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Sefer Raziel HaMalakh, (Hebrew, translates as "Book of Raziel the Angel”), is a Jewish religious text, primarily written in Hebrew and Aramaic.

It is of ancient origin, but its composition is largely unknown. Like other obscure ancient texts such as the Bahir and Sefer Yetzirah, the work has been extant in a number of versions.

The tradition around the book attributes it to have been revealed to Adam by the angel Raziel. Heavily indebted to Greek magical papyri, the title itself is mentioned in another magical work of late antiquity, The Sword of Moses. Critical historians regard it as a medieval work, most probably originating among the Chasidei Ashkenaz, as citations from it begin to appear only in the 13th century. Sections of it are no doubt older. The likely compiler of the medieval version is Eleazer of Worms.

It draws heavily on Sepher Yetzirah and Sepher Ha-Razim. There are multiple manuscript versions, containing up to seven tractates. The printed version of Sefer Raziel is divided into five books, some of it in the form of a mystical Midrash on Creation. It features an elaborate angelology, magical uses of the zodiac, gematria, names of God, protective spells, and a method of writing magical healing amulets.

The book also contains magical scripts of unknown origin, which appear as codes for masking Hebrew writing of magical spells and incantations.

Jewish texts

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Sefer Raziel HaMalakh".

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