Abraham

Kaplan — Sefer Yetzirah: The Book of Creation in Theory and Practice (1990) [TRADICIONAL]

Sepher Yetzirah [TRADICIONAL]

Cábala · Transmisor

Astrología · Transmisor

«4. And after that our father Abraham had perceived and understood, and had taken down and engraved all these things, the Lord most high (55) revealed Himself, and called him His beloved, and made a Covenant with him and his seed; and Abraham believed on Him (56) and it was imputed unto him for righteousness. And He made this Covenant as between the ten toes of the feet--this is that of circumcision; and as between the ten fingers of the hands and this is that of the tongue. (57) And He formed the twenty-two letters into speech (58) and shewed him all the mysteries of them. (59) He drew them through the Waters; He burned them in the Fire; He vibrated them in the Air; Seven planets in the heavens, and Twelve celestial constellations of the stars of the Zodiac.» — la estrofa final del libro en la traducción de Westcott: Abraham percibió, entendió y grabó, y el Señor se le reveló, lo llamó su amado e hizo con él el Pacto.

«And when Abraham our father, may he rest in peace, looked, saw, understood, probed, engraved and carved, He was successful in creation, as it is written. “And the souls that they made in Haran” (Genesis 12:5). Immediately there was revealed to him the Master of all, may His name be blessed forever, He placed him in His bosom, and kissed him on his head, and He called him, “Abraham my beloved” (Isaiah 41:8).» — la misma estrofa en la traducción de Kaplan: Abraham miró, vio, entendió, sondeó, grabó y talló, y tuvo éxito en la creación.

«4. And when Abraham our father gazed, he looked, saw, delved, understood, engraved, carved, permuted and depicted, and he was successful. And the Master of all. Blessed be He, revealed Himself to him, and took him in His bosom, [kissed him on the head, and called him, “My beloved”]. He made a covenant with him between the ten toes of his feet—this is the covenant of circumcision—and between the ten fingers of his hands—this is the covenant of the tongue. He bound the twenty-two letters to his tongue and revealed their foundation. He drew them in water, burned them in fire, agitated them with breath. He ignited them with the seven (planets), and directed them with the twelve constellations.» — la estrofa en otra de las versiones que el volumen imprime, con el pacto de la lengua y las veintidós letras atadas a ella.

«The introductory colophon states, “This is the book of the Letters of Abraham our father, which is called Sefer Yetzirah, and when one gazes (tzafah) into it, there is no limit to his wisdom.”» — el colofón de un manuscrito que Kaplan cita, que titula el libro como las Letras de Abraham nuestro padre.

«The oldest title has, as an addition, the words, "The Letters of our Father Abraham" or "ascribed to the patriarch Abraham," and it is spoken of as such by many mediaeval authorities: but this origin is doubtless fabulous, although perhaps not more improbable than the supposed authorship of the "Book of Enoch," mentioned by St. Jude, of which two MSS. copies in the Ethiopic language were rescued from the wilds of Abyssinia in 1773 by the great traveller James Bruce.» — Westcott registra el título más antiguo y la atribución de muchas autoridades medievales, y la llama fabulosa sin borrarla.

«It was Abraham our Father—blessed be he—who wrote this book to condemn the doctrine of the sages of his time» — el comentario de Moses Botarel que Westcott reproduce hace de Abraham el autor, que habría escrito el libro contra los sabios de su tiempo.

«At least, this was the opinion of Rabbi Saadiah--blessed be he--as written in the first chapter of his book The Philosopher's Stone. These are his words: The sages of Babylon attacked Abraham on account of his faith; for they were all against him although themselves separable into three sects.» — Botarel remite esa opinión a Saadiah y de ahí saca el marco de los sabios de Babilonia contra Abraham.

«Some modern critics have attributed the authorship to the Rabbi Akiba, who lived in the time of the Emperor Hadrian, A.D. 120, and lost his life in supporting the claims of Barchocheba, a false messiah: others suggest it was first written about A.D. 200.» — la otra atribución que Westcott consigna, la moderna a Akiba, con la datación alternativa hacia el año 200.

