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THE ORIGIN

r LETTERS

AND NUMERALS

AUUORDlNa TO THE SEFER YETZIRAH

BY

PHINEAS MORDELL

PHILADELPHIA

PHINEAS MORDELL
1914

THE ORIGIN
OF LETTERS

AND NUMERALS

ACCORDING TO THE SEFER YETZIRAH

PHINEAS MORDELL

PHILADELPHIA

PHINEAS MORDELL
1914

page bears the date of 1914, the author the of this thesis from German)-, where copies did not receive the account of the war. was printed, until August 1921, on

Although the

title

year (1922) by a supplement Distribution was delayed unril this philosophy. aiming at a solution of the Pythagorean requested to serid Magazines and periodicals are respectfully

booklet

thesis to the author, P. Mordell, copies of their reviews of this 4137 Leidy Ave., Philadelphia, Pa.

Printed by H.

F1

i s c

m ann

Breslau (Germany)

DEDICATED

TO THE

MEMORY OF MY SISTER

SARAH MORDELL

The present new

thesis appeared in the

JEWISH QUATERLY REVIEW


Published

series for April

1912 vol

11,

and

for April 1913 vol. 111.

by the Dropsie College Philadelphia Pa.

CHAP.

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS ACCORDING TO THE SEFER YETZIRAH


By PHINEiS MORDBLL
THERE
Bible
is

hardly

another

book

in

Jewish
has
It

literature, the

and

the

Talmud

excepted,

that

been

so

much

commented upon

as the Sefer Yetzirah.

has been the subject


it

of deep study, not only to the mystic,

who regarded
philosopher

as the

source ot

esoteric lore, but

also

to

the

and the

Talmudist.

And

yet, despite all the efforts of a large

number

of scholars of repute for

more than a thousand


book.

years, the Sefer

Yetzirah

remains
are

sealed
to

The various commentaries

upon
him.
to

it

more apt
it

bewilder the student than to enlighten

Indeed,

would seem that every commentator endeavored


theories into this little book, with

read his

own views and

hardly any concern whether

they agreed with the text or not.


is

There
to

is

no book in Jewish literature that


the Sefer Yetzirah.

so

difficult

understand as

For

it

was

originally

written in an obscure half-mystical

style.

To

make

matters
cenearly

worse, the commentators of the eighth

or

of the

ninth

tury

blended

the

original

"Sefer

Yetzirah"
to

with

an

commentary, which may be referred


It

as

"Sefer Yetzirah II." written

thus happened that

all

the commentaries

on

the

"Sefer Yetzirah"

since the

beginning

of

the

tenth

century

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.


are chiefly based on this

commentary and not on


the
Sefer Tetzirah
of
its
is

the original

Safer

Yet/.irah.
to

Although

exceedingly
is

hard

understand, the solution

many

diflicalties

not impossible.

The reason why they have remained


is

so

long
of

an unsolved problem

partly due to a lack

of

knowledge
is

Hebrew orthography,

on

which

the Sefer Yetzirah

based.

In spite of the numerous works written on


since the beginning of the

Hebrew orthography
there
is

tenth

century,

not

one

which may be considered


the
is

as really based on the


is

Hebrew.
still

For

Hebrew orthography which has been and

taught,

not

Hebrew but Arabic.

The Hebrew
believe that

grammarians
rules
for the

under
ortho-

Arabic influence came to

tliose

of

graphy which the Arab grammarians invented


of the

language
the Old

Koran hold good

also

for

the

language

of

Testament.
expressing
to

When

the Honorable

Mayer Sulzberger heard


he
in

my

views on Hebrew orthography,

advised
his

me me

make

a study of the Sefer Yetzirah

which

opinion

constitutes the earliest

Hebrew grammar

extant.

Finding that
Avith

my

views on Hebrew orthography


I

harmonized
study

those
it.

of

the Sefer Yetzirah,

made an
I

exhaustive

of

After

many

years of study,
the

reached the conclusion

that

the Sefer

Yetzirah, as

earliest

Hebrew grammar, contains not only


Hebrew
and
orthography, but
also

the

lundamental

rules

of

an

acconnt of the origin of letters


it

numerals.

This

account

is

my
')

pre.<!ent

purpose to seth

forth*).

wish to express here oiy thanks to

J.

S z o 1 d,
and

Prof.

Henry Malter.
me
in

and Dr

I s

aac

Broyde, Miss Henrietta H u s k for many courtesies


i

fittnded to
in style.

iLis

work, both

in

the arrangement of ihe uialeria!

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.

The
-ispi n'BDi

first

Mishnah

reads
n'

as follows:

nia^nj DTtri CB'^tf

nBiDs nix35t nin^

ppn ms^^s.
ways
has
the Lord, the Lord of

"Thirty-two
hosts, ordained

mysterious

through Scribe, Script and Scroll."


are the twenty-two letters
sounds.'')

The thirty-two mysterious ways


of the

Hebrew

alphabet, whicli

represent thirty-two
belief

In
letters

accordance
are of divine

with

the

of

the ancients that the

origin, the

Sefer Yetzirah

explains

that

the thirty-two ways of


(1) "isiD

wisdom were ordained by God through:

(Scribe), the

man whom God

inspired

to

invent

the alphabet;
(2) "iiBD
(3)

(Script), the letters;


(Scroll),

nsD

the material

o.i

which

the letters were

displayed.
In order to

show how the twenty-two

letters of the

alphabet

constitute the thirty-two

ways of wisdom, the author proceeds


second and following Mishnahs.

to the division of the letters in the

He

divides

them

into simple

and double sounds, and also into

vowels and consonants. The simple letters he called mDitys, and


the double, m^iSD; the vowels, niDX (=ni3X), and the consonants,
rm'?in.

Altogether

they

form thirty-two sounds: the twenty


letters,

sounds of the ten*) double


simple
letters.

and the twelve of the twelve

") All the commentators explain that the thirty-two ways of wisdom are the twenty-two letters and the ten Sefirot. Below will be found the reasons why the present writer cannot accept this interpretation.

3)

Below

will

be explained that, according


letters

to

the
as
is

Sefer Yetzirah,
believed by all

there are ten

double

and not only seven,

commentators since Saadya.

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.

The

Sefer Yetzirah*) emphasizes that


is

the
ten,

number

of the

double letters

no

less

and no more than

and the number

of the simple letters no less

and

no more than twelve.

The

Sefer Yetzirah urges us to investigate and examine the letters,

that

we may have

a clear insight into the subject.


tlie

This proves
nature of the

that, at the
letters, or

time when the book was written,

of

some
at

of

them, was

misunderstood.

We

know,
of the

indeed, that

the
it

time

when

the Greek

translation
for

Bible was made,

was believed
e,

that the

>'.

example, could

be transliterated by

o,

or g,

and the translators accordingly

rendered

it

variously by one of these three sounds.


in

Arguments have repeatedly been advanced


view that the Hebrew y
'lad not

favor of the

only the sound of the Arabic ?,


to

but also of the ^.


y
is

But according
If it

the Sefer Yetzirah, the


it

a simple letter.
it

has the sound oi ?


..

is

impossible
if

that

should also have the sound of

Moreover,
g,

the y

was originally a vowel only and had no sound of


tained by Jerome,
ascribe to
it it

as

mainIf

can

have
it

only
is

one vowel sound.


impossible
that
it

we

the sound of A,

should

have also the


to

sound of

or 0, etc.
n,
ti,

Furthermore, according
s are also simple letters,

the Sefer Yetzirah, the letters

and each must have had only one sound and not two as in Arabic.

The author

of the Sefer Yetzirah apparently cautioned against


all writers

the very errors and mistakes into which

on Hebrew

grammar have
letters

fallen.

By dividing

the

twenty-two Hebrew

into ten double

and twelve simple, representing thirtyto

two sounds, the author desired

make

clear

how

different the

*)

See

text, 3.

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.

Hebrew alphabet

is

frttn the alphabet

which
to

is

known
,s/v.

as

Arabic
suri

and which the Arabs


wavS

themselTcs

used

call

By

apparently meant Assyrian.

Tiie so-called Arabic alphabet


It

consisted originally of only seventen letters.


originally

was apparently

invented

to

represent

the

Assyrian-Babylonian
or eighteen

language,

which

consisted of
"to/v."

seventeen
the

sounds.
original
letters,

Hence

the

name

When

Arabs,

whose

alphabet was the Himyarite, consisting of twenty-eight

adopted the

".s-r/yv"

alphabeth, they gave to some


letters

".sw/z-r'

letters

two

or

even

three sounds, and such

are each counted

now

as two or three letters.

As according
consist'^

to the

Sefer Yetzirah

the

Hebrew

alphabet

of ten

double

letters

and

twelve simple, therefore to

each double letter must

be

ascribed

two sounds and to each

simple letter only one sound without any regard to their value
in

Arabic.

The
a
T

best transliteration of the double letters

is

as follows:

= =

e,

=--

0,
f./i

2 -^
in

b,

2
i

d,->

"t/ie,"
/>,

= =
,/

V,

u,

= = w,
n

ff,

^
',

as English j (?)
k, 2

in
is
"

German

ch or Arabic
bic ^,
tr

/',

.sA,

= c =

or ph, n

=
?,

"

=
^/^

r or Ara-

French

(?),

=
= =

"tlrnxkr

The
r!

best transliteration of the simple letters

as follows:

/,,;

=
'^

English

;,
:

n
w,

=
D

/;

(Arabic
.V,

/',

u
,

<,

=
p

German

i,h

I,

m,

fe,

^.

Yetzirah After giving this division of the letters, the Sefer

shows how, from these twenty-two

letters,

all

the

words that

have ever existed or ever will exist can be formed.^)


See
G

')

text,

5,

and

7.

10

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.


Biliteral combinatinnx

upon

irhich all other

combinatinm are

bated.

a a
yi
tfi

"-"

a o
v: v.

\T-

vi Vi

NX' n: v:
>r:

v:

%,i

t^

vi

vi

v. V.

a a

-J-

vi

)^

vi

vi

i^

VJ

15

13

N-

a d o a a a a

Ki

vi

a g

no

a,

is
NT- NT- ^X' "^^ ^I" ^'" NX- %/ :J~ NX" NX- .J- NX- NX- NX- 'X'

nT

-J

u u -I
-<i

u
15

UIJUUDutJUijijUULIUU u -G3-."nJ!., ux -"-Onxu D

6 ^ J
-J

3 3 3 Q

a d xi a -i- ^ G G 15 v: a -O"^" 3 3 3 3 W (5 O "-O-J^iJ


1^

GgGGGGgGGGGGGG G3-'--UJ>-uX 3333333333333^ -G3-^-'3-J!-'uX


I

'

G 3 ^ ^ 3

-1

li

3C

3 ^

II

"3

^ 3

VJ

aC;S-^J":SG3=JiJ3Z}duJC a

riQJ-dP:W'6'-'o^'J^G3^^3J'^u3C ^^3^3333 3 33-133333 3H^ DQj-xlM;5^DCiONr-u-JG3=5-3J>:^uX 3Qj-i<si5^ac!a-x-u-iG3=JJ3jdux


-I

4j

3Q--JW>5^a>-"OX-<J 'G3-'-'3-l'-'UX
l- 4-#

i.

Sj

t.

j^

t,

Ij

Ij

i.#

i_,

S^

l.

i^

i^,

j_,

ij

l_^

j^

!_,

^G3-"3J>^U3C Z X 3^j-Oii;WvjoCO\ru-^03253j
OnX-u

THE ORIGIN OF LETTEKS AND NUMERALS.

1 ]

The purpose

of the author was to e

..pliiisizc

the superiority

of alphabetic writing over the non-alphabetic writing (ideographic

and syllabic) used

by

all

the

nations
If

of antiquity, and even

now by
cally all

a great portion of

mankind.
as

we arrange alphabetiScfer Yetzirah directs,

biliteral combinations,
all

the
all

joining x with

letters,

2 with
(22-'

letters,

etc.,

there

must

result a list of ^84 combinations

= 484).

(See preceding page.)

Furthermore, by the expres.sion lO'Di "nnsi D^JS


Vj:

'?:i"?;n

mm
indi-

noD^

i^vi

y^V

r^bvab

lai^ the

Sefer

Yetzirah

cates that the biliteral combinations can be


all

made
to

the basis of
all

trilitcral

combinations

If

we

desire

arrange

the

triliteral

combinations that can be formed from the 22


will

letters,

their

number

be

22'

or

10,()48.

For this

it

would be

necessary to draw up twenty-two tables with the biliteral combinatioi.s, leaving sufficient space
for the addition

between every two combinations


one table an n would have to
biliteral

of a letter.

On

be added at the beginning of each


tiic

combination, and

result would

be a complete table of 484 triliteral combinaS;

tions beginning with an

on another a 3 would be added in


table of

the same way,

making a complete

484

triliteral

com-

binations with the letter 2 at the beginning.

Proceeding thus
possible triliteral

with the remaining

letters,

we should get

all

combinations

that

can be

made

out of the twenty-two letters.


is

In this way two-thirds of the labor otherwise necessary


for
to

saved,

adding the third


produce
all

letter is

only one third of the labor required

the triliteral combinations.

Should we desire

to

write all the quadriliteral


of the

combinations that can be made out


to

22

letters,

we have only

make twenty-two

copies of

12
all

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.


the triliteral combinations, leaving sufficient space between

two successive

combinations

for

the addition of a

new

letter;

then by adding an x at the beginning


bination,

of each triliteral

com-

we

shall attain
in

10,648 quadriliterals

beginning with

an

N.

Proceeding

the

same way with


3,

;,

we

shall obtain

10,648 quadriliterals beginning with

and

so

forth with the

remaining

letters,

which would give a


quinqueliteral

total of

2"2*,

or 234,256.
to

The number

of

combinations

would amount

22\

or 5,153,632.

The powers

of

twenty-two up

to

12 are as follows:

484
10,648

-=-

22^
22' 22* 22* 22 22' 22 22'
22'" 22i'

234/256
5,153,632

113,379,904

2,494,357,888

54,875,873,536
1,207,269,217,792

26,559,922,791,424
584,318,501.411,328
12,855,002,631,049,216

= = = = = = = = =

22

'^

Thus

it

is

evident that the twenty-two

letters

will

admit
to

of an infinity of

combinations and
all

arrangements, sufficient
of

\B^
\

represent not only


in
all

conceptions
'

the mind, but all words

languages whatever.
results

The same

would

be

obtained, according

to

the

Safer Yetzirah, by adding a letter at the end of each combination.

When

a letter

is

added

at the

beginning, the process

is

called

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.


Q^JS
3J
is

13
as

'?.i'?3n

"inni,

the

table "tarns" in

front ot each letter,


JJV.

