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All Sefirot Texts

Jewish Mysticism
From the fourteenth-century kabbalist, Sefer Yesirah (Jerusalem, 1962), 27a.

From the fourteenth-century kabbalist, Joseph ben Shalom Ashkenazi, commenting on the words of Sefer Yesirah 1-8, “Ten ineffable sefirot, their appearance is like lightning,” Commentary on Sefer Yesirah, attributed to the RABaD, in Sefer Yesirah (Jerusalem, 1962), 27a.

There are those who explain [the words] ‘their appearance is like lightning’ [in the following way]- when a prophet or a mystic comes to gaze upon these holy lights [i.e., the sefirot] he knows that at times they shine in relation to him and they appear as if they are lightning, and then they immediately are hidden, and they shine again and are hidden.

Translated by Elliot Wolfson in Through a Speculum that Shines- Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism, Princeton- Princeton University Press, 1994.

MS JTSA Mic. 1727, fols. 18a-b.

“And there in a cloud appeared the Presence of the Lord” (Exod. 16-10), in order that the glory that is within it would not be seen, as it says, “He made darkness His screen” (Ps. 18-12), “a cloud and thick darkness are around Him” (ibid. 97-2), i.e., surrounding the Holy One, blessed be He, there is a cloud and thick darkness. This is to say, the inner glory that is within it is not seen, even by his servants and messengers who are sent before Him, but the thick darkness itself is the transparent and translucent light, as the sages, blessed be their memory, said in the prayer, “[You appeared to them] in bright clouds,” and these are the sefirot. Their light in relation to His light is like the light of the candle in relation to the sun, and they are like a clear glass that shines and illuminates, showing to the eye what is within it. The tenth sefirah is the speculum that does not shine, and it is like a glass mirror, and the one who looks at it sees His image within it, and that which is within it is not seen outside it… Therefore this sefirah is called the cloud of glory, for the glory is concealed in it. The rabbis, blessed be their memory, called it the speculum that does not shine because of the glory that is hidden within it. When the Holy One, blessed be He, wills to talk to His prophets, this sefirah becomes filled from the inner glory, according to their level, and they hear the word, but the one who speaks is not seen by them for He is hidden within it.

Translated by Elliot Wolfson in Through a Speculum that Shines- Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism, Princeton- Princeton University Press, 1994.

Joseph ben Hayyim, MS Paris, BN 843, fol. 37a. See also MS JTSA Mic. 1885, fols. 74b-75a

Therefore I will explain the ten sefirot, the divine principles, according to the kabbalah, so that one may cleave to them, as it is written, “This is my God and I will glorify Him” (Exod. 15-2), [the word we-’anvehu, “I will glorify Him,” can be read as] I and He (’ani we-hu’). When one cleaves to them [the sefirot], the divine Holy Spirit enters into him, in all his sensations and all his movements.

Translated by Elliot Wolfson in Through a Speculum that Shines- Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism, Princeton- Princeton University Press, 1994.

Anonymous commentary on the sefirot, written in all probability in Castile in the latter part of the thirteenth century, cited from Scholem, “Index to the Commentaries on the Ten Sefirot,” p. 18.

I will enlighten you and lead you in this way, to inform you of the mystery of unity (sod ha-yihud) through which the King is unified and the knowledge of His truth through which He is elevated, to show you the force of His comprehension, the wealth of the glory of His splendor and His kingdom, and the majesty of the splendor of His greatness in all the places of His dominion. I will show you the splendor to secure you in the Supernal Crown [first sefirah], to cover you in the splendor of the faithful Wisdom [second sefirah], to open for you the gates of Understanding [third sefirah], to cleave to the attributes of Mercy, Strength and Beauty [fourth-sixth sefirot], to take delight in Eternity, Majesty, the Foundation and the Crown [seventh-tenth sefirot]. Then your soul will don the garment of splendor and beauty, grace and love, and you will be crowned with the resplendent light that surrounds the Presence, and this is the secret in which is contained the mystery of the upper and lower knowledge.

Translated by Elliot Wolfson in Through a Speculum that Shines- Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism, Princeton- Princeton University Press, 1994.

From the Geronese circle of Ezra and Azriel, 13th century. MS JTSA Mic. 8558, fol. 8b.

Neither something nor nothing is said about Him. Not something because He certainly is! And not nothing because the prophets saw Him as an elder and sometimes as a youth. At other times they saw only the glory… This is a wondrous form that no eye has seen. Even though the angels are created without matter and are emanated, He is hidden from them… But the sefirot that are proximate [to the divine] see Him… We know that everything is contained in Him, i.e., the sefirot are emanated and no separation is appropriate.

Translated by Elliot Wolfson in Through a Speculum that Shines- Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism, Princeton- Princeton University Press, 1994.

Azriel of Gerona, Perush ‘Eser Sefirot ‘al Derekh She’elah u-Teshuvah, p. 5.

[E]ven though there is no boundary above… there is a boundary for everything that is grasped through the meditation of the heart (hirhur ha-lev) and the allusion of thought (remez ha-mahshavah) which emanates below to be found in speech and seen in action. Everything that is bounded has a measurement and corporeality, for everything that is grasped in the meditation of the heart is called a body (guf), even the spirit. Therefore, the sefirot, the principle for everything that is bounded (kelal le-khol mugbal), are the root (shoresh). This boundary that is without boundary (ha-gevul ha-hu’ mibeli gevul) emanated; thus it says [of the sefirot in Sefer Yesirah 1-7] “their measure is ten which have no end.”

Translated by Elliot Wolfson in Through a Speculum that Shines- Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism, Princeton- Princeton University Press, 1994.

Iyyun Circle, 13th century. MS Munich 54, fol. 288a.

What is the essence of the Creator? He is a living essence that is compared to the appearance of the image of the soul and its form, i.e., the shape of the anthropos but it is spiritual like the brain or ether that is a form and not a body. The Holy One, blessed be He, is similar to this, He may be compared and yet He is incomparable. Heaven forfend, He has no image or form, but rather the image of His intellect is like a soul that is imagined (mesuyeret) in the shape of a body (binyan ha- guf); thus He takes shape in the sefirot. The one who wishes to understand this should think about the subtlety and the essence (ha-daqut we-ha-mahut), but not (corporeal) substance (ha-mamashut). Further, the Holy One, blessed be He, overflows to all the sefirot, and all the sefirot draw from His power, and He is seen through the intermediaries, but He is elevated and exalted above them, for there is no limit to His exaltation. This is [the import of] “there was the semblance of a human form” (Ezek. 1-26), and not an actual human.

Translated by Elliot Wolfson in Through a Speculum that Shines- Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism, Princeton- Princeton University Press, 1994.

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