mouth.  If you close your mouth, the voiced sound escapes through your nose.  You are humming.

If you round your lips tightly, you are whistling.

vowel - The word in Hebrew is s'fira, suh FEE rah.  The /s/ sound signifies a willful push of air out of the mouth.  'Willful' refers to the fact that vowels can be started and stopped at will.  The /s/ sound by itself is a hiss.  The /f/ sound signifies air which is forced out through and beyond the lips.  The /r/ sound is a push, a kick, which forces air out of the mouth.  Think in terms of a "bark."

Translating the word s'fira as 'sphere' is a poor choice.  The only connection that a vowel has to a sphere is that cavity of the mouth is somewhat spherical in shape.

A cognate in Hebrew is the word ts'fira, tsuh FEE rah.  This word refers to the whistling and chirping of birds.

which are rounded in the mouth - within the set of vowels sounds, each sound is centered differently from the others.  The Book of Formation recognizes ten generally distinct vowel sounds.  In the realm of location, we speak about a center of gravity.  We know that our bodies, for example, have a center of gravity, but we also know that we adjust this center of gravity according to our will.  If we thought about ten different body postures, each has a distinct center of gravity compared to the structure of our bodies.  In this context, though, "distinct" does not preclude adjustments of the center of gravity within each posture.  Similarly, vowel sounds from our mouths are "colored" – centered – around ten vowels, but no more, no less.

which are rounded in the mouth - which are not precisely fixed but adjusted around ten distinct configurations, as above.

which are rounded in the mouth - b'limah, buh LIH mah.  If this Hebrew word is split, and it's read as two words, it means "without something."  As one word it means something like "spherically enclosed."  All ten vowels are distinct within the sphere of the mouth, although the ten centers are also "without" precise limits.  Again, "distinct" does not preclude vowel colorations – not fixed – as explained above.

[but vary from situation to situation] - from the location of one speech community to another and from dialect to dialect for example.  Within any one language, dialects differ primarily in their vowel sounds but not especially frequently in their consonant sounds.

Consider that within some dialects of American English, 'pen' and 'pin' are almost indistinguishable for those of us who do not speak this dialect.  The consonants, though, remain the same – this dialect is English as much as the dialect which distinguishes between 'pen' and 'pin'.  Far be it from me to say that one set of pronunciations is correct and that the other is wrong.  However, by general consensus, one set is Standard Spoken American English.  The other set of pronunciations is called a "regional dialect."

Similarly, Standard Spoken Canadian English varies little from standard American English except for the noticeable pronunciation of 'out', etc., as something like /oot/.  Again, this is still the English language since the consonant sounds remain the same.  Only the vowel sound varies between the Canadian and American situations.

Some dialects vary in their tonality and syllable emphasis.  Within the pages of my Web Site, I have indicated alternate pronunciations of Hebrew words.  These variations generally differ in both emphasis of a syllable and in vowel sounds.  Several dialects of spoken Hebrew are in use today.  Standard Spoken Israeli Hebrew is based on the Hebrew pronunciation of Jews who were exiled from Spain in 1492.  European Jews have a richer set of vowel and consonant sounds.  Yemenite Hebrew is even richer in speech sounds than the European Hebrew dialect.

Similarly, in G-d's revelations to humanity – His speech – He "colors" his vowels according to the situations of time and place.  Consonants, though, are standard in all copies of Scripture.  "As below, so above."

Although language dialects differ primarily in their vowel sounds but not especially frequently in their consonant sounds, we know that some dialects of English (and other languages) do differ in the pronunciation of consonants.  The next sentence in this mishnah addresses these consonant shifts within five families of Hebrew consonants.

without standing alone - bli mah as explained in Tanya, "Igeret HaKodesh," Chapter 5, 129b, English note [12] – Chapter I, Mishnahs 2-9, 14.

twenty-two letters, a foundation - as explained in Tanya, "Igeret HaKodesh," Chapter 20, 129a, at the beginning.

* Definitions and Pronunciation