Conclusions

Abstract

At the beginning of this project I set out six goals: first, I aimed to resituate the diagrams in the textual and ritual traditions to which they belong. Second, in so doing I wanted to better grasp the meaning of the Sefer Yetsirah (SY). Third, I wanted to better understand the worldview of its readers. Fourth, I looked at the diagrams to gain insight into the development of kabbalistic cosmology, and fifth, into the application of the text. Sixth, I combined these concerns to look at the larger problem of the relation between religion and magic, and of scholarly treatment of these categories. In this process I found that although the SY admits a wide range of interpretations, the diagrams emphasize a practical function. This is also true of the structure of the work. This contradicts much of the scholarship of the SY, and this is most apparent in scholarly treatments of the letterforms and of the golem. The diagrams also posit a use for this rather difficult text. In the course of this exploration it has become evident that it is this very difficulty that makes the SY so productive for thinking about key issues in religious studies.