{{Short description|Jewish magical text}} {{italic title}} thumb|A diagram from a ''Sefer HaRazim'' manuscript '''''Sefer HaRazim''''' ({{langx|he|ספר הרזים}}; "Book of Secrets") is a Jewish magical text that dates to around the turn of the 4th century AD.<ref name="Morgan"/>{{rp|8}} According to the text's preface, it was given to Noah by the angel Raziel, and passed down throughout Biblical history until it ended up in the possession of Solomon, for whom it was a great source of his wisdom and purported magical powers. This is not the same work as the ''Sefer Raziel HaMalakh'', which was given to Adam by the same angel, although both works stem from the same tradition; large parts of ''Sefer HaRazim'' were incorporated into the ''Sefer Raziel'' under its original title.
It is thought to be a sourcebook for Jewish magic, calling upon angels rather than God to perform supernatural feats.<ref name="Gager1999">{{cite book|author=John G. Gager|title=Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rmhw2eVJnS0C&pg=PA106|year=1999|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-513482-7|pages=106–}}</ref>
== Discovery == The text was rediscovered in the 20th century by Mordecai Margalioth, a Jewish scholar visiting Oxford in 1963, using fragments found in the Cairo Geniza.<ref name="Smith2009">{{cite book|author=David Raymond Smith|title='Hand this man over to Satan': Curse, Exclusion and Salvation in 1 Corinthians 5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SU6vAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA107|date=13 April 2009|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-0-567-26746-7|pages=107–}}</ref><ref name="Arnold2014">{{cite book|author=Clinton Arnold|title=The Colossian Syncretism: The Interface between Christianity and Folk Belief at Colossae|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iWbDCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA51|date=1 December 2014|publisher=Wipf & Stock Publishers|isbn=978-1-4982-1757-6|pages=51–}}</ref> He hypothesised that several fragments of Jewish magical literature shared a common source and was certain that he could reconstruct this common source. He achieved this in 1966 when he published ''Sefer HaRazim''. The first English translation of the book was undertaken by Michael A. Morgan in 1983; the book is now in print, as of summer 2007. A new scholarly edition of the main extant manuscript including Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic Geniza fragments and a 13th-century Latin translation was prepared by Bill Rebiger and Peter Schäfer in 2009, along with a translation and commentary in German in a separate volume.
== Dating == Margalioth places the date of the original text to the early fourth or late third century CE. This date is almost universally accepted; a notable exception is Ithamar Gruenwald who dates the text to the sixth or seventh century. Nonetheless, it is clear that this text predates Kabbalistic texts, including the ''Zohar'' (thirteenth century), the ''Bahir'' (thirteenth century as well), and possibly the proto-Kabbalistic ''Sefer Yetzirah'' (fourth century). There are certain textual clues that point toward this early date, specifically the reference to "the Roman indictions in 1:27-28 [which] gives a clear ''terminus a quo'' of 297 CE".<ref name="Morgan"/>{{rp|8}}
== Structure and content == {{Further|List of angels in Sefer HaRazim}} The book is split into seven sections, not including a preface which details the book's reception and transmission. Each of the first six sections corresponds to one heaven (or firmament) and contains a listing of angels and instructions to perform one or more magical rites. Only the throne of God and the four ''hayots'' are in the seventh heaven. The seven firmaments, each described with lengthy lists of angel names, are as follows.<ref name="Morgan"/>{{rp|6-7, 87-90}} (The angel names are from Rebiger & Schäfer (2010).<ref name="Rebiger-Schäfer">{{cite book |last1=Rebiger |first1=Bill |last2=Schäfer |first2=Peter |author-link2=Peter Schäfer |title=Sefer ha-Razim I und II: Das Buch der Geheimnisse I und II |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |publication-place=Tübingen |date=2010 |isbn=978-3-16-151465-4 |language=de}}</ref>)
