In the mid-16th century, Moses Cordovero, a great Safed kabbalist, identified a preferred text of Sefer Yetzira from among manuscripts of Sefer Yetzira in circulation at the time. A generation later, Isaac Luria, the greatest kabbalist of his time, took up Cordovero’s preferred text and further refined it. This version became known as the “Ari” text, after the acronym by which Luria is well known. Variations in the text persisted until Rabbi Elijah ben Moses — better known as the Vilna Gaon — edited R. Luria’s text in the 18th century.