Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Interchangeable letters

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Shoshanna Walker <rosewalk AT concentric.net>
  • To: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Interchangeable letters
  • Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 23:53:53 -0400

OK. But all I did was respond to:

"The BGDKFT variations are later developments, possibly
in or after the Persian period, but the timing is not
certain."

A statement, by the way, for which no source was given...

I at least gave a source.

Someone else started the debate on the dating of Sefer Yetzira.

If it is important to the list whether the first statement is correct or not, then the date of Sefer Yetzira is relevant.

Shoshanna





Shoshanna,

While the debate on the authenticity of Sefer Yitzirah, the Zohar and other
works of Kabbalah is fascinating, since Kabbalah, by its nature, stands
outside the "natural" rules of scientifc discourse and is not easily
understood by the uninitiated, it cannot be used as evidence for either
linguistics or history. The authority of Kabbalah is an issue of faith. So
just stating that something is written is Sefer Yitzirah which is three
times ancient is not evidence in itself. I suggest that we keep Kabbalah out
of the discussion on this list.

Yigal Levin



----- Original Message -----
From: "Shoshanna Walker" <rosewalk AT concentric.net>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 5:06 AM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Interchangeable letters


I don't know who Kaptziel is, or Ben who supplies us with the website
you cited, but it does not present authentic Kabbala.

See this article at
http://www.aish.com/spirituality/philosophy/Harry_Potter_and_the_Child
ren_of_Ketura.asp

This is an excerpt:


...Other sources, however, discuss Abraham's knowing and using Jewish
mystical secrets. Abraham is credited as the source of the mystical
secrets of the Sefer Yetzira, the Book of Creation. Sefer Yetzira
gives meditative techniques for mystical healing, creating new
bodies, teleportation, and more. Sa'adia Gaon writes that our text of
Sefer Yetzira was written in Talmudic times, but the methods taught
in the book date to Abraham. The last section of Sefer Yetzira itself
describes "Abraham our father" making use of these meditative secrets
to bring new creatures to life:

"And when our father Abraham looked, saw, understood, probed,
engraved, and carved, he was successful in creation, as the Torah
writes, 'and the souls that they made in Haran' (Genesis 12:5)." 4

The usual explanation of Genesis 12:5 is that Abraham and Sarah had
spread the knowledge of monotheism, bringing people's souls closer to
God, not that they had actually created new people. But the Sefer
Yetzira's interpretation is, if anything, even more consistent with
the words of the Torah, and identifies Abraham among the early
practicing mystics.

Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan's extensive English commentary on Sefer Yetzira
notes that Abraham lived in the 18th century BCE, the same time
period in which mystical books, such as the Vedic Scriptures, were
written in the Far East, making it logical that Jewish mystical texts
would also have been written or conceived at that time.

While some commentaries indicate that "The land to the east" might be
Arab areas just to the East of the Land of Israel,[5] most understand
this to be referring to the Far East.

Jewish tradition is not clear on whether Abraham taught the Children
of Ketura the secrets of Sefer Yetzira or other mystical secrets. But
the Zohar tells the following revealing story:

"Rabbi Abba said: I once was in a town where the children of the east
live, and they taught me some of their ancient wisdom and showed me
their books of wisdom.... I said to them, my children, all of this is
similar to what we have in our Torah, but you should avoid these
books, to avoid idolatry.... The ancient children of the east
possessed a wisdom which they had inherited from Abraham, who had
imparted it to the children of his other wife... in time they
followed that wisdom to many false roads." [6]





On 10/23/07, Shoshanna Walker wrote:
The BGDKFRT variations are not later developments, they are already
mentioned as the 7 (yes, reish is included) double letters in the
Sefer Yetzira which is ancient ancient ancient.

On various views, both ancient and modern for the dating of Sefer
Yetzirah,
see here:
http://kaphtziel.blogspot.com/2006/04/saadiah-gaons-yetzirah-commentary.html

On the significance of Resh as a double letter, see:
Geoffrey Khan, 'The pronunciation of resh in the Tiberian tradition of
Biblical
Hebrew', Hebrew Union College Annual LXVI (1995), 67-80.
Ilan Eldar, "The double pronunciation of the Tiberian Resh", Leshonenu
48-49
(1984-85), p 22-34 (Hebrew)

Yitzhak Sapir
_______________________________________________
b-hebrew mailing list
b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
_______________________________________________
b-hebrew mailing list
b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew



--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.488 / Virus Database: 269.15.8/1088 - Release Date:
23/10/2007 13:26



_______________________________________________
b-hebrew mailing list
b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page