Customer Reviews

Sepher Yetzirah: The Book of Formation and the 32 Paths of Wisdom

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a facsimile of the original, concise and elegant translation by Wynn Westcott. A valuable feature is the illuminating introduction by Westcott. On reading the introduction, it becomes evident that the kabbalists could be viewed as pioneers in a systematic approach to sociology, psychology and literary analysis, where mathematics can be applied to ideas and forms. For example, in relatively recent times Juri Lotman and Dean Simonton have applied spacial and geometric concepts to non-spacial concepts (see, for example, Lotman, J., The Structure of the artistic text, Ann Arbor, Michigan, University of Michigan (1977)). The newcomer to kabbala, before reading this work, would be well advised to read an overview of kabbala, by such authors as Charles Ponc'e (Ponc'e, C. (2004) Kabbala, Pilgrims Book House, Varanasi) so that they might place the Sepher Yetzirah into its historical context and be able to better understand it. To paraphrase Eliphas L'evi, this book certainly contains more wisdom than words, but, with some prior background reading, and meditation, it is more accessible to the general reader than the monumental poetic work "the Sepher Zohar".