«"Abrahami Patriarchae Liber Jezirah sive Formationis Mundi, Patribus quidem Abrahami tempora praecedentibus revelatus, sed ab ipso etiam Abrahamo expositus Isaaco, et per pro prophetarum manus posteritati conservatus, ipsis autem 72 Mosis auditoribus in secundo divinae veritatis loco, hoc est in ratione, quoe est posterior authoritate, habitus." Parisiis, 1552. Gulielmus Postellus.» — el título latino de Postellus, París 1552, que Westcott transcribe: revelado a padres anteriores, expuesto por Abraham a Isaac y conservado por los profetas.

«"Id est Liber Jezirah, qui Abrahamo, Patriarchae adscribitur, una cum Commentario Rabbi Abraham F.D. super 32 semitis Sapientiae,» — el título de Rittangelius, que dice la atribución con un verbo de atribución; el Rabbi Abraham F. D. de la misma línea es otro Abraham.

«In Tomas Primus of "Artis Cabalisticae hoc est reconditae theologiae et philosophiae scriptorum." Basileae 1587, is found "Liber de Creatione Cabalistinis, Hebraice Sepher Jezira; Authore Abrahamo. Successive filiis ore traditus. Hinc jam rebus Israel inclinatis ne deficeret per sapientes Hierusalem arcanis et profundissimis sensibus literis commendatus." Johannes Pistorius.» — la versión latina de Pistorius, Basilea 1587, que da el libro por transmitido de viva voz de Abraham a sus hijos.

«This chapter is a resumé of the preceding five; it calls the universe and mankind to witness to the truth of the scheme of distribution of the powers of the numbers among created forms, and concludes with the narration that this philosophy was revealed by the Divine to Abraham, who received and faithfully accepted it, as a form of Wisdom under a Covenant.» — Westcott resume el capítulo sexto, que termina narrando la revelación a Abraham bajo un Pacto.

«The text is presented dogmatically, without substantiation or explanation. In the first chapter in particular, it is solemn and sonorous, reading like blank verse poetry. Very few Biblical passages are quoted, and with the exception of Abraham, no name or authority is mentioned.» — Kaplan dice que el texto no nombra más autoridad que Abraham.

«This chapter concludes with a stanza linking the Sefer Yetzirah to Abraham. It is this quote that serves as a source to the tradition that the book was authored by the Patriarch.» — Kaplan sitúa en la estrofa final la fuente de la tradición que hace del Patriarca el autor.

«The earliest source to which Sefer Yetzirah is attributed is the Patriarch Abraham. As early as the 10th century, Saadia Gaon writes that, “the ancients say that Abraham wrote it.”» — Kaplan pone la atribución como la más antigua y la remite a Saadia Gaon en el siglo X.

«This does not mean, however, that the entire book as we have it now was written by Abraham. As Saadia Gaon explains, the principles expounded in Sefer Yetzirah were first taught by Abraham, but they were not actually assembled in book form until much later.» — y el límite que pone en la misma plana, con Saadia: los principios los habría enseñado Abraham y el libro se habría reunido mucho después.

«The attribution of Abraham is supported by the final stanza of Sefer Yetzirah: “When Abraham... looked and probed... he was successful in creation...” This passage clearly suggests that Abraham actually made use of the methods found in this text.» — Kaplan dice que la estrofa final sostiene la atribución y sugiere que Abraham usó los métodos del texto.

«In many editions of Sefer Yetzirah, scriptural evidence is provided by the verse, “Abraham went as God had told him, and Abraham took... the souls that they had made in Haran” (Genesis 12:5). According to some commentaries, this indicates that Abraham actually used the powers of Sefer Yetzirah to create people.» — la prueba escrituraria que Kaplan dice hallar en muchas ediciones, Génesis 12:5, leída por algunos comentarios como creación de personas.

«Other authorities, however, say that “making souls” refers to converting them to belief in the one true God, and this is also supported by the Zohar.» — la lectura rival que Kaplan pone a renglón seguido sin arbitrarla: hacer almas sería convertirlas.

«A Midrash states that if Abraham would have engaged in the secrets of creation by himself, he would have gone too far in emulating his Creator, and he therefore worked together with Shem, son of Noah.» — el Midrash que Kaplan trae: a solas Abraham habría ido demasiado lejos, y por eso trabajó con Shem.

