Mishnah 3. Two-and-twenty letters of foundation: drawn in the voice, hewn in the wind
(air, spirit?) fastened on the mouth in five places: (ηξ) (the gutturals among the Hebrew
letters), Πµωβ (the labials), θκψγ (the palatals), τνλ+δ (the linguals), Χρ#σζ (the
dentals).
Mishnah 4. Twenty-two letters of foundation, fastened in a circle in 231 gates (marking
how these letters are capable of forming, by the permutation of two of them, in all 231
permutations); and the circle turns forwards and backwards, and this is the indication of
the matter: as regards what is good, there is nothing higher than γν( (oneg), 'delight,'
and nothing lower than ηγν (negah), 'plague' (stroke). In such manner He weighed them
and combined them, with them all, and them all with ) with them all, and them all with ) β
with them all, and them all with β , and thus the rest, so that it is found that all that is
formed and all that is spoken proceeds from one Name (the name of God being, as it
were, the fundamental origin of everything).
Mishnah 5. He formed from Tohu that which has substance, and made that which is not
into being, and hewed great pillars from the air, which cannot be handled; and this is the
indication: beholding and speaking He made all that is formed and all words by one
Name - and the indication of the matter: twenty-two numbers and one body.
Pereq III
Mishnah 1. Three mothers - #µ): their foundation, the scale of guilt and the scale of
merit, and the tongue of the statue trembling (deciding) between them .
Mishnah 2. Three mothers - #µ) - a great mystery, marvellous and hidden, and sealed
with six signets, and from them go forth fire and water, and divide themselves into male
and female. Three mothers, #µ) their foundation, and from them were born the fathers
(rerum naturę semina), from which everything is created (fire is regarded as the male
principle, water as the female principle, and air as combining the two: ) is the first letter
of the Hebrew word for air, µ for that of water, # the last for that of fire).
Mishnah 3. Three letters, #µ) - in the world: air, water, fire; the heavens were created in
the beginning from fire, and the earth was created from water, and the air trembles (the
same word as that in regard to the tongue between the scales of the balance, indicating
the intermediate, inclining to the one or the other) between the fire and the water.
Mishnah 4. Three mothers, #µ) - in the year: fire, and water, and wind. Heat is created
from fire, cold from water, and moderate from the wind (air) that is intermediate between
them. Three mothers, #µ) - in the nephesh: fire, water, and wind. The head was created
from fire, and the belly from water, and the body from wind that is intermediate between
them.