Page "Sefer Yetzirah" Paragraph 67

The date and origin of the book can not be definitely determined so long as there is no critical text of it.

The editio princeps ( Mantua, 1562 ) contains two recensions, which were used in the main by the commentators of the book as early as the middle of the 10th century.

The shorter version ( Mantua I.

) was annotated by Dunash ibn Tamim or by Jacob b. Nissim, while Saadia and Donnolo wrote commentaries on the longer recension ( Mantua II .).

The shorter version was also used by most of the later commentators, such as Judah b. Barzillai and Nahmanides, and it was, therefore, published in the ordinary editions.

The longer recension, on the other hand, was little known, the form given in the editio princeps of the Sefer Yetzirah being probably a copy of the text found in Donnolo's commentary.

In addition to these two principal recensions of the text, both versions contain a number of variant readings which have not yet been examined critically.