Locate the written sefirot names on one identified manuscript folio. Keep the shelfmark, visible spelling, observed placement and source photograph together. Read the original photograph alongside a literal label guide, then make a small source note you can check.
The complete folio stays visible. Choose one written label to magnify its approximate region and locate it in the photograph. The highlights and English lookup names are Mazalogy reading aids.
Reading order runs from top to bottom, with the right-hand Chochmah label before the left-hand Binah label in their paired row. This navigation order records placements, not tree connections or a source-prescribed hierarchy.
University of Manchester Library, Hebrew MS 32, folio 58a; OPenn deposit, hosted by University of Pennsylvania Libraries.Original OPenn photograph · 1200 × 1800. The optional white locator is an original overlay; the source pixels are unchanged. Public Domain Mark 1.0 ↗ for the image/content; metadata is credited separately below.
The same photograph, enlarged through a viewport. Approximate glyph regions preserve nearby ink; the image has not been redrawn.
Literal written label; the English name is a lookup transliteration.
Choose a written label
Use Tab or the arrow keys to reach a label, then Enter to select it. The links also lead to every literal reading without JavaScript.
Literal label guide
Eleven written labels are visible, including both Keter and Daat: ten fully written names and the short label תת. The English names help lookup; the first column preserves what is visibly written.
Eleven written labels · navigation order follows visible placement
Written spelling
English lookup name
Observed position
01 · written labelכתר
Keter
top, centered above the pair
02 · written labelחכמה
Chochmah
second row, right
03 · written labelבינה
Binah
second row, left
04 · written labelדעת
Daat
center, below Chochmah/Binah
05 · written labelחסד
Chesed
center, below Daat
06 · written labelגבורה
Gevurah
center, below Chesed
07 · written labelתת
Tiferet?Provisional expansion; not the full written name
center, below Gevurah
08 · written labelנצח
Netzach
center, below the abbreviation
09 · written labelהוד
Hod
center, below Netzach
10 · written labelיסוד
Yesod
center, below Hod
11 · written labelמלכות
Malkhut
bottom, below Yesod
Keep the observation and the count separate
What the photograph shows
Eleven written labels are visible, including both Keter and Daat: ten fully written names and the short label תת.
The source label is recorded literally as תת. Tiferet is a provisional lookup expansion; the full spelling תפארת and any abbreviation punctuation are not established by this label reading.
Highlights are manually selected, approximate glyph regions in the unchanged 1200 × 1800 source photograph. They are not exact glyph segmentation or a complete manuscript transcription.
What the catalog says
The institutional deposit catalog describes folio 58a as a schematic representation of ten sefirot.
The observation of eleven written labels does not establish a theological count of eleven sefirot. The present reading does not explain which labels count toward ten or why Keter and Daat are written together.
The surrounding cursive paragraphs, interlinear writing and gloss passages are not fully transcribed here. No count convention or reason for the eleven labels has been established from that explanation; this does not claim that the manuscript contains no such explanation.
No connecting tree edges are verified in the inspected photograph. The reading aid supplies no inferred paths, pillars, channels, directional arrows, planetary assignments or Keter–Daat toggle.
An original reading exercise
Try a manuscript reading
Find Keter and Daat in the photograph. Record where each written label appears.
Copy the short label exactly. Separate its written letters from a possible expanded name.
Record one catalog fact and one visual observation. Which count question remains unanswered?
A checked observation
Keter is centered above the Chochmah/Binah pair. Daat is centered below that pair.
The short label is written תת. Tiferet is a provisional lookup expansion; a fully written תפארת is not observed in that label.
The catalog describes ten sefirot, while eleven written labels are visible. The adjacent cursive explanation is not fully transcribed, so the count convention and the reason for both Keter and Daat remain unestablished.
The source record behind this reading
Library, shelfmark and folio
University of Manchester Library · The John Rylands Library Hebrew MS 32 · folio 58a
Work and attribution
Ets Hayyim. The catalog attributes the work to Hayyim Vital and describes a manuscript with prefaces and glosses. This does not establish an autograph or identify the person who arranged these labels.
Dating and place
Manchester’s manifest dates the manuscript to the seventeenth century, not before 1662. Its exhibition describes late seventeenth-century copying, probably in Germany/Ashkenaz; the place remains uncertain.
Public Domain Mark 1.0 ↗. The live OPenn deposit catalog marks these images and content as free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. University of Manchester Library, Hebrew MS 32, folio 58a; OPenn deposit, hosted by University of Pennsylvania Libraries.
Manchester’s separate IIIF attribution reserves rights in its zooming image and labels its downloadable images and metadata CC BY-NC 3.0 Unported. Keep this endpoint notice separate from the OPenn deposit notices. CC BY-NC 3.0 Unported ↗
Source checking
· the named photograph and institutional records
Use the exact OPenn asset with its deposit notices: images/content are marked Public Domain Mark 1.0; 2017 Manchester metadata is CC BY 4.0. Manchester’s separate viewer/IIIF notices remain distinct and are not transferred to this hosted deposit image.
Prepared by Mazalogy with AI assistance and direct source checks. The English names are lookup transliterations, not a full translation. No qualified scholarly, paleographic or native-language review, or institutional endorsement, is claimed.
Keep the folio with the reading
The reading sheet and data retain all eleven written labels, the provisional expansion, the source identity and the distinction between catalog description and visual count.
Mazalogy. “Tree of Life manuscript: Hebrew MS 32, folio 58a.” 2026-10-14. Reading aid for University of Manchester Library, Hebrew MS 32, folio 58a; OPenn photograph 5452_0116_web.jpg. Eleven written labels; תת expansion provisional. https://mazalogy.com/en/resources/tree-of-life-manuscript-hebrew-ms-32/ Source: https://openn.library.upenn.edu/Data/0021/html/HebrewMss32.html#a58a