"turning" in front of the V becomes

and when a

letter

added

at

the

end,

it

is

called "nnx b^bin


JJ

mim, the

table

"turns" behind each


VjJ-

letter,

as

turning behind the y becomes


be formed

Thus, as either
^J

JJy or yiJ can


y,

from the com-

bination

by adding an

so all the triliteral combinations can

be

made

out of the biliteral combinations, by adding an addieither


at

tional

letter,

the

beginning

or

at the

end of the
triliterals.

biliteral combinations,
etc.,

and the quadriliterals from the


the
letters

without the necessity of writing


are desired.

anew, when

new combmations

How
twenty-two
tations in

infinite
letters,

numbers

of

words

are

formed out of the

the Sefer Yetzirah

demonstrates by permu-

whicli letters never repeat themselves but only

change

their places. as
:

Out

of

two

let ers")

two

biliteral

words are formed


words are formed

2N, X3

Out of three

letters six triliteral

as: :i3K, 3:s, 3X3, Hi2, axJ, X2i.


literal

Out

of four letters
i3:iK,

24 quadri-

words are formed as: nJ3K, J13K,


li2, m-12, N:n3, 13SJ,

2T,, i2iH, 3jnx,

-M2, :iX3, 1N33,

21M, 1X33;
Out
of

HlZi, 3X13,
five

X313, 33X1, 33X1, 3X31, X331,

3X31, X331.

letters
six-

120 quinqueliteral words are formed, out of six

letters

720

seven-letter letter words are formed and out of seven letters 5,040

words are formed.


to

The
and

Sefer Yetzirah

gives the factorials up

that of seven

concludes

the Mishnah
is

by saying: "Go

and count further, what the mouth


the ear
is

unable to pronounce, and

unable to hear."

See

teit,

8.

14

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NCHERALS.

The

factorials

up

to that of

1"2

are as follows:
1

2
6

24
120

720
5,040

= = = = = =

(1

(2 (3 (4
(5

(6
(7

40,320

=
= = =
==

(8 (9

362,880
3,628,800

(10
(11
(1-2

39,916,800

479,001,600

The
art.

factorials

up

to

36 are given
treating of

in

Eees' Encyclopedia,

Cipher.

The Mishnah
all

permutation was well


S.

explained by
\V.

commentators, especially by
of

Donnolo.

Stanley Jevons on the subject


letters

permutation says'):
permutations
decided

Thus the
according

A, B, C, will make
first,

different

as

stands

second
places

or third;

having

the place of A, there are two

between

which we may
Accor-

choose for B; and then remains

but one place for C.

dingly, the permutation of these letters will be altogether 3 x

2 X

or 6 in

number.

With

four things or letters A, B, C,


of places for the
first

and D, we shall have four choices

letter,

three for the second, two for the third, and one for the fourth, so
that there will be altogether 4 x 3 x 2 x
1,

or

24 permutations.

The same simple


')

rule applies to all cases; beginning with the

The

Principles of Science,

London 1887,

17S, 179.

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.


whole number

of things,

we multiply
"

at each step

by a number

decreased by a unit

He

further says:

"Many

writers

have

from

time to time

remarked upon the extraordinary magnitude of the numbers with


which

we

deal

in

this subject.

Taquet

calculated

that
in

the

twenty-four letters of the alphabet

may be

arranged

more

than 620 thousand trillions of orders; and Schott estimated that


if

a thousand million of

men were employed

for the

same number

of years in writing out these arrangements, and each

man

filled,

each day, forty pages with

forty

arrangements
task,

in

each, they

would not have accomplished


written only
trillions."

the

as

they
of

would

have

584 thousand

trillions

instead

620 thousand

CHAP,

THE TETRAQRAMMATON AND THE VOWELS


All words arising from the combination of the letters are

combined

and

permuted

with the Tetragrammaton, called by


nin',

the Sefer Yetzirah

"One Name"
all

from which emanated the


According
to the

whole of creation and


Yetzirah,
is

languages^).

Sefer

the alphabet

did

not consist of consonants only, as

held by

many

Semitic

scholars, but

had

vowels

also,

the(

letters of the

Tetragrammaton themselves being vowels.

Indeed,

i-a-o-ti-e^). the ancients transcribed nin' by the vowels i-e-u-o, and

8)
9^

See

text, 9.

Comp.

188S, Reiiao, History of the People of Israel, Boston

I,

69.

IQ

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.

To understand how the


be vowels,
are.
it

letters of the

Tetragammaton can
vowels

is

necessary

to

know

what the Hebrew


differ

Here the view of various writers


opinion

widely.

Dunash

Ibn Tamim"j, whose


writers, maintained

was

shared

by

many Hebrew
the original

that

the three

letters '"S

are

vowels of

the

Hebrew alphabet;

Roger Bacon*'), Masklef, and

others held that the six letters

vmns

were

originally vowels;
five letters y'ir;N

and Jerome and many others asserted that the


were the original vowels.
are the four letters
'iyi</

In

my

opinion
still

the

original

vowels

which are

used as vowels in tran-

scribing other

languages in Hebrew

characters.

The Sefardic

Jews, when

writing Spanish
e

with Hebrew letters, transcribe a


o

by X;

and

by

"';

and u and

by

The Ashkenazic Jews,


a and o

when
by N,

writing
e

German with Hebrew


i,

letters, transcribe

by V, M by

and

or

./

by \

An

investigation into

the relation of the letters to the vowel points according to the

Ashkenazic pronunciation led


the sound of
a,

me
o,
''

to the conclusion that V

has
its

H of

e,

and

of

i,

and

of u,

besides

sounds of w.
If this
rect, not

opinion with regard to the original letters be coris

only an x

hidden under a n

of the

Tetragramma-

ton ni.T, as believed by

Dnnash Ibn Tamim,'^) Judah ha-Levi,


V-

and Abraham Ibn Ezra, but also an

In order to understand

the secret of the Tetragrammaton, the nature of the ~


better defined.

must be

We

have seen that many authors since Jerome

w) Sefer YeUirah, London 1902, 20, 45, 48.

") See JQR., XV, 336.


") Sefer Yetzirah, London 1902, 45.

tHE OR IGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.


believed n to be a vowel.

17

This

is

not the opinion of the Sefer


conse-

Yetzirah.

It

counts n

among

the simple letters, and,


tiiat

quently, no sound in addition to


it.

of

/(

can be attached to

On

the other hand,

the n
it

occurs

at the

end of words as

silent,

indicating that
therefore

occupies the place of a vowel letter.

We

must

assume that the Sefer Yetzirah considers

n to play the same part

among
zero
is

the vowel letters as zero does


not a digit
itself,

among
occupies
itself,

numerals.
the place

As

but

only

of a digit, so the silent n is not a vowel In the Tetra'

but merely occupies the place of a vowel.


after the
letter.
i

grammaton, both the ~


the place
of

and the n

after the

occupy

vowel

The

original letters of the Tetra-

grammaton were xiy


Now, what
letters
is

instead of ~'~\

tiie

"great secret,"

which

the three mother

(vowels) B'OS contain

according to the Sefer Yetzirah?


it

Dunash
'IS,

Ibn

Tamim
he

declared

to

be the three vowel letters

which

identified

with

the

Tetragrammaton

"in''

the

"secret name."

In
in

my
'28,

opinion, b'dn
te.xt

stands for ivs, and

nDS

which occurred

the Rashi

of the Sefer Yetzirah (Raslii,


p.

commentary on Job
''VS.

27;

8.

Sachs, ~jvn,

94) stands for


there are four

According
letters,

to

the original Sefer Yetzirah

mother
by
the
the
1

ra'N, cryptograms which should be deciphered

letters

"Vh:

the x
'.

by

s,

the

a by the

V.

the

tf

by

and the n by the


to

From

these four

letters

emanated,
air,

according
fire,

the Sefer Yetzirah, the four elements,

water,

and

earth.

The
characters

Sefer

Yetzirah

apparently

used
the

ntfDX

as

secret
is

representing

'""VX^

because

Hebrew alphabet

l8

TdK OklGIN UF LETTERS AND NUMEKALS.


with the n at the
tf

arranged

beginning,
;

the

in

the

middle,

and the

and the n

at the end

while
at the

the

Arabic alphabet

was originally arranged with the


the middle, and the
i

beginning, the V in

and

',

at the end.

The Arabic alphabet

consisted originally of the following seventeen letters:")

u?
'

)
1

'

CI
j

"^

~^

>-J

~'
t2

^^
a

LK'

J
n

^
~

V
2

'

N
bethe

The
ginning,

fact

that the Arabic alphabet has the n


V in the

at the
'

the

middle,

and

the

"

and

the

at

") As

sound,

'""VS were originally vowels and as ,~ has an aspirate which originally may not Lave been counted as a ci nsonant,

therefore there are only twelve consonant letters in this alphabet.

Hugo

Winckler (Die Babylonische Kullur, Lei[


urspriinglich zwolf

/.ig

190i

(P. 47)

Says: Es warden
^Konsonanten""

nach

dem

Tierkreiszeichen

benannte

unterschicden, wclche durch drei Vokale rogiert wcrder, wie der Tieiknis
<lurch die drei

Regfuten.

The Hebrew
'J

letters according

to the

Arabic

order would be as follows 'in


If this

DO'' "Dp r)Syti *"iB' Di Tin;. r2N.

must have been


the
'

were also the original order of the Hebrew alphabet, the s at the beginning, the y in the middle and the \ and

at the end, instead of

at the beginning,

in the middle,

and

\i.'

and n at the end.


two sounds e and

its

Although the S has been placed at the beginning of the alphabet o, however, harmonize between a and u the sounds
and
1

of y

respectively.

^"bui

r'p^'Z'

(1=)

]"^Z'

TDOl"

(y

CnrD y'DD

(Text

10).

This would

indicate

that

the author

^) n"D km w
a.

also of an order of the vowel letters, as 'isy

'ISSy

i,

u,

o, e,

G. H. von Meyer
says: T'zerniack
first

(The organs of Speech,


the greatest

New York

1881

p.

'2:>5

showed that the elevation of the

soft palate differed

with the utterance of each vowel,


the vowel
i

eleva'.ion occurring

wilh

(ee in see)

and that the elevation gradually diminished when


i,

the vowels were uttered in the following order:

u,

o,

e,

a."

The

Sefer

Yetiira seems to he of the same opinion

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.

19

end, leads to the conclusion that the arrancjement of the Arabic

alphabet
trary
is

is

older than that of the Hebrew,

although

tlie

con-

generally believed to be the case.

The
whole

alphabet

was
Tlie

anciently

believed

to

symbolize

the

universe.

vowels

wiiich

were

the original letters


in

of the Tetragrammaton,

were placed at the beginning,

the
\s

middle, and
the

at

the end of the alphabet, to signify that

~'.~->

God

of the whole universe, that


tiie

He

is

the

beginning,

tlie

middle, and

end.

According
alphabet,
ii

to tlieir

sounds, we

may

count, in

tlie

Hebrew
i

thirtytwo
r),
'

letters,
'-=

divided

into live vowels

>'

<(,

e,

s=

= u,

'

i)

and twenty-seven

consonants.
1,

Each
stands
Tiii)

vowel, according to the Sefer Yetzirah isee text, 12

by

itself,

but the consonants are <lependent on the vowels.

vowels and consonants were

made

in

the form of a "state and


Isaac Taylor
in
'*i

arranged like an army in battle array."


"Like soldiers on parade the
characters

says:

the alphabetic line

have been dressed."

V
CHAl*.
III.

SEFIROT.
The
luestion
fflyphics,

origin

of

the

alphabet was, and


it

still

is,

burning
liioro-

to scholars.

Did

spring from the Egyptian

or from

the cuneiform systems of the Assyrians,


or

or

from

the

hieroglyphics of the Hittites,

from the Syllabary

')

The Alphabet, London

1883,

I,

125.

'20

I'llE

ORIGIN OF LETTEKS AND NUMEllAhS.

of

Cyprus?

The
it

Sefer Yetzirah answers:

"From the

Sefirot"'^).

But what does

mean by
it

Setirot?

On

this point endless dis-

cussions arose; and

has even been disputed whether they are


theological,
writers,

designed
mysteries.

to

express

philosophical,

or

physical

Most of the

bent

on explaining the Sefer

Yetzirah in a philosopiiical way,


.~;D''?3.

maintain that by mT'ED ityy


so-called Arabic numerals,

the Sefer Yetzirah


3, 4,
5, 6, 7,

meant the
and
0.

1,

2,

8,
'^),

\),

This

view

is

shared

by

Dunash Ibn Tamim


object to
it,

who, however, admits that some peojde


if

and maintain that


it

the Sefer Yetzirah had

meant
Sefi-

the Arabic numerals,


rot)
:

would

iiave said

ni'SD yrn (nine

for as the cipher is

not a digit, there are only nine signi-

licant

numbers.

A much

weightier

reason

for

opposing
is

the

identification
tliat

of the Sefirot with the Arabic numerals

the fact

the Sefer Yetzirah gives ten as the total


the

number resulting
and
is

from
total

addition

of

the

numerals

1,

2,

4,

and the

of the 9 Arabic numerals

added together

45.

However, there can

be

no

doubt that the Sefirot philo-

sophy of the Sefer Y^etzirah rested on some system of numeral


notation.
I

have
that

studied various
it

systems of antiquity

and

have

found

harmonizes

with a numeral system con-

sisting of a series of strokes from one to four,


all
1,

amounting

in

to ten
| 1 1 1 1 1
1

1,
1
1

and the zero

0.

Indeed, the numbers

2,

3,

and 4 were originally

indicated

by

such a series of
the old

strokes, as is well

known

to

all

familiar with

Roman,

Greek,

and

South-Arabian systems of notation.

The numeral

'^)

See

text,

14.

"')

See Sefer Yfsirah, London 1902, 24, 25.

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NDMERALS.


systems
ot the
tlie

21

Phoeuicians,
5,
G, 5,

Egyptians,
7,
|||

Babylonians
tlie first
1 ]
1

etc.,

even

indicated
of
1

numbers
||

8 and 9 by
1
1 1

four groups

strokes,
=== ><,

as
III

|||

=
111

G,
|

|||

=
1,

7,

||

|||

and

III

9.

There can be uo doubt, there2, 3,

fore,

that

by r"r:zc "cy the Seler Yetziraii meant


strolces, their
~'^''T2.

and

4 written in
to ten "),

number amounting,
it

wlien added together,

and by

meant

zero,

whicli,

being a symbol
in

for nothing, is

the equivalent of "a'-a,

"nothing"

Hebrew.
ib*v

My

belief

is

that originally the text must have had

rn^Ec

~ai'?;'i

=
all

ten digits

and

zero.
it

As, according to the Sefer Yctzirah,


press
liow

is

possible to ex-

numbers by the
numbers,
the
ten

ten

Sefirot"*),

we must demonstrate
nine,

all

even those higher


strokes.

tiian

may

be indi-

cated

by

The

strokes to indicate

numbers

were anciently written vertically and iiorizontally as


]!y

^^=.

means
they

of the strokes

and the

zero, all

numbers may be expressed,

as

are

expressed by the Arabic numerals.

The numbers

10, 20, 30, 40,

50

500.

.5000

50000 may be expressed

as_0, =0, =0, =0, ^0,


1907
for

^00,^000,^0000.

instance would be represented thus:

=0

^'^i.

Abraham

my attentiou to the following passage of r^zp- "ODn 'u.'i, Leipzig 1853, p. 20: 'n-.o m'^'ssn riMVi 's^ ya-us: -^^bbz: D-tr pitec iry -sic pu'n "ra" n^-^sn -rs -;"; 3"!< -i -^^a 'sibH -r 'zrz: '.^S2) n; db's r-h-im
") Dr.

H.