«Such ancient Kabbalistic texts as the Zohar and Raziel also attribute Sefer Yetzirah to Abraham» — Kaplan dice que el Zohar y el Raziel también atribuyen el libro a Abraham.

«A number of very old manuscripts of Sefer Yetzirah likewise begin with a colophon calling it “the Letters of Abraham our Father, which is called Sefer Yetzirah.”» — y que manuscritos muy viejos abren con el colofón de las Letras de Abraham.

«Another authority notes that it could not have actually been written by Abraham, since if it had, it should have been incorporated into the Bible, or at least be mentioned in scripture» — la objeción que Kaplan recoge: de ser de Abraham, el libro estaría en la Biblia o se mencionaría en ella.

«Similarly, when the Zohar speaks of books antedating the Torah, it does not include the Sefer Yetzirah among them.» — y la segunda objeción: el Zohar no lo cuenta entre los libros anteriores a la Torá.

«The most important mysteries of Sefer Yetzirah involve the inner significance of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Here too, we find that Abraham was a master of these mysteries. A Midrash thus states that “the letters were given to none other than Abraham.”» — Kaplan lo llama maestro de los misterios de las letras, con un Midrash.

«The attribution of the mysteries of Sefer Yetzirah to Abraham would place its origin in the 18th century before the common era. This is not very surprising, since such mystical texts as the Vedic scriptures date from this period, and there is every reason to believe that the mystical tradition was further advanced in the Middle East than it was in India at the time.» — la consecuencia cronológica que Kaplan saca de la atribución: el siglo XVIII antes de la era común.

«It is from here that a tradition is derived linking Abraham to the Sefer Yetzirah.» — Kaplan vuelve en el comentario a la estrofa de donde dice que sale la tradición.

«Rabbi Abraham Abulafia, however, apparently was not certain as to the authorship, and writes, “let it be whoever it is.”» — la abstención de Abraham Abulafia que Kaplan consigna en nota, recortada del final de la línea de la ficha de obra; el resto de la nota es bibliografía.

«5. Shem HaGedolim loc cit. Even though the Bahir cites many things found in Sefer Yetzirah, it might have actually been written earlier. According to a reliable tradition, it was Rabbi Akiba who actually wrote the Sefer Yetzirah, even though its teachings are attributed to Abraham. See Pardes Rimonim 1:1, Korey HaDorot 30a. Although the teachings of the Sefer Yetzirah may have been known from earlier sources, they were not redacted until after the Bahir.» — Kaplan, en nota a su traducción del Bahir, trae como tradición fiable que el libro lo escribió Akiba aunque sus enseñanzas se atribuyan a Abraham.

«Not only the latter and the Siphrah Dzeniouta, but even the Sepher Jetzirah26—the work attributed by the Hebrew Kabalists to their Patriarch Abraham (!), the Shu-king, China's primitive Bible, the sacred volumes of the Egyptian Thoth-Hermes, the Purânas in India, the Chaldean Book of Numbers and the Pentateuch itself, are all derived from that one small parent volume» — Blavatsky consigna la atribución de los cabalistas hebreos y le pone un signo de admiración.

«Again, the Sepher Jetzirah (Book of Creation)—though attributed to Abraham and though very archaic as to its contents—is first mentioned in the eleventh century by Jehuda Ho Levi (Chazari).» — Blavatsky dice que el libro, aunque atribuido a Abraham, se menciona por primera vez en el siglo XI.

«An ancient classic of mystical cosmological and cosmogonical speculations, attributed to Abraham or to R. ‘Akiva» — Moshe Idel da las dos atribuciones sin elegir: Abraham o Akiva.

«Sefer Ye$irah (The Book of Creation) is traditionally attributed to the patriarch Abraham. Recent research, however, maintains that it was composed either in the century before or after the rise of Islam.» — Shlomo Sela consigna en nota la atribución tradicional y la datación de la investigación reciente; el troceo imprime Ye$irah.

«The less learned among us for our part, however, use the book of Abraham our father, entitled On the Creation.» — Reuchlin llama al libro de la Creación el libro de Abraham nuestro padre.

«The number thirty-two, the Hebrew doctors ascribe to wisdom, and so many paths of wisdom are described by Abraham.'® But the Pythagoreans call this the number of justice,» — Agrippa dice que Abraham describió treinta y dos sendas de sabiduría; la frase sigue en la plana siguiente.

