Sefer Yetzirah: why do the manuscripts differ?
This short book survives in several versions. Compare the manuscripts before speaking of one fixed “original” text.
Why the text version matters
A. Peter Hayman’s edition presents the Short, Long, and Saadyan recensions in parallel, using selected manuscripts and a critical apparatus. The differences between recensions are part of the object of study. Mohr Siebeck ↗
Attribution and attestation are different
Traditional attribution does not date the surviving manuscript. Keep the work’s proposed origin, its earliest attestations, and the modern edition separate. Mohr Siebeck ↗
Follow a variant
Choose one passage and compare its wording across the recensions before discussing letters, numbers, or cosmology. A quotation needs an identified text and translator. Mohr Siebeck ↗