Malter

calls

Abulalia in Jellinek's

_. ^-|j^ -;)

This passage
to

proves that
writers.

the true meaning of the Seiirot

had been known


') ')

some Hebrew
16-

See

teit, S

Some Pythagoreans used


Bi^itriiye,

the strokes with the principle of


i

|iosi-

abacus tion without a zero in the columns of an


matischc

Ur. M. Cantor's Mathe-

page 202).

22

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.


practically the abacus on paper
of notlie

Such a system of notation


and
tation

is

apparently
of the

was

tlie

source of the scientific system

Chinese,
tlie

and may
origin

have been the source of


is

Arabic numerals,

of wliich

admittedly doubtful.

To avoid writing
to
1),

too

many

strokes, the Chinese


1,

made one
4, 5,
(J,

stroke
7,

represent five units.


0,

The numerals
|

2,

3,

8,

were

written,
for

|,

M| M

M
|

|,T

TT.
|||||
4(i

in._lTTl^

14U5r)36

instace

was written

=0^
:
||

(sec

M.

Cantor's Mathematische Heitriige. Halle


table figures
15,
K;).

1863,

and 47;

first

The East-Arabian
ted

figures

',

^
|

^,

(1,

"2,

3,

and

4) origina-

from the primitive numerals

|||

||||.

They
to

are only

a combination of two, three, and four strokes, respective numbers.


circle,

indicate the

The

figure

^^

for

5 originated

from

the

which

in the primitive system of numeral notation

was

the fifth symbol representing a zero, and in the South-Arabian

system of numeral notation was a symbol representing ten units.

The East-Arabian

figures,

",

'^.

^ (6,

7,
1

and

8)

are

each

combination of two strokes.

The

figure

originated apparently
a

from a circle and a stroke, and a dot indicated

zero.

Many
principle

writers
of

maintain

that

only at a later

period

the
are,

position

and

the

zero was discovered.

We
In

however,

now

certain that in

Babylon,

many

centuries

before

the Christian Era. a sexagesimal position was known.


opinion,
position,

my

the sexagesimal

position originated from the decimal


;

and not the reverse

for the earliest abacus,


is

which

was

doubtless based on a decimal position,

older than the

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.


sexagesimal
l)osition

23
principle

system.
its

F.

Cajori

says:'")

"The

of

in
for

general

and systematic application required a

symbol

zero.

We

ask,

Did

tiie

Babylonians possess one?

Had

they already taken the gigantic step of representing by a


I

symbol the absence of units?"


tlie

am

inclined to believe that


-'
i.

zero

is

as

old

a.-

tlie

i)rinciple of position

'Die final

perfection of the so-called Arabic

system of notation consisted,


zero,

not in the discovery of the princii)le of position and the

but
tion

ratlier in

pointing out

how the primitive

principle of posi-

and the zero can be conveniently used


1,

witii

nine

figures,

such as

2,

3,

4,

a,

G,

7,

8,

and

9.

Although
Babylonia, yet
"'^

tlie
it

sexagesimal position was anciently known in

was used only,

in

higher mathematics, as in
1894, p. 7.

History of Mathematics,

New York

") In the Americnn Mathematical Moitlhhi, 1909, p


calls

177, G. A. Miller

attention to the recent change

of view in reference to several im-

portant

qnestions
Cantor's
I),

in

the history of elementary mathematics.


iHier

On page
(second

576

of

]'orlesuiigeii

GesvhUhte

der

Mathonatil;
to

edition, vol.

the following words are found:


is

"According
as
follows:

our opinion
stateto

the discovery of zero

due

to the

Hindoos."
reads

The corresponding

ment
our
the

in

the third edition,

page 616,
is

"According

opinion

the discovery
is

due

to the

Babylonians,

the deepening of

concept

due

to the Hindoos.''

G. A. Miller farther says:


its

"The

discovery of zero, as used above, implies


It is certain that the to

use in positional arithmetic.


in

Greeks employed zero

the second century B. C.


in in

denote the absence of degrees, minutes, or seconds

their sexagesi-

mal notation. was

The

earliest

known
date.

use of this

symbol
it

Babylonian

init

scriptions belongs to the third century B.


in use at a

C, but

is

supposed that

At the International Mathematical Congress held in Paris in 1900, Cantor suggested that zero was probably in use among the Babylonians as early as 1700 B. C. Even if

much

earlii r

such an early date cannot be established,


will

it

appears likely that scholars


positional

hereafter

attribute

the

discovery

of

arithmetic

to the

Babylonians instead of the Hindoos."

24
astronomy,

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.

etc.;

for

ordinary

purposes
tiie

there

was a decimal

system

of

notation,

without

principle of position.

When
of

we

find

that in

Egypt and Phoenicia only a decimal system


without
the principle of position,
it

notation

was

used,

may

not be taken as proof that the decimal position and zero were

unknown.
of

decimal system of notation without the principle


in

position

was

ancient times considered more convenient

than a decimal system of notation based upon the principle of


position.

When
0,

it

was, that

tlie

primitive numerals,

|,

||,

{,

{,

were

clianged
the

into the figures used


1,

by the East-Arabs,
7, 8,

to

indicate
not

numbers
to

2,

3,

4,
it

5,
is

6,

and

9.

shall
tliat

venture

conjecture.

But
to

proper to assume,

they they

may have been known


began
to to
tiie

a few learned

men

long

before

be

widely

used.

Tliey

may have
'-'-).

even been
"i'^"";

known

author

of tlie

Sefer Yetzirah

Yet by

"')

As an early Arabian mathematiciaa Mohammed ben Musa Alkhowathat


the

rezini

said

lodians

practiced the so-called Arabian system of


Ihitriigt,

notation

(M. Cantor's

Itlnl/it-nintUclie

Halle

1863,

pagi? 269),

arguments have been advanced that the Indians invented


at least taught
it

this system, or

to the Arabs.

But

it is

very doubtful what

Mohammed
Ethio-

ben
used

Musa meant by
or

Indians.

By Indians he might have meant


under
the
torrid zone

pians,

any

other

nation

which the ancients

Writing,

tu denominate as Indians (T. Astle, The Origin and Progress of London 1784, p. 41: rhu!', IX, 354, 439). <r he could have meant Jewish astronomers like JIashallah, who was called by Abraham ibn Eira an Indian sage (mr; Din) (see M. Steinschneider, Arab. Litf
<ler

ratur
of

Juden, Frankf. a.M. 1902, p. 15)

As the Arabic numeral system


the
Selirot

notation

apparently
it

originated

from

philosophy

of the

Sefer

Yetzirah,
as
its
II.

is

proper to share the view of those

who claim

the

Hebrews

inventors (E. Brooks, the Philosophy of Arithmetic, Phila24).

delphia 1876,

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.


no'''?;
file

25
but

r'-^BC the autlior meant,


|,

nut the Arabic numerals,


||||,

primitive numerals,

||,

|||.

0,

from which the Arabic

numerals originated.
As, according to the Sefer Yetzirah, the alphabet originated from the ten Sefirot, which are, as was demonstrated,
first

the

four groups of strokes


tlie

amounting

to ten,

we must assume

that

first

alphabet must have been constructed out of these


]ieeuliarity
in

strokes.

This

harmonizes

best

with

tjie

Libjanfirst

Uerberic alphabet,
four groui)s
circle

which we actually
.

find each of the


|,

of

strokes;
is

__.

^. =,
as

||,

|||,

||||

and the

or

each a

letter.

Moreover, the other letters of


point, without a doubt,
|

the
to

same alphabet have such forms


their

origin

in

the first four groups of strokes,


are so

||

|||

||||.

Two,

three,

or four strokes

combined as

to

indicate the

various
etc. 25).

letters

asn,_[.
these

Tl

IJ-

GZl'TTllll

QD
which

Similar
iiave

to

cliaracters are the linear letters,

been
J.

found

on

the

Egyptian pottery.
says:

On

this subject,

Mr. W.

Harding King^*)

"Mr. Evans

and Professor

Minders Petrie have shown that certain linear characters which


have
nary been
in

found on

the Egyptian pottery


of the

form a sig-

which a large number

characters are identical

with the Libyan and Tilinagh.


are
earlier than

The

linear characters in
a

Egypt

the hieroglyphics,

though

few of the forms

may

ultimately have been fused with the latter.


')

Evolved at a
Bickell,

K. Faulniann, Gesclndite 'kr Schnft, AVien 1880, p. 257,

Hebrew Grammar,
Euting, No. 52, 03.
*<)

Loipiig 1877.

Table of Semitic characters

by Julius

A Search

fur the

Masked Tawaroks, London 1903,

p. 322.

26
date
nitli
It
it:

THE OniGlN OE

hfiTTfiRS

AND NUMERALS;

when

hieroglyphic
vitality,
lliat,

wTitiiig

was unknown,

tliey

persisted

a strange

and
in

were never absorbed or ousted."

proper to note
three, or

some Herberic alphabets


i)laced
in

-^j,

one,
to

two,

four

dots

are

various positions,

indicate ...
.,

ditlerent

letters.

The

tour groups of dots


in

which may be arranged

triangular I'orm

.-...

as

the Pythagoreans arranged them,

were originally also symbols


1,

representing

tlie

first

four

numbers

2,

3,

and

4'*^).

As

al-

ready demonstrated, the


that
still

lirst

alphabet invented was

similar to

used by the Berbers, whence the inference, that there


been a time

may

have

when the Hebrews


rn:
'''')

also used such an

alphabet.
writing':'

May

not

"SJ';:^'-

originally have

meant Libyan

According
alphabet
|

to
is

J.

Halevy's
||

decipherment
is
..

of
is

the
V,

Libyan
is

or
to
II

or

s,

or

|||

or 11.
||||

^
or

||||

n.

According
or

the Sefer Yetzirah (

10,

18,

19,20, 21)
is
'.

is

N,

is

V,

|||

or^is

Hence,
tlie

the

vowel-letters

vyx were
to

originally
strokes,
|,

indicated
||,

by
or

four

groups
If

amounting
vowel

ten

|||,

||||

=^=The

these

sounds were originally

the numeral words for

one, two, three,


bols

and

four,

we may assume that the vowel sym-

were

invented
of

at

the

same time

as

the numerals.

invention
sisted,

such
of

an alphabet as the Libyan must have con-

chiefly

symbols

for

consonants, because vowel sym-

") K. Faulman,
">)

p.

257-8.
in

Cyrus

Thomas

the

19lh Annual

Report of

the Bureau of
860.

.'Viaericau

Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, 1897

98,

p.

") Sanhedrin 2Ib.

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.


bols

27

were

alre;iily

in

existence

from

tiie

time the numerals

were invented.
In
tliis

way we can understand why


wore
III

tlie

vowels (the Tetraitt'V

gammatoni
~'''-^I

originally

identical
also
in

with the ten digits

II

lllj.

This

is

harmony with the loUo'n -fiix"):


?.>k*:,
:.

winif ((notations from the

commentary
~".~ s:r
'

"In His great

name
the
tions

wiiicli

is

.lehovah.

"-rr^r.

for

He

comijriscs
it

Ten

Setirot.""

r.-'2c

~:" ' i:r x-n


it

"When

men-

the 'mothers' (vowelsj


"i^-iv:

means the
"it

Seitirot themselves." in
tlie

n-^ECn

-2-':
that,

nux

-irna-:
it

was explained
it

se-

cond chapter

wherever

says 'mothers,'

alludes to the

Scfirot themselves."

""' r-iUS

loxr

Dip;> ^: >:

;"5: 't-rs

-123

The
it

four elements, air, water,

tire,

and earth, from which


created,

was

anciently
to

believed
Sefer

everything was

emanated,
air

according

the

Yetzirah,

from
',',

the
tire

vowels ^'jn;

emanated

from
".

the s- water from the

from the

".

and

earth from the

As the vonels were


it

originally identical with

the ten Setirot.


emanated'-"'
1.

is

from the Setirot that the whole universe

The

Setirot

cosmogony

is

given

by the Sefer

Yetzirah as follows:

With hewed
out
'two'

'one.'

the
air,

living

God

of the Universe graved


this
is

and

voice,

and speech, and

the Holy

Spirit.

With
is

God graved and

iiewed out void and chaos.

Void
chaos

a green line that surrounds the

whole universe,

and

refers to

viscous stones, sunk in the abyss,

whence water comes

forth."
") .SV/Vr
-"')

YeUtni/i,
17.

Warsaw

1884,

]).

6!),

74,

W.

See

teit,

28
Witli
Hl'

THE ORIGIN or LETTERS AND NUMERALS.

'three'

God graved and hewed out mud and


a

clay.
like a

arranged them like

garden bed.
like a

He

set

tiiem

up

wall.
tliein

He
snort',

covered

them

pavement,

and

poured upon

and the earth was formed."


iour'

"\\'ith

God
the

graved

and hewed out the Throne of


and the

Glory, the ophanini,

seraphim, the holy animals,

ministering angels"

"'i.

Chaos
finite

.signified

in

the ancient cosmogonies the vacant, inall

space

out

of

which sprang
as

things that exist.


it

Later

cosmogonists,
shapless

such
out

Ovid,

represent

as

the

confused,
a

mass,

of

which the universe was formed into

cosmos, or harmonious order.

W. Enfield")

says:

"By Chaos

some writers understood water, and make


principle".

this the first material

He

further says:'^)
to

"The theogonists
in
tiie

certainly do

not

suppose

God

have been prior

order of time to

matter: they speak of Chaos as eternal, and seem to have been

wholly unaciiuainted with the doctrine of creation from nothing".


This
the
is

at variance

with

tlie

Sefer Yetzirah,

which emphasizes

doctrine

of creation from nothing by the statement:

"He

(Godi formed existence out of void, something out of nothing"

(Mishnah

'22i.

It

holds that chaos was not even the


voice,
air,

first

thing

created, but

was preceded by

and speech-").

See teit, 18-21.


1,

") History of Philosoplij, London 1819.


)
]/<i(l.,

ISO.

131.

") The number philosophy


Enfield,

of Pythagoras

has been explained (W.


1.

History

of Philosophy London,

1819

vol.

p.

383) as follows

, Intelligible

numbers

are those

which subsisted
It is the

in the divine
its

mind

be-

fore all things, from

which everything has received

form, and

which

always remain immutably the same.

model, or archetype, after

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS

ANlJ

NUMEUaLS.

29
as
I

The numeral system


plained,
III,

of

tlie

Sefer

Tetzirah,

have ex|,

may
0,

be

considered

to

consist
fifth

of live symbols,

||,

nil,

the cipher being the

symbol.

From

this

sym-

bol originated the


It
is

numeral

(.ji

in

the East-Arabian notation.


,

identical

in

form with the letter

("> ol the

Arabic alpha-

bet.

As the in
its
it

indicates the absence of a vowel letter,

and

is

similar

nature to the zero,


is

which indicates the absence


originated from the zero.
|||,

of a digit,

possible that the "

The

first

primitive

numerals
five

|,

||,

||||,

0,

were thus pri-

marily

identical,

with the
of

vowel-letters ~'iyx which were

originally

the

letters

the

Tetragrammaton

-,r,\

Tiie five

primitive symbols are the five elements with whicli God created

which the world,


tssence
to

in
.

all
.
.

its

parts,

is

framed.
or unity,
:

Xutiibers are the cause of


is

beings

The Monail,

that quantity which,

whence called Monad. It is the fountain of all numbers. The Duad is impeif^ct and passive, and the cause of inciease and division. The Triad, composed of llie Monad
of all nnnibcr,

being deprived

remains fixed

and Duad, partakes


nian number,
is

of the

nature of both.