«It seems to me that the author of this sentence had in mind a method which enabled Abraham, on the strength of his insight into the system of things and the potencies of letters, to imitate and in a certain sense repeat God’s act of creation.» — Gershom Scholem, en primera persona y con su grado, lee en la estrofa un método para imitar el acto creador.

«Abraham lived in Heliopolis with the Egyptian priests and taught them much: He explained astrology and the other sciences to them, saying that the Babylonians and he himself had obtained this knowledge.» — el Pseudo-Eupólemo lo pone en Heliópolis enseñando la astrología y las demás ciencias a los sacerdotes egipcios.

«The Babylonian traditions have been used by "Pseudo-Eupolemus" as genealogical support for the theory that Jewish heroes were the inventors of astrology.» — R. Doran dice que el Pseudo-Eupólemo usa la genealogía babilonia para hacer de los héroes judíos los inventores de la astrología.

«Sefer Yetzirah is one of the primary ancient astrological texts, and it is possible that it incorporates Abraham's astrological teachings. The fact that this astrology was said to be “in his heart” might also indicate that it involved various meditative techniques, as was indeed the case with ancient astrology, and is also suggested by Sefer Yetzirah.» — Kaplan dice posible que el libro incorpore las enseñanzas astrológicas de Abraham.

«Since Abraham was the greatest mystic and astrologer of his age, it is natural to assume that he was familiar with all the mysteries of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Abraham was born in Mesopotamia, and he also lived in Egypt.» — Kaplan lo llama el mayor místico y astrólogo de su tiempo y le supone los misterios de Egipto y Mesopotamia.

«When God revealed himself to Abraham one of the first things that He taught him was not to be overdependent on astrological predictions.» — el límite que Kaplan recoge de la misma tradición: no depender en exceso de las predicciones astrológicas.

«Abraham was also fully aware of the magical and idolatrous uses that could be developed from these mysteries. The Talmud thus says that Abraham had a tract dealing with idolatry that consisted of 400 chapters.» — Kaplan le adjudica, con el Talmud, un tratado de cuatrocientos capítulos sobre la idolatría.

«There is also a Talmudic teaching that Abraham taught the mysteries involving “unclean names” to the children of his concubines» — Kaplan trae la enseñanza talmúdica de los nombres impuros dados a los hijos de las concubinas.

«This is based on the verse, “to the sons of the concubines that Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and he sent them away... to the lands of the east” (Genesis 25:6). These gifts consisted of occult mysteries, which then spread in eastern Asia.» — y la lectura que hace de Génesis 25:6: misterios ocultos que se habrían difundido por Asia oriental.

«Also attributed to him is the statement that God told Abraham to “go out of your astrology.”» — el dicho de Dios a Abraham que Kaplan adjudica a un comentarista: salir de su astrología.

«Abraham is commanded by God to reject (go forth from) astrology. See BT Shabbat 156a: “Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav, ‘…ויוצא (Va-yotse), He took (him) outside (Genesis 15:5)…. He [Abraham] said before Him [God], “I have gazed at my horoscope, and I am not fated to engender a son.” He replied, “צא (Tse), Leave, your astrological speculations! Israel is immune from planetary influence» — Daniel Matt, en nota al Zohar, lee el mandato de salir como orden de dejar la astrología, con el Talmud.

«Abraham was a master astrologer, and from his horoscope he concluded that he would not have children» — otra nota del Zohar lo llama maestro astrólogo que leyó en su horóscopo que no tendría hijos.

«Astrology, far from being regarded as necessarily contrary to religion, is thought to furnish arguments for the existence of God, and it is said that Abraham, "being an astrologer, was able from the rational system of the stars to recognize the Creator, while all other men were in error, and understood that all things are regulated by His Providence.» — Thorndike consigna un texto que hace a Abraham astrólogo y lo pone a reconocer al Creador por las estrellas.

«Abraham the patriarch, not an astrologer. VW. 483; astronomy and, VW, 188; magic book ascribed to» — el índice de Thorndike registra la voz contraria, el patriarca no astrólogo, y un libro de magia que se le atribuye.

