In Jewish tradition there is a book which, according to legend, was handed directly by an angel to the first man. It is the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh, the "Book of the Angel Raziel". Its real history is that of a layered compilation, but the legend surrounding it made it for centuries an object charged with meaning, kept in homes as a protective presence.
Who Raziel is
The name Raziel can be interpreted as "secret of God". In late antique and medieval Jewish literature, Raziel is the angel who knows the heavenly mysteries and stands near the divine throne, where he hears the decisions concerning the world. He is therefore a figure of revelation: the one who keeps secrets and, in certain cases, passes them on to human beings.
The legend of the book
According to the account that opens the book, after the expulsion from Eden Adam prayed to God in grief and repentance. In answer, the angel Raziel gave him a book containing the secrets of the cosmos, the course of the stars, the names of the angels and knowledge of past and future. The book then passed down the generations: to Enoch, to Noah, who learned from it how to build the ark, and finally to Solomon.
This legend makes the book a kind of primordial wisdom, older than the Torah itself, and explains the veneration that surrounded it.
A medieval compilation
Historically, the Sefer Raziel we know is a compilation bringing together texts from different periods. Scholars recognise in it:
- material derived from the mystical literature of the heavenly palaces, known as Hekhalot;
- sections akin to the Sefer ha-Razim, a late antique text on the firmaments and angels;
- elements of the mysticism and magic of the medieval German Jews, the so-called Hasidei Ashkenaz;
- cosmological and astrological sections of various kinds.
In its best-known form the book was first printed in Amsterdam in 1701. Before then it circulated in manuscripts of varying content.
The contents
The Sefer Raziel is a heterogeneous work without a linear path. It contains:
- treatises on creation and the structure of the cosmos;
- descriptions of the heavens and the angelic hosts who dwell there;
- divine and angelic names, with indications for their use;
- notions of astrology and the calendar;
- formulas for amulets and protective figures.
The section on amulets has been particularly influential: some designs found in the book reappear in Jewish amulets produced in later centuries, especially those intended to protect women in childbirth and newborns.
A book that protects
One of the most interesting features of the Sefer Raziel is the role it played as an object. In the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe the belief spread that keeping the book in the house protected the home, particularly from fire. In this case the book was not so much read as kept: its physical presence had symbolic and devotional value.
It is an important example of how an esoteric text can live on two levels: that of its content, accessible to few scholars, and that of the object, which enters the daily life of many families.
The Latin Liber Razielis
There is also a Latin tradition linked to Raziel. At the court of Alfonso X of Castile, in the thirteenth century, a Liber Razielis was produced, a compilation that took up material of Jewish origin and presented it in Latin. This text differs from the Hebrew book printed in 1701, but it shows the interest the figure of Raziel aroused in the medieval Christian world as well.
How to approach the book
Anyone wishing to study the Sefer Raziel should keep a few distinctions in mind:
- the legend of its Adamic origin, which has religious and symbolic value;
- the real history of the text, which is that of a medieval compilation;
- the differences between the manuscript versions, the printed edition and the Latin Liber Razielis;
- the book's role as an object of devotion in Jewish communities.
This complexity is its richness: the Sefer Raziel mirrors the long history of Jewish mysticism and its dialogue with other traditions.
In short
- The Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh is the "Book of the Angel Raziel", according to legend given to Adam.
- It is a compilation of late antique and medieval material, including elements from the Hasidei Ashkenaz.
- The first printed edition appeared in Amsterdam in 1701.
- It contains cosmology, angelology, divine names, astrology and formulas for amulets.
- In many Jewish homes the book was kept as a protective presence, especially against fire.