The Tetrad,

Tctractys, (jualeris

the most peit'ect.


all

The Decad, which

the

sum

of the

four former, comprehends

arithmetical and musical proportions. Accor1

ding to some writers, the Mona

diinotcs the active principle of natuie,


;

or God: the Duad, the passive principle or mother

the Trial, the

woild

(in the Sefer Yetzira, the earth) formed by the union of the two former:

and the
the

Tetiacly.-i,

the perfection

of nature.

Some have understood by


and others have been

this mysterious

uiimbor

the four elements; other.', the four faculties of

human mind:

others, the four cardinal virtues:

so absurd as to suppose Pythagoras

made use

of this

number

to

express

the

mamc

of (iod, in reference te the

cxpretsed in

the

Hebrew language.

word r,;~\ by which that name is But every attempt to unfold this

mystery has hitherto been unsuccessful". The reader \Vill find below my view on the origin of the Pythago1 will only say here that there is no absurdity in rean philosophy. identifying the Tetractys with the Tetragrammaton; and moreover the
identity
is

established by the Sefer Yetzirah.

Jj^

THB ORIGIN Of LETTEftS AND NUMfcRALS.


zero being the filth element, as the
:ijni i;r' -j'n

the universe,

tlie

rt

or

tlie

Safer Yetzirah says:'*)

C':2H

-ryi

trot:

^rno

nr

-ns

nm

'

;;':

DNitrT

antry

lai'' |D'ci

rsr:

-irsB*

tisd mr.-;.

"He formed

existence out of void, something out of nothing,


of-

and He hewed large stones out


two in number, one
in
sj)irit."'

intangible

air,

thus, twenty-

The word
is

'"n (void;

has the same meaning as

'J''?^

it

also equivalent to zero,

which symbolizes the creation of


This
is

so-

mething
ching
the
of

out

ot

nothing.

in

accordance

witli

tlie

tea-

the Pythagoreans wlio counted the void surrounding


as a
fiftii

universe

element (Wilhelm

Bauer,
1.

iK-r

iiltcr,'

l\ltha(ii,rei^mn.s,

Berne 18U7, pp. 83. 84, 88, 89


that

We
ratiier

must conclude
originated

the so-called Arabic numerals and


zero,

the "alphabet

from the ten digits and the


1

or

from two symbols,

0,

the stroke and the circle.

L. D.

Nelme'''), in his essay on the origin of kttors, shows that all

") See
^')

teit, 22.

Coinp.

"An Essay

towards an Inveatigatidn of the Origin and


L.
I).

Elements of Language

and Letters" by

Nelme, London

I7G:'.

On

page 16 we read as follows: "All his (Gods) creation, and every minutest the line 1 the part thereof, participates of two most essential forms
:

symbol

of

the

altitude,

and

the

circle
lirst

the

symbol

of

the horizon.
all

Th'se s5mbol8 contain in them the There doth not eiist ted nature.

elements, the forms of

crea-

in

tlie

whole creation any being,


nor can the

or

thing, that doth not portafe of the tirst principles:

human
tirst

mind conceive
elements:
every
thtin

of

any
are

oxis'ence,

without ideas that include these


all

which
of

not only forms essential to


that
arises in the

matter but also

to

idea
the

matter

human mind:

they contain iu

elements

of every art,

and thfy are the radii of


tis

letters also,

and of cveiy science known to man; which we have already considered

ayuibols eipressiva of ideas."

tllE ORIGIN

OF LBtTERS aKD NUMERALS.

3l

elementary
line

cliaracters,

or letters,

derive

tlieir

forms from the


it

and
holds

the

circle.
all

As

understand the Sefer Yetzirair,

also

that

written characters originated from a line

and a
unity,

circle,

but from a line that was originally a symbol for


a
circle

and

that was

originally

the symbol for zero.

Similarly, all cuneiform characters originated from two symbols

< those

for

one and ten.

L. L. Conant"^j says:

"Two

centuries ago the distinguish-

ed philosopher

and

mathematician Leibnitz proposed a binary


the
|

system system

of

numeration,

only
. .

symbols

needed

in

such a

would he

and

Leibnitz found in the represenof two digits

tation of all

numbers by means

and

a fitting

symbolization of the Creation out of chaos or nothing,

of

the

Universe by the jiower of the Deity."


only a binary

We
but

have seen that not


even
the

system

of

numeration,

decimal

system
it

may
been

be expressed by a stroke and a zero.


pointed
out
that the alphabet

Moreovei-,

has

and the so-called

.Arabic
tore,
,

numerals

originated

from these two symbols.

There-

the author of the Sefer Yetzirah

may have meant by two


a

with which
for

God

created void and chaos,

digit

and a

zero;

as

the
so

ten digits

may be

expressed

by nine digits

and

zero,

may two

digits be

represented by a digit and

a zero.
bits,

Thus, the

Sefer Yetzirah

may have
of the

believed two dicreation,

and
j

a tilting

symbolization

out of

chaos or nothing,

of the universe, by

the power of the Deity.


ten occupies the space. of

J{ecause the zero in the


a digit, onlv

number

nine strokes, not ten, are used: and, therefore, we

The Number Concept, New York

189G, p.

10>.

32

tMe origin or lettehs and numerals.


numeral system of the Sefer Yetzirah,
con-

may
sists

say that

tlie

of nine digits

and the

zero.

For
|

||

|||

||||

||||||||| 0,

and the symbol =^ expresses the wliole numeral system.


latter

The
it

figure was anciently

linown in South Arabia, an >")

and

re-

presented,
calls

according to

Halevy,

The

Sefer Yetziraii

the letters "stones" (c^:2N), because they originated from

the numerals (Sefirot), which were originally indicated by stones.


It
is

possible, therefore, that the


tlie

=^

is

the philosopher's stone,


all

from which

Arabic numerals, the alphabet, and

civiliz-

ation originated.

Moreover, since in =^ are united the ten

Sefirot,

the vowels

and

the

Tetragrammaton,
the
is

it

a])parently symbolized the angel


to in

containing

name ~'~\
chiefly

referred
in

Exodus

-23,

20, 21.

This

angel

known

kabbalistic literature by the

name

D'^sn ivf "iMiioo


witii

"Metatron,

Prince

of the Face" and

is

identified

the

prophet

Elijah'*).

He

is

the

~~''i^~

ir

"Prince of Creation," or the


the universe.

Logos,"

witii

which God created

Upon

tlie

crown of the head of this angel "The


letters
etc.,

Holy one -Blessed be He" wrote


ted

with which were creaall

heaven,
'^1.

earth,

seas,

rivers,

and

the elements of

creation

To
of

this angel

God
all

intrusted all the secrets of the


the

Law,

and
to

wisdom;
as

and

mysteries of creation are

known

him

they are known to the Creator Himself*"i.

As the Arabic numeral system of notation, the vowels, and the

^')

Comp
19.

1).

H. Mailer,

Efiii/niphisclie fMiikinalei' aiis Ara/iieii,

Vienna

18S9, p.

") 'JilKT Uip"". Lemberg 1860,

p.

47b.

")

Ibiil.,

5-2b.

") Ibid, 48b.

The origin of letteks and numerals.


Tetragrammaton were originally

33
the

identical, they all contain


is

same

'great secret'

the revelation of which


(text,
^i^vj

forbidden by the
1.

author of the Sefer Yetzirah


apparently
is

10, 11, 14

This secret

the angel

symbolized
as 4=.

by

the

letter

V,

which was anciently written also

The most mysterious


prophet Elijah.
true
It

character

in

Jewish history

is
is

the
the

was he who demonstrated that m.T

God

and no other.
-|S~^.
It
is

He
is

is

called the angel of the Coveto

nant,

r,''i2~

He

believed

be present at the ciris

cumcision.
decide
all

also believed

that he

bound

to

come and

knotty points in the law, and to appear before the

true Messiah arrives.

In kabbalistic literature,
all

not only

tiie

vowel letter

y.

but

the letters are considered images of angels.

In Sefer Raziel

(ed.

Amsterdam,
t;"i

p.

126) occurs the following:


d^ik^d,- dp,in r,a-

n";pn ana
"Like

mBJU'

rvms ppnr dind

Adam who

engraved

letters

out of the likeness ot the Holy


(^ne,

those angels

who had been driven away, whom

Blessed be He, rebuked and cast down from the high heavens.

He

then

graved their likeness from Aleph to Taw."


vowel
letters,

The

however,

the

letters

of

the

Tetra-

grammaton,
the cipher ~
a picture

are images and pictures of superior angels.


is

Since
is

also

a letter of the

Tetragrammaton,

it

also

and

image

of a superior angel.
is

The angel which


]r:z',

the cipher before

n symbolizes,
to

apparently Satan
all

who appears

God

prosecute

mortal

beings as he prosecuted

34
Job

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.


and
Joshua
li.

son of Jehozadak (Job the

1,

C r2:

i*,

7;

Zechar. 3,

Like

cipher ~ so the
in

zero in the Arabic

system

of

notation,

and

the system from which the latter


to

originated,
or Satan*'),

was anciently believed


in

symbolize the
one
1,

evil

deity,

contrast

to

the

numeral

which was
all

thought
emanated.

to

symbolize

the

good God,
1

from
the
zero

whom

good

The

numeral

one

and

are a fitting

symbolization of the two opposing principles concerning which


the Sefer Yetzirah
iv>

"23)

says as follows:

"Also God
evil,

set

the one over against the other, good against

and

evil

against good:
evil,

good out of good; and


evil
is

evil out of
is

evil;

good testing
for the good,

and
evil

testing good:

good

stored

away

and
of

stored
of

away
letters

for the evil."

The

account

the

origin

and numerals the

author of the Sefer Vetzirali concludes as follows:

"When Abraham
ed and

our father arose, he looked nnd saw and

investigated and observed and engraved and hewed and combin-

formed and calculated, and his creation was successful.


ot
all

Then the Master

revciiled

himself to him,
at
lirst
tlie

and made a
precise
fiii<

") 'It was nut very easy


iif

to

tumprehend
itself,

the cipher, whicli, insignilic.iiit by

cnly serves to detirmine the

rank

and
its

value
trace
tor
to

of the other d'gits.

sort of mystery, which has im-

printed

numeration,
in

allusion

to hang over the practice of wo still speak of decipherinj;, and of writing in (iphor, some dark or concealed art" (The Philosophy of Arith-

on

language,

seemed

metic,

by John Leslie,
of

Edinburgh
in

1817, p.

114).

"Indeed, in the early

history

arithmetic

Europe

....
:

the system was regarded as beit

longing
prejudice

to black art
tliat

and the devil


its

and

was, no doubt, this popular


into
t'hristian Europe'p.

delayed

general

introduction

(E

Brooks, The Philosophy of

Arithmetic, Philadelphia 1901,

107).

THE OaiGlN OF LETTEKS AND NUMEMAl-S.


covenant
covenant
the

35

with
witli

bini

and
tlie

with

his

seed forever.

He made

a
is

him nn

ten lingers of Ids liands, and this

covenant of the tongue;


this
is

and

on

the

ten toes of his feet,

and
two

tlic

covenant

ot

circumcision; and tied the twentyto


liis

letters of the

"Torali""

tongue and revealed

to

him

their secret ..."

The name

of

Abraham
to

whicli

is

mentioned
tliat

in

tiie

closing

Mishnah suggested
self wrote the Sefer

many commentators
As such
a

Abraham himis

Yetzirah.

view

entirely

re-

pugnant
closing
is

to the

modern

critical raind,

some writers regard


In
to

this

Mishnah
doubt
for

as a later interpolation.
this
in

my
tlie

opinion there
original Sefer

no

that
it

Mishnah belongs
perfect
of

Yetzirah,
material.

is

harmony with

all

the original not

The

mention

the

name

of

Abraham does

indicate that the Patriarch wrote the Sefer Yetzirah,

but that

he was the inventor of

tlie

alphabet, the scribe

("iSiD)

mentioninspired

ed in the opening Mishnah as the person

whom God

with

it.

It

is

worthy
to

ot

note that Philo attributes the


iRees,

tirst

inven-

tion

of letters
in

Abraham

Ci,clopediii, art. I.ftter: cm\\).


1,

also Suidas

Abraham and

Isidor Hispal, Origg,

H).

CHAP.

IV.

THE TEXT.
No Hebrew book
Yetzirah.

has been so tampered with as

tiie

Sefer

As
it,

early

as the tenth

century

there existed several

versions of

varying in length and in

arrangement.

There

^y

THE ORIGIN or LETTERS AND NUMEKALS.


long
version,
text,

were the short and the

whicli

were

edited

in in

Mantua
Paris, in
others.
as

in
J

1562, and Saadia's


891.

edited by M.

Lambert,

Each of these three


is

texts is different

Iromthe

Although Saadia's version


11,
it

almost

ot

the same length


in the

Mantua
of
tlie

differs

materially tlierefrom
it

arrange-

ment

chapters and the paragraphs, and

thus happens that


II

the matter contained in one chapter in

Mantua

may
;

be found

scattered througli several chajiters in Saadia's text

while entire

])aragraphs in

Saadia's text are cut

up and distributed among


II.

three difterent chapters in


in

Mantua

Both Mantua texts agree


their

a general
II

way with each other

in

arrangement, but
I,

Mantua
former
words.

contains twice as

much

material as Mantua
the latter
only

the

numbering

about 2400

words,

1200

A
]

critical

study^leads

to

the

conclusion
of

tliat

these

verSafer

sions contain only obouth

tiOO (iOO

words
words
in

the

original
1

Yetzirah.

The remaining Mantua

Mantua

or

tlie

1800

words

in

are all interpolations jind not of the original


tiic

Sefer Yetzirah.

All the matter belonging to


a

original

Sefer
refl'e-

Yetzirah,
red to
also as
as

arranged as

separate
I.

treatise,

which may be
1

Sefer Yetzirah

All the interpulations

arrangeii

a separate treatise,
II.

which

may

be

leferred

to as

Sefer
I,

Yetzirah

Having already explained the Sefer Yetzirah


to

it

now remains
(f

explain the Sefer Yetzirah


little

II.

the Sefer Yetzirah II

need be said

it

abounds

in

trifles,

contradictions and repetitions.


I,

Although
its

it

was inten-

ded as a commentary on Sefer Yetzirah

author had no con-

ception whatever of what the original Sefer Y'etzirah was.

He

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.


saw

37
of the

in

it

only a
tlie

cosmogony based upon the


According
to

letters

al-

phabet and

Setiroth.

liim

God

created

the

universe with thirty -two wonderful ways of wisdom. These ways


are the ten Setiroth
tiroth

and the twenty-two


Air,

letters.

The

ten

Se-

are:

The

Spirit of God,

Water, Fire, Height, Depth,


the
tirst

East, West, North,

and South.

From

emanated

the

second:

from the second the third, from the third the


six setiroth
''".

fourtii,

and the remaining


tions
of

emanated from the


the

six

permuta-

the letters

With
letters,
;

second Selirah (Air) God


divided

created the
jtarts, or

twenty-two

and

them
;

into

thre

hooks innED

ntt'^tt')

three mothers tras


letters
:

seven double
'ttn

letters

r"^E; -"i2,

and twelve simple

psv Dib

nn.

