Secrets of Creativity of Sefer Yetzira
Yossefa Even-Shoshan, an Israeli playwright who is known for addressing
female Jewish personages and issues in her plays (such as The Maiden of
Ludmir, Foreign Women, among others), has been conducting workshops in
which she uses Sefer Yetzira as a guidebook for people to access their
creative abilities. The following is her description of the book:
"I first studied Sefer Yetzira with Avraham Leader a number of years ago,
at which time I already sensed that this book contains a great secret, a
sort of 'recipe for creativity'.
"The book describes how the world was created by means of ten spheres
and the twenty-two letters. Since the world was created by the word, and
according to Sefer Yetzirah, letters and words are the building blocks of
creation, and human beings express themselves by written and spoken
language, I realized that one of the intents of Sefer Yetzira is to instruct
people in the art of creation.
"I developed a method that enables people to effect change and recreate
their lives as a form of creative art by means of writing. I have used this
method in workshops, and found that it in fact allows participants to grow
closer to their inner "I", and to rearrange their way of perceiving and
interacting.
"Now that Avraham's new edition of the book has been published, I feel
that the time has come to compose a guidebook that would make these
tools accessible to the general public. The fact that it is written in our
people's ancient imagery and language makes it particularly effective."
Next>
