volgadon Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 One of the earliest works of ancient Judaism treating the process of creation is the Sefer Yetzirah, or book of creation.Ronit Meroz has proposed a new theory about the sefirot belimah by which the world is created. The term belimah originates in Job 26;7. "He stretcheth out the north over the empty space (tohu), and hangeth the earth over beli-mah." Belimah is usually understod as being "nothing", yet the author of the SY understood belimah as a positive entity. Job 26:7 was paired with Psalms 104:5. "Who didst establish the earth upon its foundations, that it should not be moved for ever and ever." According to this pairing (Ps. 104 was long a favourite in speculations over creation) the earth stands on something. This something, these foundations, is termed belimah.According to Meroz, "It would therefore appear that the idiom which appears in Sefer Yezirah, sefirot belimah, is to be seen as a clarifying parallel; the sefirot are themselves the belimah. Or, to formulate matters differently, belimah, as the real foundation and ground of the world, is referred to by Sefer Yezirah by the title sefirot."It would appear that we have one less source speaking of creatio ex nihilo.The rest of Meroz's fascinating essay exploring the connection between the enigmatic SY and wisdom literature is available as a pdf here. http://www.jsri.ro/new/?download=18_JSRI_Meroz_Ronit.pdf Link to comment
Bill Hamblin Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Now that's what I call a sefirotic tree of life! Link to comment
rameumptom Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 So, it is turtles all the way down? Link to comment
Nathair/|\ Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 So, it is turtles all the way down? Nah, just one turtle with four elephants on it's back supporting the disk endlessly swimming through the void.Sorry, Volgadon, I couldn't resist. Link to comment
Bill Hamblin Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Nah, just one turtle with four elephants on it's back supporting the disk endlessly swimming through the void.Sorry, Volgadon, I couldn't resist.Now that's awesome. What are the sources of these? Link to comment
Nathair/|\ Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Now that's awesome. What are the sources of these?Bing Image search. The first one, I looked for Tree of Life Kabballah and the second one, I looked for Discworld. Link to comment
Questing Beast Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 "The turtle couldn't save us." Damn you Stephen King!... Link to comment
mfbukowski Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 For dummies like me, who don't know Hebrew, I heartily suggest starting here to figure out what the heck these folks are talking about.Amazing amazing stuff!On that Wikipedia site, one can click on each Sephirah (singular for Sephirot) and go to a link at least translating the terminology.Just starting to learn, and well worth it!! Link to comment
mfbukowski Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Nah, just one turtle with four elephants on it's back supporting the disk endlessly swimming through the void. I get it now! And when the flipper comes up like that above the horizon, that is what causes eclipses, right? Makes sense to me! Link to comment
Robert F. Smith Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 Now that's what I call a sefirotic tree of life!Here is a simpler and more constructive version of all that: Link to comment
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