Sefer Yetzirah - Structure

Structure

Sefer Yetzirah describes how the universe was created by the "God of Israel" (a list of all of God's Hebrew names appears in the first sentence of the book) through "32 wondrous ways of wisdom":

• Ten Numbers ('Sefirot,' the origin for the Sefirot of later Kabbalah)
• The Twenty-Two Letters of the Hebrew alphabet—
  • Three "Mother" Letters (אמש)
  • Seven "Doubles" (בגדכפרת)
  • Twelve "Simples" (הוזחטילנסעצק)

These divisions correspond to Jewish concepts such as the 3 letters making up God's name (yud, he, and vav), the 7 days of the Jewish week, the 12 tribes of Israel, and the 12 months of the Hebrew calendar, as well as to early "scientific" or philosophical ideas such as the 4 elements (fire, water, air, earth), the 7 planets, 10 directions, the 12 zodiacal constellations, various human physical functions, and a list of the parts of the human body. The book describes how God used the 10 sefirot and the 22 Hebrew letters in various combinations, and finally (as described in the closing section of the book), how he revealed this secret to Abraham as a covenant with him. God's covenant with Abraham is described as being two-fold:

1. Between the 10 toes of the feet is the "covenant of the circumcision" (mila in Hebrew, which also means "word")
2. Between the 10 fingers of the hands (also identified with the 10 sephirot) is the "covenant of the tongue" (lashon in Hebrew, which also means "language")

The last sentence describes how God "connects" the 22 letters of the Torah to Abraham's tongue, and reveals its secret to Abraham.