The Jewish mystical tradition, especially **Kabbalah**, is one of the richest systems of
number-and-letter symbolism in the corpus: *gematria* (Hebrew letters as numbers), the ten
*sefirot* and the "Tree of Life," the 22 letters and 32 "paths of wisdom" of the *Sefer
Yetzirah*, and the 72 names of God. This node also carries the corpus's key dating flags —
the sefirotic Tree and the hexagram "Star of David" are **medieval-to-modern**, not ancient
Israelite.
number-and-letter symbolism in the corpus: *gematria* (Hebrew letters as numbers), the ten
*sefirot* and the "Tree of Life," the 22 letters and 32 "paths of wisdom" of the *Sefer
Yetzirah*, and the 72 names of God. This node also carries the corpus's key dating flags —
the sefirotic Tree and the hexagram "Star of David" are **medieval-to-modern**, not ancient
Israelite.
The foundational *Sefer Yetzirah* ("Book of Formation," an early esoteric text) describes God
creating through the ten sefirot (primordial numbers) and the 22 Hebrew letters — together 32
"paths." Medieval Kabbalah (the *Bahir*, the *Zohar*, 13th c.) elaborated the sefirot into the
"Tree of Life" diagram and developed gematria and the 72-name (Shemhamphorasch) technique.
Gershom Scholem is the modern scholarly authority who dated and demythologised much of this.
Era (prose)
Sefer Yetzirah (early, uncertain — c. 2nd–6th c. CE?); classical Kabbalah 12th–13th c. CE
Region (prose)
the Jewish world — Provence, Spain (Girona), later Safed
Key persons
Evidence
Label
Sefer Yetzirah: ten sefirot + 22 letters = 32 paths
Body
The *Sefer Yetzirah* founds creation on the ten sefirot (primordial "numbers/enumerations")
and the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet — "thirty-two wondrous paths of wisdom."
Citation
*Sefer Yetzirah* 1:1–1:4; scholarship: Gershom Scholem, *Kabbalah* (1974).
Source tier
Curation status
Label
DATING FLAGS: the Tree of Life and Star of David are medieval→modern
Body
The sefirotic "Tree of Life" diagram crystallised in 13th-century Kabbalah; the hexagram as
the Jewish "Star of David" (Magen David) is medieval-to-modern, not an ancient biblical symbol.
Citation
Gershom Scholem, *Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism* (1941) and "The Star of David:
History of a Symbol" (1971) — see symbol: Tree of life, symbol: Hexagram.
Curation status
Import key
8033712883f3328b8f0fc65bdd01af2aea3ec2b7
Import hash
96a4e962394aa2a99bd563c8c8f1cfa23899d1e0