With
the
of

these three classes, or groups, of letters were created


of the

various parts
tiie

world

ish'-j),

of

the year

("Jti')

and

soul.

WZi).
of

The author

the Sefer Yetzirah

11

contradicts

himself:

ho explains that by the

three

mother

letters,

trox, which the

original Sefer Yetzirah declares to be a "great secret""

C?'" TiD)

are meant the

letters

"-

of the great
all

name "-;

the mothers

thus not being a separate class at


letters.

but part of the simple

As a
the

matter of

fact,

he himself abandons the division

of

letters into three

parts,

and rearranges them


letters.

in

a twofold

division, one of ten

and one of twelve

For, tinally, he

counts the letters


as one
class.

ift:s

with the seven double letters


of the world,

msD
the

^33,

The

whole theory

of

year,

and of the
says^^) as
2)

soul, is expressed

by tens and twelves.

Indeed he

loUows
11

Mantua

chap VI Sepher Yetzirah

II,

chap. V.

98

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.

.... ....
The world The year
The
It
is is
is

iB'v

c^Jtt*"

~itt*yn

T-^Ec

n'--,";

-E*v D';b't

r-rv: nr-'EC

b-e:

countot by ten and twelve

counted by ten and tAvelve


counted by ten and twelve

soul

.... .... ....


author
of

therefore follows that, according to the


II,

the

Sefer Yetzirali

the

twenty-two

letters

are divided into ten


Ti.-i.

double rns: -:c ,rox and twelve simple letters psy cjr "un

According

to

the author of the Sefer Yetzirali

II,

however,

each

double letter represents only one way of wisdom, as each


letter does.
to

simple

The twenty- two


twenty -two
of

letters,

therefore, are,

according

him,
ten

only

ways
are

of

wisdom.
Sefiroth,
tire,

The

remaihe

ning

ways

wisdom

the ten
air,

which

explained to be the Spirit of God,


east, west, north,

water,

height, depth,

and south.

Tlie author of
.

tlie

Sefer Yetzirali II

understood the numeral w-ords.

.V-"x

'-"'^'

.crs"
tirst,

.rnx

occuiTing in the original Sefer Yetzirali, to


third and fourth.
nal Sefer Yetzirali

mean

second,

He imagined

that the

author of the origiSeliroth,

had counted only four remaining


Sefiroth
six

and
after

iiad

for-

gotten

to

count
the

tlie

Sefiroth,

and

explainair,

ing
er,

that

four

are

the Spirit ot God,


east,

wat-

and

tire,

he counted height, depth,

west, north,
of

and
Se-

south as six Sefiroth to complete the


firoth.
.

number

the

ten

The

truth

is

that the numerals


tirst,

....

:\"K'

.... rns

V-~N .... Ctt" mean, not

second, third and fourth,

but one, two, three and four, and


are the ten Setiroth

these

numbers

them.'selTes

from which

all

letters of the aljdiabet '.par-

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.


ticularly the vowel letters) originated.

39

The

Sefiroth, therefore,

cannot be counted as ten separate ways uf wisdom.

The

latter

view requires
all

that the twenty-two letters shall be taken to be

the thirty-two ways of wisdom, not only twenty-two ways of


as

wisdom
by
all

explained by the Sefer Yetzirah

11

which

is

followed

commentators.

CHAP.
Saadia.
grouiis
to

V.

who was

the

first

to

divide

the

letters
all

into

five

vnns,

fio^:, p:>;,

nb^-,,

y-'jfC',

believed

the letters the


Sefer

be consonants.

He

interpolated

this

division in

Yetzirah without knowing that by ns:s the original Sefer Y'etzirah

meant vowels.

The

first

to
*'),

perceive

that

max
that

means
by the
three

vowels
three

was Dunash Ibn 'J'amim

who explained
meant

mother

letters

tPOS the Sefer Yczirah


failed,

the

vowel

letters "x.

He

however, to see that by way

of contrast

riTnr must
his version

necessarily

mean consonants.

Now, he knew that

of the Sefer Yetzirah contained

many

mistakes, that

ignorant people had blended the original and an early

commenYet

tary"), and consequently the original text did not

exist.

he did not perceive the absurdity of the division of the letters


into

three

classes

named:
-'^2

three

mother

letters

B'tss,

seven
'-

double
psv-

letters

msz

and twelve
is

simple letters

DJ^

'cn

The category

,mothers' (mos)

not in any sense coordinate

*')

Sefer Yetzirah', London. 1902. p. 45


Ibid., p. 65.

")

40
witli

I'HE

ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUUERALS.

that of "double letters"' and "simple letters", which con-

trast

admirably

witii

eacli

otlier.

Moreover,
Yetzirali,

he
there

failed

to

perceive that according to the

Sefer

are

ten

double
all

letters

and not only seven.

He

is

also at

variance witii

the

known

versions of the text, which

give

twelve
ot

simple
"Jit,

letters,

while he, in counting the total number


14 are contained in
letters
tlie

sounds

of whicli

seven double letters ~~tz


15.

~:.::,

makes the simple


to

number

Besides,

it

is

very hard
letters
tlie

understand liow Dunash could have counted the


sim))le letters having one sound,
tliat

'^'

as

and declare

at

same
inust
"

time

originally they were vowels

and

consequeiitlv
i

have had several sounds: namely


w, u and o;

the sounds of

and e:

ot

of a and other vowel sounds.


1

Long
tiiat
tlie

before

ever saw the Sefer Yetzirali.

had concluded
double

Hebrew alphabet

consisted of ten letters with

sounds and twelve

tetters with
I

simple sounds;
to

thus

represen-

ting thirty-two sounds.

came

this conclusion in investig-

ating
tind in
1

the pronunciation

of the vowels,

which the reader


i.

will

my nNrpr:
discussed
it

-ip;r
at

"prT

(will a]ipear shortly

in

which
are:
,2 ,s

have

lengtii.

The then double


,r

letters
,

,r

,-

,i

,:

"

,;

and the twelve simple

letters

are:

base this division

on

the

assunaption

that the letters

"VX

are the original vowels of the

Hebrew

alphabet,
:

and that
a,

the true sounds of these letters were as follows

^e,

0,

'

i,

u,

'

V.

Hence, the letters

'N

are also double


".':,

letters,

so that these together with

the six letters rs:

the

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.


"

41

letter
lioiR'.e,

and the
ten
I

letter

^'

were

known

to

be double

letters:

letters

with double sounds,

.\fter rcachini; this

con-

I'lusion,

Ibnnd

tliat

the division ol'the letters ol'the Seter Yetzirah


it.

bore a decided similarity to


the same
letters;

In

fact,

the Seter Yetzirah gives


of
'

number and

the

same
is

classilication
it

the

single

the only ditTeronce

that

counts
*

the

among

the

simjile letters,

while
c.

considered the
Nevertheless,
I

as

a double letter, and

gave instead the

do

not believe

from

grammatical point of view, that the author of the original Sefer


Yetzirah could have counted the
of the letter -V and
letters
letter
'

as a

simple
only
tt-

letter instead

could

have

counted
the

seven

double
is

without including at least


as a double
letter

letter

which

still

pronounced
people.

by a great majority of the Jewish


proved
that

Further

investigation

anciently

there

were counted ten double letters.

As

is

well-known, some old

grammarians,

among whom

was the author of the "Dikduke ha-Teamim"" counted the final


letters

as

separate letters, thus

making

the

total

number

oi

the letters of the alphabet twenty-seven.

This calculation har-

monizes with the statement


the
letters ^J^s

ot

the

Talmud and
the

Midrash
the

that

form respectively
*''i,

beginning,

middle,
if

and the end of the alphabet


count the
finals

which can be true only


thus

we

as

separate letters and


for otherwise

make
not

the

total

number twenty-seven,

the

o can

be

in

the

do not conmiddle of the alphabet. Some grammarians, though they


sider the
linals

as separate

letters,

yet count the letters twenty-

*5)

ocnirred According to Rashi, Job XXVIII, 27 the wor.l T-^S


p.

in

th Sefcr Yetzirah: comp. above

17.

42

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.


figuring the double letters re:

iiifle,

-;.r

and the

"i

or the

'

as

lourteen letters.

Convinced
I

tliat

there are ten double letters and

twelve simple letters,


a time

concluded that there must

have

been
letters

when the Hebrew alphabet was reckoned thirty-two


final
letters,

without the

and thirty-seven

or thirty-nine

with

the final letters, as follows:

in sucii an arrangement of the letters, not the


letter ~
is
iti

but the

the middle of

tlio

alphabet.
I

On reaching
ity

this conclusion.

sought

to find

some authorthe middle

in

the

ancient literature for placing

tlie

"

in

of

the al}ihabet.

This

fact,

if

established,

would

prove

the

correctness of
relation nx'ipr':
to

my

views on the Hebrew vowel points and their


letters

the vowel
it

V'X

as explained

in

Tip"

7'?'^'^

and

would also prove that the original Sefer Yetzirah


letters

gave the number of double sound

as ten,

and not seven.


the

To

my

great delight,

found,

in

the S3'py '-"" rrr'.s

following:

"Why
is

is

the letter T

higher than the other letters?


letters'.
is
1

Because

it

in

tiie

middle of the

also

found

in

the Midrash Tadsho


letters.

*''i.

that the letter ^

in the

middle of the
the

These

passages

make
and

it

clear
their

that

ancients
al-

counted ten double

letters,

in

arrangement of the
^'i.

phabet, they sometimes counted them as tw^enty

rVJDlpD. \\ ion 1887 p XVIII The philosopher and Grammarian Profiat Daran "Ma'ase Efod" p. 34) aho says that the ancients divided the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet into ten and twelve, according to the ten spheres
*')

Epstein, Z'~'~'-

*')

(D'^-'i^^)

nd the twelve signs of

th(

zodiac (r'"'!?).

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.

48

m
and
are

This seemed to justify


E :
,

my
j,,

reading of the ten double letters


Yetzirah, and not seven,

:,

; X rriE^

.^..j

^j^g ^^^-^^

my

contention

that

by

the

thirty-two
of the

mysterious

ways

meant the thirty-two sounds

Hebrew

alpliabet, con-

sisting of ten

duuble letters and twelve simjde

letters.

CHAP. VI
.^UTHOHSHIP.
Thus
far.
it

has been impossible to determine


Sefer Yetzirah.

tiic

ago and

authorship of
origin for
it:

tlic
it

.Tcwish tradition claims divine


tlie

was intrusted by

Lord

to

Adam and

after-

wards

to

Abraham***).
iiis

very interesting passage concerning


to

Abraham and

relation
in

the Sefer Yetzirah

is

quoted

by

Judah Barseloni,
^p.

his

commentary

on

the

Sefer

Yctziraii

268), from an ancient text.

'"v

r."2~

~"2r. ':e^ r-BT ^:x^?> ,-r.:s ir;N c--rs tH:!:':'; IDS TO z:~: oD ins r,czr: chy: -r r^ z'-s abv; crnzH" -k't:: "s" t^ r.b los"; mr^ -^a;! c~-!2.so ':n ,-d:d-:
;;(3i

-B-2 -"z- -"d: tj:


'^i:'

'-; hz-': v:-; sirs*

-rj

:h'' 'je'"

-^^iS-p

/ains

,Tn

sh
t^p2D

.;

i^yoi

t-' ^bt ,--; arnasi- 'iDa:


'b

-an; -ts-

rriwnb

.-ns

ci'r:

-lan:

Hp ri

-n-rv,- -; s'hz -z "zr'-

V2-r bz'r N- nrsi -,2 T.ipn; 'I'-i- iec tk'z; --a 'jk '^x -osv Dn-3S -^r, tj: iz -"in dd':b' iz -czr:, tz- -n-ivb z^,p -r,' -.z lay sb"! la- atpr yn rB':v > ahyr ns -is^ vt* "^i^zr:. I'ju-^ -r2'r:: :-;r '; -y -r^rz- s'-- czrr -r x^s --n' -.z ]'Z'z- z-h
';.

*'')

Poter

Hecr,
p.

(iiiscliichtc

religiusor

Sektcn

dcr Judi^n,

Zweiter

Pand, Hrnnn 1823,

10,

12. 21.

44

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.

.-^13

min-

73 -'h
:

mT'

-o;n

We

find

in

an ancient
our

roadintj;

a?

foliows
tlie

"When Abraham,
said to the

fatlier

was born,
'o

augels of lainistrv

Holy One, Blessed be He:

Lord of the World!

Thou

hast a beloved one in the world,


?"

wilt thou conceal anythinij


said,

from him
I

Directly, the

Holy On blessed be He

'Shall

conceal from Abraham?' and consulted the Torah.

He

said to

her,

'My daughter, come and we


beloved."

ivill

many

thee to

Abraham

My
es

She said

to

him, 'Xo. not until the meek one com-

and takes meekness.'


said,
"Yes'.

God then consulted


it

the Sefer Yetzirah,

which
sat

God then handed


it,

over to able

Abraham, who
to

by himself studying
until a

without being

understand
said,

anytliinj,',

heavenly \oice came forth

and
I

'Dost

thou seek to compare thyself with


Sefer Yetzirah, and studied
it
it.

Me?

am One

created the

But thou canst not understand


it

alone.

Get thee an associate, and look into

together,
to

you

will

then understand."

At once, Abraham went


years.

his teacher into


it

Shem. and stayed wit him three


and they knew how
this,

They looked

to

form the world.


can understand

From
it

that

time

to

there

is

no

man who

alone, there
it

must
three

be two wise men. and they cannot understand


years.
their

before

But when they do understand


hearts desire.

it,

they can do anything


it,

When

.\braham understood

his

wisdom

increased greatly, and he taught the wliole law.""

The world

which Abraham and


of

his

teacher

Shem

were

able to form after three years

study of the

Sefer Yetzirah

may

lie

understood to moan the world of

letters.

Indeed^ the

tllK

OHIUIN OF LCTTEKS ANU NUMEKALS.

45

invention of letters was anciently spoken of as the


the universe.

creation

of

The names

of Moses, Ezra*'),

and Rabbi Akiba have also

been advanced as the authors of the Sefer Yetzirah.

The

attri-

bution of the work to Rabbi Akiba umbjubtedly rests on a confusion of


titles.

The
'tB'

Sefer Yetzirah

was

called

by ancient

writers IJ'^K D--|2S

ni'ms,

and was confounded with the Miis

drash

Ni^v

'21

bw

nvnis*,

which

called by

some

authors

Sefer Yetzirah.

Thus Gedaliah Ibn Yahya,


:

in his

Slialshelet

ha-Kabbalah, says
~i2~-z- rn'-i-

lEC

r'l rb-2'pr\

H"

"Tr

-isci

^r^'DO i2c

-i:n

xim

"He composed
Kabbalah.
to

the Sefer Mechiltin, and the Sefer Yetzirah on


is

There

a Sefer

Yetzirah
a

composed
and

by

Abraham,

which

Nachmanides

made

great

wonderful com-

mentary."
This passage was apparently misunderstood
writers,

by some

later

who imagined

that Rabbi Akiba was the author of the

Sefer Yetzirah attributed to

Abraham.

