February 16, 2018

The Book of Formation – Sefer Yetsira

According to Jewish tradition, one of the most important books of Kabbalah is Sefer Yetsira. Kabbalists relate the book to Abraham the patriarch.

Sefer Yetsira contains only a few pages and it is written as a riddle.

Sefer Yetsira does not look like a religious book and it deals with Cosmology, the structure of the universe and the forces that created the stars, the signs of the zodiac and what moves them. It shows how all those heavenly bodies and formations are actually connected to the same forces affecting our lives. Although Jewish Astrology has been mostly ignored in recent centuries, it takes a major place in important Jewish books such as the Talmud, Sefer Yetsira and the Zohar. The Zohar (the most important book of Kabbalah) teaches that the Kabbalistic Astrology deals with the forces that created the stars and therefore it gives the ability to rise above them. This means that the knowledge of Kabbalah provides us with the ability to control our destiny. Free will is what stands in the middle of Abraham’s vision and the Kabbalah’s world-view.

The greatest sages of Israel interpreted Sefer Yetsira. Among them, Rabbi Se’adya Gaon, Nahmanides, Rabad (Rabbi Abraham Ben David), Rabbi Shabtai Donolo, The holy Ari, Vilna Gaon and many more. All of them attribute a great significance to Astrology and the ability to use it.