Description: Further DetailsTitle: "Sefer Yeṣirah" and Its ContextsCondition: NewFormat: HardbackType: Sacred WritingsSubtitle: Other Jewish VoicesISBN-10: 0812249909EAN: 9780812249903ISBN: 9780812249903Publisher: University of Pennsylvania PressRelease Date: 05/29/2018Description: Sefer Yeṣirah, or "Book of Formation," is one of the most influential Jewish compositions of late antiquity. First attested to in the tenth century C.E. and attributed by some to the patriarch Abraham himself, Sefer Yeṣirah claims that the world was created by the powers of the decimal number system and the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This short, enigmatic treatise was considered canonical by Jewish philosophers and Kabbalists and has fascinated Western thinkers and writers as diverse as Leibnitz and Borges. Nonetheless, Sefer Yesirah is nearly impossible to contextualize, mainly owing to its unique style and the fact that it does not refer to, nor is it referenced by, any other source in late antiquity. After a century and a half of modern scholarship, the most fundamental questions regarding its origins remain contested: Who wrote Sefer Yeṣirah? Where and when was it written? What was its "original" version? What is the meaning of this treatise?In "Sefer Yeṣirah" and Its Contexts, Tzahi Weiss explores anew the history of this enigmatic work. Through careful scrutiny of the text's evolution, he traces its origins to the seventh century C.E., to Jews who lived far from rabbinic circles and were familiar with the teachings of Syriac Christianity. In addition, he examines the reception of Sefer Yeṣirah by anonymous commentators and laypeople who, as early as the twelfth century C.E., regarded Sefer Yeṣirah as a mystical, mythical, or magical treatise, thus significantly differing from the common rabbinic view in that period of the text as a philosophical and scientific work. Examined against the backdrop of this newly sketched historical context, Sefer Yeṣirah provides a unique and surprising aperture to little-known Jewish intellectual traditions of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages which, despite their distance from the rabbinic canon, played a vital role in the development of medieval Jewish learning and culture.Language: EnglishCountry/Region of Manufacture: USItem Height: 229mmItem Length: 152mmAuthor: Tzahi WeissGenre: Philosophy & SpiritualityBook Series: Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient ReligionRelease Year: 2018 Missing Information?Please contact us if any details are missing and where possible we will add the information to our listing.
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Book Title: "Sefer Yeṣirah" and Its Contexts
Title: "Sefer Yeṣirah" and Its Contexts
Subtitle: Other Jewish Voices
ISBN-10: 0812249909
EAN: 9780812249903
ISBN: 9780812249903
Release Date: 05/29/2018
Release Year: 2018
Country/Region of Manufacture: US
Genre: Philosophy & Spirituality
Number of Pages: 208 Pages
Language: English
Publication Name: Sefer YeṣIrah and Its Contexts : Other Jewish Voices
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Subject: Judaism / Sacred Writings, Cosmology, Judaism / Kabbalah & Mysticism
Item Height: 0.9 in
Publication Year: 2018
Type: Textbook
Item Weight: 17.4 Oz
Subject Area: Religion, Science
Item Length: 9.3 in
Author: Tzahi Weiss
Item Width: 6.3 in
Series: Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion Ser.
Format: Hardcover
