BARDON'S WRITINGS AND THE SEFER YETZIRAH

In his commentary on the Sefer Yetzirah, Aryeh Kaplan has translated four different versions of the book into English. One of the translations, known as the Short Version contains correspondences for the remaining nineteen letters of the Hebrew alphabet that differ in the whole from the other translations. If a comparison is made between all the correspondences in Bardon's Quabbalah it will be seen that there are significant correspondences to the Short Version of the Sepher Yetzirah.

Considering how different the correspondences in the various versions could be, the writings of Bardon lines up to the Short Version with remarkable consistency. For instance, in the Gra version of the Sepher Yetzirah, the Double Letter "Peh" corresponds in mankind with the left ear, while in the Long Version "Peh" corresponds with the left nostril. In the Short Version, it's the right nostril. In Bardon, the letter "P" (the equivalent of "Peh") corresponds with the right nostril. This happens in eighteen out of the possible twenty two Hebrew letters. Of the other four, two are inverted and two are different. The overall connection between Bardon's Key to the True Quabbalah and the short version of the Sepher Yetzirah can not to be denied.

Yet, there are certain differences as well. Bardon's system had added certain correspondences that are not mentioned in the Sepher Yetzirah such as color.

INTRODUCTION TO THE SEFER YETZIRAH

To understand the analysis above, the following is intended to provide the student with some context within which the above made statements can be considered.

The Sefer Yetzirah is a very small and concise book. In its Short Version (which we have referred to above), it is only some 1300 words long, while the Long Version contains approximately 2500 words. The Gra Version  contains around 1800 words. So short is the text, that one of the earliest fragments appears to have the entire book written on a single page. There is speculation that the original source may have contained as few as 240 words. Some ancient sources, however, state that the book contains five chapters, and it seems likely that the present fifth and sixth chapters were combined as one in these texts.

The text is presented dogmatically, without substantiation or explanation. In the first chapter in particular, it is solemn and sonorous, reading like blank verse poetry. Very few Biblical passages are quoted, and with the exception of Abraham, no name or authority is mentioned. The book seems to be divided into four basic parts. The first chapter introduces the Sefirot, speaking of them at length. After this, however, there is no mention whatsoever regarding the Sefirot in subsequent chapters. This had led to some speculation that the Sefer Yetzirah might actually be a combination of two (or more) earlier texts. 

The second chapter consists of a general discussion about the letters of the alphabet. It clearly appears to be introducing their use in a meditative context. Also introduced in this chapter are the five phonetic families and the 231 Gates. Again, neither the phonetic families nor the Gates are ever again mentioned in the text. Chapters three to five discuss the three divisions of the letters, “mothers, doubles, and elementals.” These are related to the “universe, soul and year,” presenting a fairly detailed astrological system.

The sixth chapter again does not appear to have a clear connection to the earlier parts of the book, although in the Long Version, it is presented almost as a commentary.

Here, for the first time, are introduced the concepts of the “axis, cycle and heart,” ideas which are not discussed any place else in Hebraic or Kabbalistic literature, with the exception of the Bahir. Of all the chapters, this one seems the most obscure, and it is difficult to decide if its emphasis is theoretical or meditative. This chapter concludes with a stanza linking the Sefer Yetzirah to Abraham. It is this quote that serves as a source to the tradition that the book was authored by the Patriarch.

The earliest source to which Sefer Yetzirah is attributed is the Patriarch Abraham. As early as the 10th century, Saadia Gaon writes that, “the ancients say that Abraham wrote it.” This opinion is supported by almost all of the early commentators. 

Such ancient Kabbalistic texts as the Zohar and Raziel also attribute  Sefer Yetzirah to Abraham. A number of very old manuscripts of Sefer Yetzirah likewise begin with a colophon calling it “the Letters of Abraham our Father, which is called Sefer Yetzirah.” This does not mean, however, that the entire book as we have it now was written by Abraham. As Saadia Gaon explains, the principles expounded in Sefer Yetzirah were first taught by Abraham, but they were not actually assembled in book form until much later. 

Another authority notes that it could not have actually been written by Abraham, since if it had, it should have been incorporated into the Bible, or at least be mentioned in scripture. Similarly, when the Zohar speaks of books antedating the Torah, it does not include the Sefer Yetzirah among them. The attribution of Abraham is supported by the final stanza of Sefer Yetzirah: “When Abraham... looked and probed... he was successful in creation...” This pas-sage clearly suggests that Abraham actually made use of the methods found in this text.

The most important mysteries of Sefer Yetzirah involve the inner significance of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Here too, we find that Abraham was a master of these mysteries.

