Sefer Yetzirah, the Cube of Space, and the Emergence of ... - Maqom

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Cube of SpaceStone of Foundationletters of the cube used to create used to create the worldthe worldrelated to the sefirotrelated to the sefirotcontains air, water , and fire contains air, water , and firerepresents the universe represents the palace of Elohim(God's house)provides a blessingprovides a blessingthe Holy of Holies is in the image the Holy of Holies is built on theof the Cube of SpaceStone of FoundationIf we turn our attention back to Genesis 28:22, “And this stone which I have set up for apillar shall be God's house,” we can now appreciate the prescience of this statement asthe transformation of the stone into the pillar is a mirror image of the transition from theearlier Cube of Space into the later Kabbalistic Tree of Life. The only thing we don’tknow for certain is all the details of how this transformation originally came about, butnonetheless, we can make some good, educated guesses.40
If we want to convert a three-dimensional cube into a two-dimensional object, theobvious thing to do is to unfold it the way we would unfold a cardboard box. Below is anillustration of the most typical unfolding.Admittedly, when the box is unfolded, the resulting image will be suggestive to some of aChristian cross. However, the medieval rabbis would certainly see it through their owneyes and understanding, and hence, would be more likely to find the image suggestive ofa tree. Furthermore, in the Sefer Yetzirah 6:5 we read “three opposite three,” and theabove diagram certainly suggests putting three sefirot on each side with the remainingfour in the extended central column, and this is exactly how it is done today in themodern image of the Tree of Life.One thing we do know is that the Kabbalistic Tree of Life that was developed after thepublication of the Zohar did not achieve its present form all it once. Like most otherthings, it, too, underwent evolution, and below are some of the earlier images of the tree.41
Page 3: “With thirty-two wondrous paths o
Page 10 and 11: destruction of the original state o
Page 12 and 13: exaggeration to say that letters cr
Page 14 and 15: successful leader, then we will gen
Page 16 and 17: “He selected three letters from t
Page 19 and 20: In our next verse from the Sefer Ye
Page 21 and 22: to begin to dissolve. And in so doi
Page 23 and 24: “These are the ten sefirot of res
Page 25 and 26: Hebrew Letter Glyph Assignment in S
Page 27 and 28: Sefer Yetzirah, attached to cube in
Page 29 and 30: was the Ark of the Covenant that co
Page 31 and 32: The passage from the Bahir that wil
Page 33 and 34: The Zohar, The Book of Splendor (Ra
Page 35 and 36: We will now examine one more concep
Page 37 and 38: Because the Hebrew word for sapphir
Page 39: “It is written: And the intellige
Page 43 and 44: Again, we don’t know precisely ho
Page 45 and 46: hexagon, 6 for the Star of David, a
Page 47 and 48: diagram is to think of all the ways
Page 49 and 50: Recall also how in the Sefer Yetzir
Page 51 and 52: other words, learn to discipline yo
Page 53 and 54: To move up the central column of th
Page 55 and 56: It is now time to examine the twelv
Page 57: Letters Glyph GRA Short Version Lon

Sefer Yetzirah, the Cube of Space, and the Emergence of ... - Maqom

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