«Abraham—A book of Abraham, or Abram, is cited several times by Firmicus Maternus in his Mathesis (see Thorndike, 1:537). There was a myth that Abraham was skilled in astrology, and had instructed Zoroaster in this art» — Donald Tyson, en su aparato a Agrippa, consigna un libro de Abraham citado por Fírmico Materno y el mito de que instruyó a Zoroastro en astrología.

«When Josephus declares that Abraham taught Mathematics he meant by it» — Blavatsky dice que Josefo le atribuye enseñar matemáticas y lee magia donde dice matemáticas.

«Abraham lived some certaine time in the City of Heliopolis with the Egyptian Priests, to whom he taught Astrologie, which he gloried to have received by Tradition from Enoch. And truly, the Principle of other Sciences could not be infused by Abraham into the minds of Posterity, without these kinds of Symboles and Aenigma’s, which serve as a Rind or Bark to conserve all the mysteries of our Ancestors wisdome.» — el pasaje de Estienne que Håkansson trae: Abraham enseñó astrología a los sacerdotes de Heliópolis y decía haberla recibido de Enoc.

«From the sons of Seth, who lived for six hundred years “in order that they might know by experience through the length of their life what God revealed to them”, this knowledge had been handed down from generation to generation. Noah and his sons had taught the Chaldeans, Abraham had taught the Egyptians, Moses had been taught by the Egyptians, from whose wisdom the Greeks had developed their philosophy» — el pasaje de Bacon que Håkansson trae: en la cadena de la sabiduría, Abraham enseñó a los egipcios.

«The next stage of development was in Egypt, for Abraham and his wife Sarah went there and taught the seven sciences to the Egyptians; and Abraham had a scholar called Euclid who 'learned right weel' and became a master of all the sciences.» — David Stevenson consigna la historia legendaria de los Old Charges: Abraham y Sara llevan las siete ciencias a Egipto, con Euclides por discípulo.

«Abraham and his associate Euclid taught it to the Egyptians, and it eventually reached the Holy Land, where King David and his son Solomon used it to build the great temple of Jerusalem.» — Wouter Hanegraaff resume el mismo tramo de esa historia: Abraham y Euclides enseñan el arte, que la leyenda equipara con la geometría, a los egipcios.

«The Holy Kabalah, or tradition of the children of Seth, was carried from Chaldæa by Abraham, taught to the Egyptian priesthood by Joseph, recovered and purified by Moses, concealed under symbols in the Bible, revealed by the Saviour to Saint John, and contained, entire, under hieratic figures analogous to those of all antiquity, in the Apocalypse of that Apostle.» — Albert Pike pone a Abraham en su cadena de la Cábala: la trae de Caldea.

«Towards the end of his interrogation he explained that when magic had been taught publicly in Toledo the Spanish Jews had assigned the authorship of magic books to St Paul, St Barnabe´, St Leon, Charlemagne, and Albert le Grand, as well as to Abel, Enoch, and Abraham.» — Owen Davies trae la declaración de un reo: los judíos de Toledo habían atribuido libros de magia a Abel, Enoc y Abraham, entre otros.

«Abraham was considered to be the greatest magician and astrologer of his age.» — Jay Weidner y Vincent Bridges consignan su fama de mayor mago y astrólogo de su época.

«This astrological concept is attributed to Abraham just as the building of the physical cube, the Kaaba of Mecca with its sacred Black Stone, is also claimed as his work.» — y la doble atribución que registran: el concepto astrológico y la construcción de la Kaaba.

«When the Prophet was asked how many revealed books there were, he responded, “One hundred and four books. He sent down fifty scrolls to Seth, thirty scrolls to Idrīs, ten scrolls to Abraham, and ten scrolls [understood by some to be tablets (alwāḥ)] to Moses before the Torah. And He sent down the Torah, the Gospel, the Psalms, and the Criterion» — el comentario coránico de Nasr refiere, con al-Ālūsī, el dicho de los ciento cuatro libros revelados, diez rollos de ellos a Abraham.

«Although Judaism and Christianity do not ascribe a revealed book to Abraham, that Abraham had a particular scripture is implied in both the Quran and the Ḥadīth» — y consigna que judaísmo y cristianismo no le atribuyen libro revelado, mientras el Corán y el Ḥadīth lo implican.