Hence Isaac de Lates;

criticism in the introduction to the Zohar

nn\-e' nJB'D

i.i'xnp-.

r,-,-r

iec 2-r:^

S27V
to

"21''

ith

"J

tvi

D,-n3so rh^pi d-^d3


"Besides,

7\'arr.

who permitted Rabbi Akiba


called
it

write

tiie

Sefer
to

Yetzirah
liioin

They
I'nil

Mishnali, and
Alualiaiii."

it

ns hinided down

by

tradition

from

"^

Peter Beer,
p.

(ic'chidilc
21.

leligiiiji^r

Si'kti'n

d.T .Imteu, zweili>r

Band, Hrnnn 18i3,

lA

46
Moses

I'HE

OKlGfN OF LETUiRS AND NCIMIiRALS.

Goidovcro'^''i flatly
In

denies Kabbi Akiba's authorship

of the Sefer Yetzirah.

the Panles

Kimmonim

he says

D>:2D T'- Ci^rn vbv u'za q-^zs'" r".:t:- m^'i' ied lirx

rum

"We
ascribe
it

have a Sefer Yetzira attributed


to

to
is

Abraham.

Some

Kabbi

Akiba,

but

there

no general agree-

ment."

Modern

writers are also divided in their opinions

concerit

ning the age of the Sefer Yetzirah.


to

Some

of

them believe
century
R. 0.

be a production of the
it

first

or

the

second

others place
to

in the

Geonic period, ranging from the seventh


of the

the ninth
is

centuries
to

Christian Era.

clination

accept the late date (about

My personal in750 931) for that


II,

portion of the book which has been referred to as Sefer Yetzirah


in

the

discussion of the text

but

have no doubt that the


of letters, wliich

part containing the account of the origin

was

explained above

is

pre-Talmudic, and
:

is

retTered to in the Tal-

mud

in

the following passages

rr r-,\-"x p-ns TiObT r.TT ~Ec 'T 1--D Xp -- xh '--2 'yPB'U up <'DP' Tin n''VB'iN ill

';

'"^-i)

H~2j h-2 H2-

S-'i

'iTT "'Op'' .TTIB'

(Cr
n^'^

N^jn

;-i

.-^isv^

i"

nx xn^n

]t2

^'n

.C'n'^ 'VsKi sn'^n abi'v in*

nri m^s'

"isc2

riTT

r''^hr.2

'pcy r-

srzr

'-ya b2 N^ytf-x
.(":;'' ''Tixi

yov' xnaa* -^yo ^d 21' xr:n 2n~2


x'"j'y 'nb

sr'"T

n^'Di

5')

Quoted from
1905.

CJ iD"l CIIE

by

L.

s c

t,

Sefer Velzirah

Frankf.,
5')
' )

SanhedriD, 65b.
Ibid, 67 b.

I'Hli

uKllilN

01'

LETTEKS AND NUMERALS.

47.

Eaba

created a
to

man

(Raslii says,

through
to

tlie

Sefer Yetzirah),

and sent him


no answer.

Rabbi Zera

who spoke

him,

but received
of the

He

then said to him, "you are

a creature

learned, return to your dust."

Rabbi Hanina and Rabbi Oshaiah

sat the entire eve of the

Sabbath studying the Sefer Yetzirah and created a three-year old


calf,

and ate

it'

"Like the case of Rabbi Hanina and Rabbi


Hilchot

Oshaiah who studied the


a three-year-old
call

Yetzirah every

Friday,

and

was created

for

them, which they ate".


Yetzirali.

The
these

Sefer Yetzirah

and the Hilclmt


our

mentioned

in

passages

are

undoubtedly

original

Sefer Yetzirah,

words from which was borrowed the Baraitha beginning with the
of the Sefer

Yetzirah:

V()i(l

is

green line that surrounds the whole universe."

original Sefer This passage must have been a part of the with the tallies it for Yetzirah and not a later interpolation, a gap leaves omission its that it, paragraphs before and after that

no other can

lill

so

satisfactorily

From
tiie

a passage of a

commentary on the Sefer Yetzirah


is

of

thirteenth century,

which

still

e.xtant

in

manuscript.

see that the (Bodleian Library, Codex 1947), we can

commenben

was written by tator believed that the Sefer Yetzirah


Uziel, for he says
:

.losepli

r^CT'

"B"~ ~T!

'^,

Hagigah, 12 a.

48

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.


"These are the words

of

Joseph ben Uziel,


speech",
to
liis

who

received

them from Jeremiah

'Voice, air.

tliis is

the lioly spirit

....
to

and restore the creator

abode."
the Sefer Yetzirah

As the commentator

declares words in

be the language of Joseph ben Uziel, he evidently believed


it.

that he wrote

In another passage the

commentator

says.
't'^
''ra-.;-;

.... ^222
The

T,c n-jj s'2Jn .Ts-)'

^cv -2

So Joseph ben Uziel received from Jeremiah the Prophet.


secret

was revealed
is

in

Babylonia.''
^*j,

By

"'2

apparently meant the Sefer Yetzirah

which
Joseph
of this

he believed to have been revealed and transmitted

to

ben Uziel by the prophet Jeremiah.

From

the ending

commentary we gather that the commentator had before him an


ancient text of the Sefer Yetzirah,

which had
''Here ends

at the

end pre
of

-x\v;

^pv

n:'D'i

cmzs

ryi"^

the

Mishnah

Abraham and

the

Mishnah

of Joseph ben

Uziel.""

Recanati and

other writers took this colophon to

mean

that Joseph ben Uziel

was

the author
tiie

of

the

commentary.

This
it

misunderstanding
title

caused

bibliopraphers to catalogue
di-

under the

s'r"~2

bn'v:; ]2 ^iDVT

-n^'S'

-2c.

In the Leipzig Codex (No.


treatise called

XXX,

fol.

1-2)

there

is

another

^s'"y

f\cv~ Nr""i2,

which A. f;pstein^) conas the

siders a

work by the
was given

same author
to the treatise

commentary.

The

quoted

title

apparently because of the

following passage occurring therein:

'*)

("omp. Rashi

on Jer. 23,

18

where ""D

is

i-xplained

by Sefer

Yetzirah.

") ipinn, Krakan-Wien 1898-95,

II,

p. 41.

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.


"Joseph ben Uziel taught

49

it.

It

was revealed to him by


to
tlie

Jeremiah
except the

tlie

piopliet,

and

it

must not be revealed


In this

anyone
author

pious" (the

modest?;.

passage

doubtless refers again to the Sefer Yetzirah, which was revealed


or

handed down by the prophet Jeremiah


J.
J.

to

Joseph ben Uziel.


Cod.
7()'2

L. Barges''*) quotes,

from the
also
in

Paris

the
(Jod.

following passage, which occurs

the Brit. Mus.

15299
e]DT'i'i

ua

"ps'iiy^

ayo

r^bw

d-'IID

'm onsD

'n

on 'hn
nsD
pie

irj ^211

ni3N pis 'nv


.fns

omo
b2
nVjB'
h
'n

'-'

n^jtfD'i

p pyotf 'i pns o'pis 'n u tr^ '?32m im pis iditd -tryD pis xa^v 'n nvnis niD'rn mo iiav "no nivB' mo nnips no abiv

"no

sin 'D niDx tf-pn mi nxs^i ona n3S ^d itryi n^xn n^nn iDX '13 p '112 'jx -10X1 [XTD p] ^''ts-iv lo'j mx 'Ja^ nno prsi onann i^x [xtd p] ^''tssy 'sd anDi f|DV db-' to i"t .... '131 m'S' IBD px2 onsD

"These are the

five

Sefarim (books) and the


to

five

Sedarim
his

(orders) which Ben Sira revealed

his

son

Uziel, and

grandson Joseph, Sefer Yetzirah, Sefer Tagin, Sefer Dikduk, Sefer


Pesikta Eabbati in two forms, Sefer Zerubbabel, which contains
five chapters:

Simeon ben Yohai, Abolh

di

Rabbi Nathan, Otiot


Eretz.
Tlie
five

di

Rabbi Akiba, Maase Misiikan, Derek


:

Se-

darim are

Seder

01am, Seder Pekudoth, Seder Shaot, Seder

Ibbur, Seder Halakoth.

When

lie

revealed all these secrets, all


spirit

the host of heaven shook,


said
:

and the holy

came out and


?

'Who

is

it

that revealed

my

secrets to

mankind
Buzi'.

tr"D^jy

[Ben

Sira] arose

and said:

'I

Buzi son

of

The

holy

*)

VJn nSD,

Paris 18G6, p. X.

50
spirit said to

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.


him: 'Enough'.
at
five

Immediately
the

Joseph

sat

down

and wrote down these words


Sira],

dictation

of ty"Bsy [Ben
earth
:

and he wrote them

in

books on

the

Sefer

Yetzirah, etc."

Although the greater part of this passage


rious, attributing, as
it

is

obviously spu-

does, to Joseph

ben Uziel works of other

authors,

it

may

be authentic with regard to the Sefer Yetzirah,


list.

which heads the

It

is

not unlikely that originally only the


as

Sefer Yetzirah had

been ascribed to Joseph ben Uziel, but

there were several other works in the


copyist attributed

same volume, some

careless

them

all to

him.

The

original passage

may

have

read as follows:

nt'^B'Si

noj

Pior'?';

iJ3 ^s^r.y^

htd
':x

n'^:B'

m'S' -dd sin

n*

TD .^n

"ib

"lax

,^^^2

'lu

idni E'"t:ay -oy anx ^:2b

nno
to

.rn^s'

nsD r"aiV

'ej:

zdz' ^pv 2B"

"This

is

the Sefer Yetzirah,

which Ben Sira revealed

his son Uziel,

and

his

grandson Joseph.

When

he had revealed

this

secret, all the iiosts of

heaven trembled, and the holy spirit


it

came out and


mankind?

said:

Who

is

that has revealed


'I

my

secret, to

ti'"BSy arose

and said:

Buzi son of Buzi'.

Then

the holy spirit said to him: 'Enough'.

Immediately Joseph sat


at the

down and
B'"usy."

wrote

down the

sefer

Yetzirah

dictation of

This

passage also

indicates that Joseph


to

ben Uziel wrote


however,
of

the Sefer Yetzirah.

According

this

passage,

not

Jeremiah

but Ben Sira


iiis

revealed

the

philosophy
In

the Sefer

Yetzirah to
of

grandson Joseph
is

ben Uziel.
also

the Alphabet
as a

nen Sira Josef ben Uziel

mentioned

grandson

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.


of

51

Ben

Sira and

Ben

Sira's

mother was a daughter

^')

of Jere-

miah.

There are also legends that Jeremiah and

his

grandson

Ben

Sira studied together the Sefer Yetzirah.

The
cabalistic

"'JSix-i

Bip^"'

20a,

Lemberg 1860,

quotes

from

work

nx^'re, as

follows:
.-IT'S'

mp masi hp
f\-iD2b'

ra

nxs''

iedd

pioy^
iJ2

^'nnn

n-'o-f
,-i2n -(?

....

D'ja'3

m'S' -ISD3 ipovr;


'h r:,n

nt'd ^sn -fin

--m TDs insDa 3inD n'm nns ons crb siaj -losom V^dh wye'
'sn
'xa --'D-i'

^"x r,DN b^

pmo

-t;! n"13J-

inx

'';''2

{'so

nina hdd

d\-; nas nrj rrna- ^^x^ -"na^ ^tra i^ ha'as V'x imn'str -iv ^^3 ,rDx'?D2 xy, injaix^ c^j-.a -'n xh n-^-^a nas ':2 'a 'ija'ixr: ivtb'si naxr; -"y '?;n ly-'B' ly inja'.s mo D-a'^i

mx

mx

D'xj3 D'tyyji inB3n3


E'uinB'D';
,D''t:iB's

iB'isjts'
D^'tt'iy

ny Dn3i3

i-ia:pt'
riB'iy

i^'nnn injiDni

moi

'j3

on

-iri3

-m

xihb'

na imas
'J3 0,-3

Dn33ai D-'^x n^D

d^dVi-i

"ia-xn

m^B'
""j:::

m33

in''jn

mx

.''2^-,s

?-B'

7jv3 Dn3 o^poiy.

cmx

"Jeremiah began

to
:

study Sefer Yetzira, when a heavenly voice

came
went

forth
(0 his

and said

'Get tiiee an associate'.

He

accordingly
Yetzira
to-

son Sira, and tiiey studied

the Sefer

getiier.

Finally

...

man was

created by them, upon whose

forehead was written 'Emet' v'^^x

=
to

truth).

The person
the
letter

created
of
?'.

had a knife in his hand, and was erasing


the word Emet.

Aleph
that

Jeremiah said
will tell

him,

'Why do you
This case
is

He answered, T
to that of a

you a parable'.

similar

man who

built
his

many

houses, countries, and towers,


until

and no one appreciated


induced him
to teach

art or his work,

two

men

them the

secret of his art,

so that they
art,

knew

it

all

thoroughly.

When

they learned the

and the

Berlin 1858. ICb. ") See -Alphabet of Ben Sira", ed. Steiuschneider

52

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMFRALS.


and method, they began
left

man's

secret

to irritate liim with their

words, and tinally

liim,

t;iking

his science with


lie

them and
they

became builders
did
fi'r

like

him.

What

did for a dennriua,

three
left

peshutivi.

When

people learned of their existence,

they

all

the original artisan and

went

to

them, honoring
"

them, and negotiating with them


This passage,

in their

building enterprises

which

may
Ben

also

be considered as having

been prefixed originally to a copy of the Sefer Yetzira. not only


indicates that Jeremiah and
Sira studied the philosophy of

the Sefer Yetzira (or the invention of the alphabet), gives a reason

but

also

why

this study should

be kept secret.

In
says''**)
:

his

work Sffer ha-Gematriu^

Rabbi .ludah

he-Hnsid

^Din
D^JB'

vh
'j

mexi ^f na
nspo^i
'3

nxs"'
.
. .

m'S' 1202 picy^


i''3x

T:i-\

std

p
in'.tfy

ipoyi

-'t;-''

'rss

'b

-V- --2^

-iDX

\wv.-\7\

mx

nsD3
h^d-':

-a;

nos
. .

-n-iDa zirDi
.

-nx
.

mx

"B'snr;

d-x rx

r'iir:
'jxtf

-"3p-

-.Nnztf

d-^ si3J inxn orb onx


ir;

isiar N^i
zi- x-i3J-

nsn D-x arb nex


niB-y^
to

p^* ^d ,ro xsar,

pdsd nx -no
x^^:'

.e'ijx i'-d

oHyr; 12 lyc

.iBy': ntt-yj to-, 'n-i02E'

r.Dxa

'x

ipnoi yiSD^ nvn-xn f]njj

"lien Sira wanted

study the Sefer Yetzira, when a heav-

enly

voice

came

out and snid:

'Thou canst nut do


.

it

aloin-'.
it.

So he went to his father Jeremiah

and they

studied

At the end of three years a man was created by them, on whose


foiehead was written
of

Emet (nDX

truth),

as on the

forehead

Adam.

Then the one whom they had

created said to them:


to

'God created Adam, and when He wanted


he
erased
a letter
fro7n

put him to death,


it

the wind

p]met and

became Met

"*)

Qiintp.I

hy Epstein

in

D'Ti.-'T;

rVJlDHpO, Winn

18S7, p

i-22.

THE OKIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.


