Sefer Yeṣirah

Sefer Yeṣirah (SY) (ספר יצירה), translated either as ‘The Book of Formation’ or ‘The Book of Creation’ is a very short, enigmatic, and influential Hebrew composition which is mainly dedicated to the role of the twenty-two letter of the Hebrew alphabet in the creation of the world and in the created world. SY which has been attributed by many to Abram the patriarch, was formed in an unknown period before the tenth century CE. Before the twelfth century CE, the treatise had been interpreted according to both scientific-philosophical and mystical trends. From the eleventh century CE at the most, SY has been associated with the creation of the Golem. From the twelfth century on it was considered one of the cannonic books if not THE cannonic book of Jewish mysticism. In the sixteenth century, it was translated into Latin and afterwards to other European languages and influenced many Western writers and thinkers. Following more than a century and a half of scholarship, SY remains a riddle with regard to its most basic issues: its author(s), context, content and original version.