#First Firmament: 7 encampments led by the angels Aurpnial, Tigrh, Dnhl, Klmial/Hlmia, Asimur, Psbr, and Bual. #Second Firmament: 12 steps, each with about 8–20 angels. #Third Firmament: 3 angelic princes, namely Ibnial, Rhṭial, and Dlqial. #Fourth Firmament: angelic princes who lead the sun during the day and night (about 30 princes during the day, and about 30 princes during the night). #Fifth Firmament: 12 princes of glory who represent the 12 months. They are Šˁpial (month of Nisan), Rghil (month of Iyyar), Dirnaur (month of Siwan), Tˁnṣun (month of Tammuz), Tdnrgar (month of Av), Mural (month of Elul), Phrrun (month of Tishre), Ildng (month of Marḥeshwan), Anrgnur (month of Kislew), Mpnial (month of Ṭevet), Ḥšbdrum (month of Shevaṭ), and Abrkial (month of Adar). #Sixth Firmament: heads of the encampments in the east (with 28 angelic leaders and their encampments) and west (with 31 angelic leaders and their encampments). The heads of the encampments are Aparkm (in the west) and Tuqpirs (in the east). #Seventh Firmament: throne of God and 4 ''hayots''
There is an uneasy tension between the orthodox cosmogony of the book and the unorthodox praxeis embodied in these magical rites; the book has obviously been edited by a rabbinical scribe, but the "popular religion" contained in the book is more or less intact. Some of the rituals purport to facilitate healing, prophecy, an attack upon one's enemy, and gaining good fortune. The number seven, the importance of divine names, and the prevalence of sympathetic magic all have significance in the literature of Middle Eastern magic. The text demonstrates strong syncretism of Jewish and Greek traditions;<ref name="AitkenPaget2014">{{cite book|last1=Aitken|first1=James K.|last2=Carleton Paget|first2=James|authorlink2=James Carleton Paget|title=The Jewish-Greek Tradition in Antiquity and the Byzantine Empire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kv6GBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA255|year=2014|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-00163-3|page=255}}</ref> an example is a prayer to the sun god Helios to invoke him at night:
{{blockquote|Holy Helios, who rises in the east, good mariner, trustworthy leader of the sun's rays, reliable witness, who of old didst establish the mighty wheel of the heavens, holy orderer, ruler of the axis of heaven, Lord, Brilliant Leader, King, Soldier. I, N son of N, present my supplication before you, that you will appear to me without causing me fear, and you will be revealed to me without causing me terror, and you will conceal nothing from me, and will tell me truthfully all that I desire.<ref name="Morgan"/>{{rp|71}}}} The prayer is preceded by instructions to call on several angels 21 times as well as the name of the sun. The reader is told to perform the ritual in white garments.
The Mandaean uthra (angel or guardian) Ptahil is mentioned as ''Ptḥiʾl'' ({{langx|he|פתחיאל}}) in ''Sefer HaRazim'', listed among other angels who stand on the ninth step of the second firmament.<ref name="Morgan">{{cite book|title=Sepher Ha-Razim: The Book of the Mysteries|first=Michael A.|last=Morgan|series=Pseudepigrapha Series|volume=11|publisher=Scholars Press|location=Chico, California|isbn=0-89130-615-3}}</ref>{{rp|55}}<ref>{{cite journal|last=Vinklat|first=Marek|title=Jewish Elements in the Mandaic Written Magic|url=https://www.academia.edu/1255149|journal=Biernot, D. – Blažek, J. – Veverková, K. (Eds.), "Šalom: Pocta Bedřichu Noskovi K Sedmdesátým Narozeninám" (Deus et Gentes, Vol. 37), Chomutov: L. Marek, 2012. Isbn 978-80-87127-56-8|date=January 2012|access-date=10 February 2022}}</ref>{{rp|211}}
==See also== {{Commons category|Sefer HaRazim}} {{Wikiquote|Sefer HaRazim}} *Ancient Jewish magic *Bahir *Semiphoras and Schemhamphorash *Matarta in Mandaeism *Aerial toll house in Eastern Orthodox Christianity *Coptic Apocalypse of Paul, a Gnostic text
== References == {{reflist}}
== Sources == *Levy, B. Barry. ''Sepher Ha-Razim'', Unpublished manuscript and English translation, McGill University. *Margalioth, Mordecai. ''Sepher Ha-Razim.'' Jerusalem: Yediot Achronot, 1966. *Morgan, Michael A. ''Sepher Ha-Razim: The Book of Mysteries.'' Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1983. *Rebiger, Bill; Schäfer, Peter (eds.). ''[https://www.mohrsiebeck.com/buch/sefer-ha-razim-i-und-ii-das-buch-der-geheimnisse-i-und-ii-9783161514654/ Sefer ha-Razim I und II. Das Buch der Geheimnisse]'', vol. 1: Edition, vol. 2: Einleitung, Übersetzung und Kommentar. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2009. {{ISBN|9783161514654}}. {{in lang|de}}
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Sefer Harazim}} Category:Angels in Judaism Category:History of magic Category:Jewish grimoires Category:Kabbalah texts Category:4th-century texts