(no

53

to

dead).

So

much

the

more reason

is

there

why

should

want
the

do the same, so that you

may
him

not again create a


like

man and
of

world
'
.
.

go

astray

through

the

generation
created said

Enosh

Then

the

man who
tiic

had
letters,

been

to

them

'Transpose the order of


in

and erase the Aleph


Immediately
he

from the word Emet (nas)


turned into dust."

my

torehead.

work

like the Sefer Yetzirah

could not have


it

been the
Its

product of the person,


contents

who
been

actually put

into

writing.

must
it

have

known,
down.

to
It

at
is,

least a

few

persons,
at all

long before

was written

therefore,
his

not

impossible that the prophet


Sira studied
its

Jeremiah

and

grandson Ben

philosophy.
it

From
historic

the foregoing

is

evident

that

so

far

we have no

document by which

to

prove either the

authorship or
to

the exact age of the Sefer Yetzirah.

According
the

the

above

quoted
written
this

legendary

passages,

however,

Sefer Yetzirah
of

was
If

by a Joseph

ben Uziel,

a grandson

Ben

Sira.

Ben

Sira was the author of Ecclesiasticus, which apparently


in

was written

the third century B. 0. E., his grandson Joseph

ben Uziel could have written the Sefer Yetzirah in the second
century B. C. E.
If,

however,

this

Ben

Sira

was
his

identical

with

the high-priest Joshua son


not

of Jehozadak,

grandson

Joseph ben Uziel could


later

have
fifth

written

the

Sefer Yetzirah

than at the end of the

century B. C. E.

The authors

of the above quoted passages

and

the author of the Alphabet


Sira to be
identical with

of

Ben

Sira doubtless

believed

Ben

the high-priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, to

whom

the

wisdom

taugh

in

Ecclesiasticus was attributed.

54

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.


Isidore of Sevile in his remote day (620), identified Jesus,

the son

of Sira, with Josiiua ben Jehozadali,


it

and

in

the Latin
a son oi

Mss. of Ecclesiasticus,
Jehozadak^').

is

stated that

Ben Sira was

Like Ecclesiasticus, the Pseudo-I3en Sira's "Alpha-

bet of ben Sira" was also attributed to Joshua ben Jehozadak.

Hence

its

title

in the

Hebrew-German

edition (Ofl'enbach, 1728).

Already Abraham Abulafia perceived that the Pytliagorean

number philosophy
the Sefer Yetzirah.

is

identical with the Sefiroth philosopliy

of
is

The

relation they

bear

to

each
the

other

variously

explained.

A. F. Thimus'^"),
is

shares

view

that

the Pythagorean
Yetzirah.

philosophy

an adaptation

from

the Sefer

Others hold that the

author of the Sefer Yetzirah

borrowed his philosophy from Pythagoras and Plato.


I

do not pretend to be able to solve this difficult question.

But

wish to

call attention to a

few points which

may

suggest

a solution or at least guide further investigation.


Tlie

person

of

Pythagoras*')

is

as

much

an

unknown

quantity as that of Ben Sira.

Philolaus, the first one to publish

") See Nestle in Hasting's Bi/i/e Diclionnry, vol IV, p 542. Die Harmonikak Symbolik, Koln 1876, II, pp. VJ, 2, 133, 241. >) Dr. A. Hirsh (JQR., vol. XX, p. 61) doubts whether there ever was a Pythagoras, althongh he has no doubt there existed a Pythagorean
")

school of philosophers.

It is

admitted

(J.

Burnet, Early Greek Pliitosopliy,

page 99) that "all that has come down to us under the names of various The disciples of Pythagoras is pure forgery, of the most worthless kind.
is therefore conjectural, and all what wc are told by Aristotle". According to some writers Pythagoras was a Greek, according to others, he was either a Phctnician or a Syrian. There have been also some writers

whole (arly history of Pythagoreanism

we

really

know

of the school

is

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.

55
Joseph
it

the Pythagorean

philosophy,

corresponds

curiously

to

ben Uziel who

wrote

down the Sefer Yetzirah.

Would

be

to bold to conclude that the Sefer Yetzirah represents the

genuine

fragments of Philolaus"?

SEFEE YETZIKAH
(K p-lS)
Chap.

rix"'Vs
1

na"!!:

D^nB'i

D'tf'rB'

Thirty-two mysterious
has the Lord,

ways

-EC! lE'ic:

mx3S

~^-^'

r:
:

ppn
-EC-

Lord

of hosts,

ordained through Scribe, Script,

and
's njB'B

Scroll.

2
"(n

mrTJ
rvnx

QTK'i

D''B'Va'

I'rs'.

These

are

the

thirty

two

n-iB'V c^nti'i

mViE:

icy mx^'TE

mysterious

ways,

ten

double

DTtri n-i^'V ]^^' rimts-E


:n-nn
njtro
"?

and twelve simple, which are the


twenty-two
letters, of

the Torah.

'J

3
The ten double
letters
,i

are ten

yttT

nb^i

~vv

'^

1^'

''

-s '-

'"

,n

,v

,1

,B

p
The
,i

,'

,1

,3

/S

mtry
,D }?

D'ntr
,"'

.mtry rns
,1

^i itpy

and

not

nine,

ten

and

not

,a /n

" muitPB

nvmx
,:

eleven.

twelve
, ,h
,'

simple
,

rnx

s'n "tt-y dtb*


tP^B'
s"'?i

,p ,s ,y ,c

letters are
,p ,S ,y

,B ,n

,n
:

mtpy
who

n-B'y

DTitt'

mtpy

,D twelve and not eleven

Grossyriechtnlaud und Pylhabelieve that he was a Jew. (Rathgeber, even been ident.hed with Gotha 1866, pp. 325, 461, 466). He has should If Pythagoras was a Hebrew he the prophet Ezekiel. (M,rf, 534). high-priest Joshua son of Jehozadak. rather be identified with the
noras,

56
hv 13-

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.

n^vm pa
:"J12D

-npni

pa

iina

twelve and not

thirteen.

In-

^v

"isv atyni

ima

vestigate them, examine tliem,


establish

the

matter

clearly,
to

and restore the Creator


abode.
'1

His

rutrD
o^ntPi

mpipn
nB3

niTis

ontPV

Twenty-two

letters

are en-

mynp nna

ni2isn

hpa

graved by the voice, hewn out


in the air,

:mDipD

nti-ens

and
five

fixed

in

the

moutli in
'n njtra

places.

psn ppn nvnix


^D

DTtfl onK'y

Twenty-two
graved,

letters

He

en-

ns

pD

n^Ji

|E-is

p''Dm
b'2

ppr
"iis^n

hewed

out,

weighed,

'.-iVib

Tny-

nxi

changed, combined, and formed


out of

them

all existing

forms,
in the

and

all

forms that

may

future be called into existence.


njifD
i^ptr lEna ns'D

"i

DV

f]bH

'<

p-'Dm

How
s with
of

did

He combine them,
them
;

1^2 Dy r^3

,^W ay

pisi

i"?!:

weigh them, and change them?


all

nmin

i'?-!:

oy pi3 pi

.n^a

oy ]h3i

ol

and

all

them with N
all

2,

with

all of
i

them and
and so
all

of

them with 3
all

of

them with

of

them turning around


thus
all

in order;

words and

all

existing

forms are derived from

them.

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.

57

'1

njipo

myiDp

nvmx
D'JB

dtb'i

ontry

Twenty
fixed
in

two

letters

are

circle,

with

484

iinsi

bibir\

inni
laV'?

onytf
io'di

divisions,

and the and

circle turns

VVi

Jjy

n'7yD'?

vy

forward

backward;
the

thus
is

:yjj ntso'?

in JJy [delight],

at

the beginning; in V^i [plague],


tiie

is

at the end.

'n nitrr:;

8
t)ut of

two stones two houses


out of three stones
are
built,

y21X

,D"in2

HB'B'

mJ13

D'J3X
d''J3n

arc built,
six

DTia nyaisi on^'y


antryi

nuia
d''J3S
tfty

houses

out

of

nxo

ruia

tron
,D'n3

four stones twenty-four houses


are built,

msD nuu
:r!Bn

yntr niju d'J3S

out

of

five

stones

D'jas

yatp

,D'n3

ontpyi

one hundred and twenty houses


are
built,

1XD0 ,D'na D^yaTsi d's'ts ntrnn


)-'HV

out

of

six

stones

no aiB-m ss

i?''Ht
"pis'

seven

hundred

and

twenty

jyiDtt'"? ri'?i3i

iTixn^si lan"?

houses are built, out of seven


stones five thousand and forty

houses are built.


further,

Go and count
the

what

mouth

is

unable to pronounce,
ear
is

and the

unable to hear.

(3 piB)
'B njtfD

Ohap.
9

II

He
and
:nnj< Dtfo
all

combines

and

changes

makes
speech

all

forms
the

and
one

ss? ^u^^;

^21

iwr.

with

58

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.

Name; thus
speech
are

all

forms and

all

derived

from

the

one Name.
10

X^EIB b)ii -ic tyoN riDx

ty'?B*

Three vowels B'aK constitute


a great secret, marvellous

and
forth

hidden.

From them go
fire.

noan d"d

laV'?

|D''d;

.dt^^

air,

water, and

Fire above

and water below, and air holding


the balance between

them

thus

is

mute,

^'

is

hissing,

and

X holds
them.

the

balance between

11

s^Eio Vni Tic r"aN


,"!sy

mas mas

ts'Vtt'

Three vowels n"ax constitute


a great secret, marvellous and

D^D

mi

Q^Nsv -nai rciDci

nB'an ]~v; n"tt'as


nyatfi
cntt-y

yais
niss

hidden.
air,

From them go
and
earth.

forth

-n^u

'inaty

water,

Four
five

:m.i'?in

vowels n"2'BX,
vowels,

which are
gave
birth

that

to

twenty-seven consonants.
3"i njtro

12
ntt'an

laiy

naV nns

b'z

max
ist:";

The
one by
seven

five

vowels

stand each

D-ipHs D^ia min'?in nyae-i nn^'yi

itself,

but the twentyare


all

piyi

nna
-^n^

i'bs
'ins-,

^mnsa
j^aa

consonants
on
tlie

de-

-ya ?
ly

.nan'ja

pendent

vowels.

He
of a
like

wip

"pyaa

j'^ids

'rB'-a "lax;

made them
state,

in the

form

:ny

ny

and arranged them

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.


an array in battle array.
only

59

The
the

One

Master,

God,

faithful

King, rules over them


holy

from His

abode

forever

and

ever.

13
nyatfi

ciB-yi
DTttn

mas

nc-Dn

The
seven

live

vowels and twentythese

rvms

onE'v iVx

nnhn
^D''B'

consonants,
in

are

nn'ED itryo msas

n-.n'' ,t'

contained
letters

the

twenty-two

which

the Lord,

Lord

of hosts,

established out of the

ten digits and zero.

(a
-I"''

pIB)
-Jtt'D

Chap.

"itpy

Ill

H
and zero

-'E

u;hz -a-<b2]'-\

titec

The

ten digits

-p^
rn::

CXI -imn^o
"i3i

-ph nm^D
oipa"?
3ib'

close tliy

mouth from speaking


thinking,

^y

'3

and thy heart from and


let it
if tliy

:m3

heart

should leap,
for

come back

to its place;

concerning this has the covenant been made.


i"t n:ts'o

15

The

ten

digits

and

zero,

their end is joined with

their

Dsm -DDna

-pn r^nja

miB'p

beginning, and their beginning


with their end,
as

the

tlame

:-iBiD

nns no nnx

is

attached to the coal.

Underin

stand wisdom

and be wise

60

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.

understanding,
but one Master,

that

there there

is

and

is

no second to Him, and before

One, what countest thou?

,r"ss
rtQ''b2'

10

nTED

itt'v

The

ten

digits
is

and

zero,

their appearance

like lightis

ning; to their aim there


j-

no
at

iXDD

"js^-.

:5-~'

-BiC:

limit.

They go and

come

His word, and at His


ti)e_v

command

pursue like the whirlwind,

and kneel before His throne.


1"'

njK'o
-12";^

1"

-t3'^31

niTSD

"'^x

These are the ten digits and


zero,

with which the Eternally

Living

God,

blessed

be

His

name, ordained His world.

18

nn

^ip

n2

asm ppn rrx


itfipn

One
out of

He
it

graved and hewed

nn

nii -112m

voice, air

and speech,
Spirit.

and

this is the

Holy
ly

,1-3"

inn in- isni


Pi'patP

ppn
"ip

nT,t^'

Two He
out of

graved and hewed


void

^3

piT

irr

them

and chaos.

me'^iEa c';3X
:d''d

'"x 'in:%'i^'3

ohv"

Void

is

a green line that sur-

cxsv ]~qv U--D2 niypx'e-

rounds the whole universe, and


chaos refers to viscous
stones,

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.


sunk

61

in

the

abyss,

whence

water comes forth.


'3

njB'D

20

Three -Din 1^03 P'sn n:mv vo3


:hfff

He graved and hewed


them

]i<^'V

out

of

mud and
like a

chiy.

D-'S'

ps'-.

-2'r;o -'03 iddd

He arranged them
bed.
wall.

garden
like a

He

set

them up

He

covered them like a

pavement,

and

poured

upon

them snow, and the earth was


formed.

S"3 -3K'0
-iUDH sc; -na

21

asm ppn v^ix

Four
out
of

He

graved and hewed


the

them

throne

of

glory, the ophanim, the seraph-

im, the holy animals, and the

ministering angels.

a"a njB'a

22
existence

UB"

iJ's ntryi

tPDD inno ns'


n'jas
"iD'C"

He formed
void,

out of

ijiKB-

I'lso
D'ltfy

ni^n:.
"lait'

asm
tt'snj

and made something out of

D'nB"i

nothing, and hewed large stones


out of intangible air, thus twenty-

:-nx

nm

"J'^a

two
:,"a

in

number one
23

in

spirit.

-jtro

(D'H^xn
,avLi

nti'V

" riDiv^ nvi"^

nx

d;
a-.a

Also God set the

one

over

nmy'7

/Vi

nuiy''?

against the other, good against


evil,

pnaD aian
,a-iun

,y-iD

ym piao am
,y-in

and
out

evil

against

good;
evil

ns vnaa yini

ns

good

of

good,

and

62

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.

out of evil:

good testing
:

evil,
is

and

evil

testing good

good

stored

away

for the good,

and

evil is stored

away

-24

for the evil.

l"3 nJB'D

When Abraham
^l-is'i

our

father

3sni

ppm

vzni
rrhv'

ipm
:'ni

rtxii
is-.

arose,

he looked

and saw and

-snan :t3

investigated and observed and

1^ n'-i3 r.-i3i
-pa

Vd- v~*<
,D^iy

''^V ^"^^

engraved and hewed and combined and formed


lated,

nna

i^

m3
Nini
"j-'a

^y lynh

and

calcu-

vt myasx iB-y nna i^ mDi mysss nry Dntfy itppi n'p'Dn nna xim v^.'"i nbi uitf^a -iin- nvmx cntr*
iiB''?n

nns

and

his

creation

was

successful.

Then

the

Master

of all revealed Himself to him,

and made a covenant with him and with his seed


forever.

trND IP"?- D'03 "sa'D piD

rx

'h

He

mhsa

itfyi?

