Diagram, Text, Context: The Genre of Sefer Yetzirah

• In Event: Beyond textual analysis: Diagrams in Jewish and Hebrew medieval manuscripts

Abstract

The lecture will outline my new book project, presenting a fresh approach to Sefer Yetzirah through the lens of Genre. Sefer Yetzirah, an anonymous and highly influential short treatise, is renowned for its enigmatic features, including extensive and repetitive lists of both physical and abstract elements, organized in groups of 10, 22, 3, 7, and 12 items. Additionally, it contains repetitive formulas with vague meanings, mnemonic remarks, and impassioned calls to the reader to either follow or avoid actions that are not entirely clear.
In the lecture I will suggest viewing all these and other characteristics of Sefer Yetzirah as fitting what I believe was the original genre of this text – descriptions of early medieval diagrams. I will argue that the text of Sefer Yetzirah known to us is based on an early medieval compilation of paragraphs accompanying scientific Hebrew diagrams, now lost. These textual paragraphs described, explained, and interpreted the diagrams. At a certain point, the accompanying paragraphs were copied consecutively without the diagrams and the original genre of this text was no longer recognizable to its readers. It was quickly replaced by new readings and commentaries, trying to explain its various exceptional stylistic traits. In my lecture, I will show that the proposed historical narrative can provide insights into other enigmas surrounding Sefer Yetzirah, such as its three recensions and the debate on its cultural origins. Ultimately, this study highlights the significance of diagrams in cultural expression, often rivalling or surpassing verbal texts in importance, and underscores the intricate interplay between different forms of texts commonly found in Hebrew manuscripts.

Author

• Judith Weiss, Ben Gurion University