A Midrash thus states that “the letters were given to none other than Abraham.” As we shall see in the commentary (on 1:3), the arrangement of the animals when Abraham made his covenant with God, also appears to be based on the mysteries of Sefer Yetzirah. Further support linking Abraham to the Sefer Yetzirah is found in the Talmudic teaching that “Abraham had a great astrology in his heart, and all the kings of the east and west arose early at his door.”

Sefer Yetzirah is one of the primary ancient astrological texts, and it is possible that it incorporates Abraham's astrological teachings. The fact that this astrology was said to be “in his heart” might also indicate that it involved various meditative techniques, as was indeed the case with ancient astrology, and is also suggested by Sefer Yetzirah. There is evidence that these mysteries were also taught to Abraham by Shem, along with the mystery of the calendar (Sod Halbbur).

When God revealed himself to Abraham one of the first things that He taught him was not to be overdependent on astrological predictions. Abraham was also fully aware of the magical and idolatrous uses that could be developed from these mysteries. The Talmud thus says that Abraham had a tract dealing with idolatry that consisted of 400 chapters. There is also a Talmudic teaching that Abraham taught the mysteries involving “unclean names” to the children of his concubines. This is based on the verse, “to the sons of the concubines that Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and he sent them away... to the lands of the east” (Genesis 25:6). These gifts consisted of occult mysteries, which then spread in eastern Asia.

The next place where we find the use of Sefer Yetzirah is in a tradition regarding the older sons of Jacob, which states that they used it to create animals and maid servants. When the scripture states that “Joseph brought an evil report [regarding his brothers] to his father” (Genesis 37:2), it is referring to this. Joseph's brothers had eaten an animal without slaughtering it properly, and Joseph did not know that the animal had been created through the Sefer Yetzirah and did not need such slaughter. He therefore reported that his brothers had eaten “flesh from a living animal.” The mysteries of Sefer Yetzirah were used again after the Exodus, when the Israelites were building the Tabernacle in the desert. The Talmud states that Betzalel had been chosen to build this Tabernacle because he “knew how to permute the letters with which heaven and earth were created.”

Such esoteric knowledge was required, since the Tabernacle was meant to be a microcosm, paralleling both the universe, the spiritual domain, and the human body. It was not enough merely to construct a physical building. As it was built, the architect had to meditate on the meaning of each part, imbuing it with the necessary spiritual properties. The Talmud derives this from the verse where God says, “I have called in the name of Betzalel... and I have filled him with the spirit of God, with wisdom, under- standing, and knowledge” (Exodus 31:2-3). “Wisdom, Understanding and Knowledge” (Chakhmah, Binah and Daat) refer to states of consciousness, which we shall discuss at length. It is through the manipulation of the letters that such states of consciousness can be attained. 

The sources are silent about the Sefer Yetzirah then until the time of Jeremiah the prophet. Here again we find a tradition that Jeremiah wished to make use of Sefer Yetzirah, but as in the case of Abraham, was admonished not to attempt to do so alone. He therefore took his son, Ben Sirah, and the two explored these mysteries together. Through their efforts, they were able to create a Golem, but they did not preserve it. There might have been more than one person with the name Ben Sirah, but the one in this tradition was clearly the son of Jeremiah. Regarding his birth, there is a fascinating tradition. Jeremiah had been accosted by homosexuals in the bath- house, and as a result, had experienced an ejaculation in the tub. His semen remained viable, and when his daughter later used the same tub, she was impregnated by it, eventually giving birth to Ben Sirah. Ben Sirah was therefore the son of both Jeremiah and the latter's daughter.

These traditions are of particular interest, since there are many hints that Jeremiah taught these mysteries to a certain Yosef, son of Uziel, son Of Ben Sirah.

There is also at least one source that states that Ben Sirah actually taught the Sefer Yetzirah to Yosef ben Uziel.

What is even more interesting is the fact that there are hints that this very same Yosef ben Uziel may have written a commentary on Sefer Yetzirah, or even possibly one of the earliest versions of the text itself. This is important because it would date the first version of Sefer Yetzirah to the early years of the Second Temple. This was also the time of the Great Assembly, who put some of the last books of the Bible, such as Ezekiel, into writing, and then closed the Biblical Cannon.

Much of the regular Hebrew prayer service was also composed by this Assembly. Like these prayers, the Sefer Yetzirah was not put into writing, but was taught from memory.

During the Talmudic period, there were many sages who engaged in these mysteries.

With the close of this era, however, a blanket of silence was cast over all occult activities. It appears that a number of mystical books were written during the subsequent Gaonic period, but their origins are shrouded in mystery. Still, knowledge of these practices clearly existed as late as the 10th century, and Hai Gaon (939–1038) speaks of people engaged in the mystical permutation (tzeruf) of letters.