"pnji

m-12

"tfyi

made

a covenant with of
his

him on
hands,

:mu"B'E -Tify dtb'i

the ten fingers

and

this is the covenant of the

tongue;
of
his

and on
feet,

the ten toes


this
is

and

the

covenant of circumcision;
tied the

and
of

twenty-two
his

letters

the Torah to

tongue
their

and

revealed to

him

secret.

He drew them through


stormed them through
led

water;

air,

kind-

them

in

fire,

and melted
and twelve

them

into ten double


letters.

simple

COREECTIONS.
p.

my
view^s

1.

16 For heard nie expressing

my

viewts read: heard

/v

P. 12
P. P.

1.

25 For conceptions read conceptions


'i

IG

I.

For

o'

read

o,

25
31

1.

IG P-Jr

~], _1

read

~\
_^

~"

H_-^

P.

1.

8 For
11

<

read

f <

P. 37 P. 40
P. P.

1.

For thre road three

1.

17

For

tetters read letters

40 43

1.

21
14

For then read ten


For Barseloni read IJarceloni

1.

P. 44
P.
4 4

8 For On read One


'O

1.

For wit read with


valiants to the Sefer Vetzirah
1

The
texts
this

1,

the teit of Sefer Yetzirah 11,


in the

Mantua

and Mantua
will

will

be found

Hebrew

edition of

work which
I

appear shortly.

have

to

acknowledge
;

my
to

indebtedness to Dr. H.
i)r.

Ma Iter

for reading

fitihe

proof-sbeetj

and also

Israel

Davidson for suggesting a few

improvements.

\T

Printed by

II.

Kloiscbraann

Bieslau Reusche.str.

Vtl

"

A SOLUTION OF THE PYTHAGOREAN NUMBER PHILOSOPHY SUPPLEMENT TO ^THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS

BY PHINEAS MORDELL.
Copyright igai by Phineas Mordell.

The

real reason

why

the Pythagoreans considered numbers

to be the elements

and

origin of everything
all

was that they believed

numeral symbols to have preceded


This
is

other forms of writing.'


said:

what they
first
1,

really

meant when they


all

"Numbers by
Metaalphabet

nature are the


physics,

and prior to
S).

things."

(Aristotle's

Book

Chapter

The

letters of the earliest

having been numeral symbols,

all

words were originally made

up of numeral symbols or numbers.


In the Hebrew language which also resembles the Phoenician
language, (and
it

was anciently believed that Pythagoras himself


the equivalent of "things"
(i.e.

was a Phoenician) both "words" and "things" are designated by


the term D^^^T. Since "words"
the Pythagoreans said that
all
is

things

words) had their origin

and composition

in

numbers.

Now
the
first

according to both the Sefer Yetzira and the Pythafire, air,

goreans, the four elements,


four numbers,
I,

water, earth, emanated from

11, 111, 1111.

For lamblichus (Life of Pythagoras,

transl.

by Th. Taylor,
is

London, 1815,
simple ^bodies,

p.

332) says:

"The fourth

tetractys

of the

fire, air,

water and earth, which have an analogy

according to numbers.
tetractys, that

For what the monad was

in

the

first
is

fire is in this.

But the duad

is

air,

the triad

'"The invention
than any form
ol

"Numeral
to

of Signs to represent numbers is doubtless much older writing" (Chambers Encyclopaedia, 1893, Vol. VII, p. 548). characters, were first invented because they were first necessary

mankind."

(Th. A&t\e

The

Origin and Progress oj Writing,

London
65

1784).

66

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS


is

water and the tetrad


air
is

earth.""

In the Sefer Yetzira however,


one, water with the
fire

associated with the

number

number

two, earth with the


four.'

number

three and

with

the

number

The

real four
1,

elements of the Pythagoreans were also a

series of strokes

11, 111, 1111,


letters.

amounting to ten which were

originally

numbers and

The key
thesis
is

to the complete identification of the philosophy of


in this

Pythagoras with that of the Sefer Yetzira as interpreted


the Zero.

According to the Sefer Yetzira as explained


Zero.

above

HO v^ means

Was

the Zero a secret

known

to

the Pythagoreans.?

solution to this question will be found in

the Pythagorean dualism.

The "one"

in

the Pythagorean dualism


I

is

the Symbol,

I.

Contrary to the prevailing opinion,


oreans regarded the Zero,
called
0, as

believe that the Pythag-

the second element which was


etc.

the infinite,

indeterminate duality, infinite binary,


is

In a binary system of notation the Zero

the second Symbol.

We know now that even


fect

the decimal system of notation originated


I,

from the two symbols the one,

and the Zero,

0.

This
all

is in

per-

harmony with

the Pythagorean formula that

numbers

originated from two elements, the limited

(the one, 1,) and the

unlimited (the Zero,

0).

Therefore,

all

things according to the


1,

Pythagoreans originated from two elements One,

and the

'"Die Pythagoreer fuehrten daheralles auf die Zahl und nicht auf die mathematischen Figuren zurueck" (S. A. Byk. Die Vorsokratische Philosophie
1.

Leipzig 1876, p. 116).


'

It

is

the "central fire" (fiery angels the throne of glory) that


p.

is

associated

in the Sefer Yetzira (above

61 para. 21) with the

number

four or ten which

the principle of place value makes a harmonious one (see below about har-

mony). The harmonious one (zusammengefuegtes Eins) was confounded with the plain one and thus fire came to be regarded as the Pythagorean first material element..

THE ORIGIN OF
Zero, 0. Since One,
1 is

L ETTERS
the
finite,
1

AND NUMERALS
is

67

the Zero,

the true infinite


for

of the Pythagoreans.
it

The One,

was considered the Good, was

represents that which exists, but the Zero,

called the

evil, for it represents non-existence.

the so

The Pythagoreans could not have meant by infinite duality as many writers believe, for as the one is finite, the number two and every other number must also be finite.
number two,
in a

Moreover,

binary system of notation the symbol one,


as in a decimal system of notation the
ten.

1 itself

becomes two just


one,
1

symbol

itself,

becomes

Boeckh
Pythagorean

{Philolaos, pp. S3, 140, 148)


infinity
all.

made

it

clear that the


is

which

is

identical with infinite duality

not a number at

See also A. Heinze, Metaphyische Grundleh-

ren, Leipzig, p. 26.^

As Leibnitz has represented God's Creation of the Universe


out of chaos or nothing, by means of two
digits as symbols, so

some Pythagoreans
second element the
world.
Ill, p.

al.^o

interpreted the one as

God and

the

infinite

binary (the Zero, 0) as the visible

(Plutarch's Morals translated by


109.

W. W. Goodwin,

vol.

Boston 1870).
it is

"The Deity,

thought by some, was distinguished by the


from unity conceived."

P3'thagoreans as absolute unity,

{A

The Chinese Philosophers even

actually said that the circle


all

and the

line

aie the first elements trom which

writing and everything

originated. (Thimus Harmonikale Symbolik Koeln 1876, vol. 1, pp. 79-83). By the "hounded line" and "unbounded line" trom which according der Forto the Pythagoreans everything originated (Diels H. Die Fragmente symbols for sokraliker p. 250) they surely meant the line and the circle the

one and zero. 'Alter having written this supplement I lound that Mr. S. Klyce (f/niinfinity are logically verse 1921 para. 43 f) advances the view that zero and
identical.

68

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS


E. Zeller, translated
bj^ S.

History of Greek Philosophy, Dr.

F.

AUeyne, London 1881,

vol.

1.

p. 398.)

Such a view was apparently that of the Sefer Yetzira (above


p.

59 para. 15) "Understand wisdom and be wise


is

in

understanding,
to

that there

but one Master, and there


it is

is

no second

him."
art

So

in "iniT -:'ip\n
is

said

]2rin2

iib\

"in
is

Nin n:S Thou

one which

different
in

from the one that

counted.

So Solomon
x*?!

ibn Gebiroi

m^Vs inr

says: 'i:::m 'i;pn


is

nnx3

inx -nx

Thou

art one

and not as the one that

created and counted.

George Boole inThe Laws


also says: in the

of Thought,

London

1854, p. 48,

"The

respective interpretations of the symbols

and

system of Logic are Nothing and Universe."

In ancient times various interpretations were given to the

two s)'mbols
"non-being."

and

0, as the

Platonic antithesis of "being" and

(Boole, ibid, p. 414,) and Leucippus's


all

"Plenum"

and "vacuum," into which


ibid, p. 413).

existence

was resolved (Boole,


Dualism apparentl)'
1

The Philosophy and

religion of

arose from an interpretation of the symbols one,

and

zero, 0.

Various views prevailed about the origin of these two symbols.

Some

believed that the Zero,


is

preceded the One,

1.

Per-

haps the Chinese cosmogony

based on this view.^

The author

of the Sefer Yetzira and the Pythagoreans believed that the one

preceded the zero.

Therefore, the zero was second.

The view

held bj'

some Kabbalists that the nine


infinity-C]"iD
1.

Sefiroth or

numerals (1-9) have emanated from


that the Zero 0, has preceded the One,

VX

implies
to the

But according

author of the Sefer Yetzira and the


f"There was first ot Nothing took upon
all

P}'thagoreans even infinity


existed
.

a period

when Nothing

Grad-

ually

itself

the form and limitation of Unity, represented

by

a point at the centre ot a circle" (H. A. Giles,

History of Chinese Lit-

erature,

New

York, 1901,

p.

3).

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS


-^IID ]^X

69

emanated from the One,

1.

After the invention of the symbols 11, 111, 1111,

when

the

binary system of notation developed into a decimal, the zero was


regarded as the
five
fifth

symbol and hence the


1,

fifth

element.

The

symbols or elements

11, 111, 1111, 0,

were supposed to

symbolize the whole cosmos which was believed to be in harmony

with a decimal system of notation expressible by these symbols.'


'"Die Weltkugel besteht aus fuenf Koerpern: dies sind innerhalb der Kugel Feuer, Wasser, Erde, Luft und ausserdem fuenftens das Gehaeuse der Kugel selbst." (Nestle, Die Forsokratiker.

Jena 1908,

p. 162).

air, water, earth and fire were also symbolized by ten dots arranged in a triangular form and the sphere of void encompassing them was symbolized by a circle. Hence the void and the universe were symbolized by

The

four elements,

and apparently was simplified

in a

X \

which according

to Boethius, the Neo-Pythagoreans used as a

symbol

for zero.

The void and


ized
1-9.

the universe

may

also be

symbol-

by

a circle containing the nine

numeral figures

The

nine

numerals

may

1 Kabbalistic names as 4 ion, 5 msDn, 6 mua,

be designated by nr3, 3 njn, noDn, 7 nv:, S nn, 9 niD'

and the zero circle embracing them may be designated by =liD fN or niaV:! "in3.
f

noi^o

Kabbalistic origin of onr numerals see A. J. H. Vincent in Jouraal Je Mathematiques Par Joseph Liouville Paris 1839 Archaolot'ique 18J5-184f) pp. 601-621.) Kevue and in 261-280 pp.

About the Hebrew

According to the Sefer Yetzira the Hebrew alphabet conoften double letters and twelve simple leters, representing the vigesimal and duodecimal systems of notation, still more fully symbolizes the universe.
sisting

70

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS


we
consider every stroke as a separate symbol the zero
is

If

the

eleventh as 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0, or the tenth as 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0

From
also
is

Pythagorean point of view the


another

fifth

element "aether"

like infinity is only

name

for

vacuum.* Therefore, aether

logically identical with zero

(Com. above
asserts that
all
it

p.
.

30).
.
.

Now
since

"modern physics following Einstein


at observing

the 'aether' as a substance obstinately evades


it,

our attempts
did not exist,

and

all

phenomena occur

as if

the word 'aether' lacks physical meaning, and therefore aether

does not exist" (M. Schlick, Space and Time,


are free to use words at pleasure there
is

p. 12).

"Since

we we

no objection to using the

word

'aether' in the future to represent the

vacuum
it

must be very cautious, however, not


(ibid p. 20).

to picture

as

matter"

In the above explained system of notation from which our

system of notation originated, the principle of position (place


value) plays an important
role.

It

is

this principle that

makes

it
1

possible to express all numbers,

by only two symbols the One,


is

and the Zero,

0.

The

principle of position

the "miracle" that

makes
p.

one,

many and many,

one.

In the Sefer Yetzira (above


is

59 para. 15) the principle of position


ten digits and zero their end
ist also

indicated

b}'

the words

"The

is

joined with their beginning,


mathematischen

"'Das luenfte Element

nicht aus der fuenfren

Figur geworden, da dasselbe auch Stobaeus von spricht

Deswegen ganz formlos ist. weil das vier Elementen, bios noch und daher im Kosmos Urgrund keine Zahl Juenfte Element als reiner nicht voshanden ist." (S. A. Byk, Die I'orsokratische Philosophic 1. Leipzig
als

Urgrund

1876, p. 94).
"Infinity
is

not the aflSrmation ol space but

its

disappearance" (H.

Waldon Carr, The General

Principles of Relativity 1920, p. 152).

Perhaps it is more correct to read (above p. 60 para. 15) 5)10 "N ID'^Dm "and their termination is infinity" instead of ejlD \!^? pS jrivDni "to their aim there is no limit."

THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS


as a flame
is

71

attached to the coal."

Now

if

the Pythagorean

num-

ber philosophy

was based on such a system of notation


is

as that

on which the philosophy of the Safer Yetzira


of position, (place value) must have been

based, the principle


to the

known
Did

Pytha-

goreans and must have played an important role in their phil-

osophy.

But how did they express

it?

their

"harmony"
all

mean

the principle of position?'


is

The Pythagorean philosophy


philosophical

the greatest enigma of

systems of antiquity.

Various sources such as


etc.,

Egyptian, Indian, Greek, Phoenician, Hebrew,

have been

advanced

as the origin of the

Pythagorean philosophy.

Many

years of study have convinced


is

me

that the Pythagorean philosophy

identical with the philosophy of the Sefer Yetzira and both are

of Hebrew origin.

The philosophy

of the Sefer Yetzira apparently


guild or school as conjee-/
really

emanated from the Hebrew prophetic


tured by Joseph Molitor.
of the Sefer Yetzira,
the

That which

was the philosophy

Greeks designated as Pythagorean

philosophy and transmitted this to posterity in such a mutilated

form that

in spite

of everything that has been written on the


it

Pythagorean philosophy since Aristotle,


really understood.
his

has never yet been

The

entire

Greek account of Pythagoras and

philosophy

is

unreliable and
I

most

likely

is

a forgery.

However,

that

may

be, I

hope

have at

least succeeded in

removing some

obstacles to a better understanding of the Sefer Yetzira and the

Pythafrorean philosophy and their relation to each other.

'"Das
Monas,

sie ist ilinen die

absolute Princip dieser Harmonic sahen die Pythagoraeer in der nur im Gedanken vorhandene mit sich scibst noch

ium

unentzweite Einheit, die das viele zu ihrem Gegensatze hat. In diesem Stadist sie nur Monas. Zur Harmonic wird sie erst, wenn sie aus sich selbsi (S. A. Byk, ibid, p. lOS). ztim Vielen wird."

PLEASE

DO NOT REMOVE
FROM
THIS

CARDS OR

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UNIVERSITY

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LIBRARY

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