Sefer ha-Bahir 10-13 -- Rabbi Bun on creation
Sefer ha-Bahir · The Book of Brilliance
ספר הבהיר · י-יג
canonical late 12th c., Provence (ascribed to the 1st c. tanna) Hebrew Anonymous (attributed to R. Neḥunya ben ha-Kanah) tr. Hekhal Targum Project (machine-assisted, provisional)
Rabbi Bun’s cluster on creation: the pre-cosmic Torah, whose “me-olam” (from eternity) is heard as “he’elem” (concealment) and whose “bara” means “prepared all the needs” (§ 10); the split of tohu and bohu into evil and peace, with Michael on the right and Gabriel on the left (§§ 11-12); and the two verbs of Isaiah 45:7, “formation” for light that has substance and “creation” for darkness that has none (§ 13).
This is a provisional scholarly draft, released openly for correction and not yet reviewed by a credentialed editor. The Hebrew is reproduced verbatim from the Hebrew Wikisource transcription; the standard modern English translation (Kaplan, 1979) is under copyright.
אמר רבי בון מאי דכתיב (משלי ח’ כ”ג) מעולם נסכתי מראש מקדמי ארץ, מאי מעולם, שצריך להעלימו מכולי עלמא דכתיב (קהלת ג’ י”א) גם את העולם נתן בלבם, אל תקרא העולם אלא העלם, אמרה תורה אני קדמתי להיות ראש לעולם שנאמר מעולם נסכתי מראש ואם תאמר שמא הארץ קדמה לה ת’ל מקדמי ארץ כד”א בראשית ברא אלהים את השמים ואת הארץ. ומאי ברא, ברא כל צרכי הכל ואח”כ אלהים, ומה כתיב בתריה את השמים ואת הארץ:
Rabbi Bun said: what is written (Proverbs 8:23), ‘from eternity (me-olam) I was established, from the beginning, before the earth’? What is ‘me-olam’? That it must be concealed (le-ha’alimo) from all the world, as it is written (Ecclesiastes 3:11), ‘He has also set the world (ha-olam) in their heart’ — read it not ‘the world (ha-olam)’ but ‘the concealment (ha-he’elem).’ The Torah said: I preceded, to be the head of the world, as it is said, ‘from eternity I was established, from the beginning.’ And if you say, perhaps the earth preceded it — Scripture teaches, ‘before the earth.’ As it is said, ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’ (Genesis 1:1). And what is ‘created (bara)’? He created all the needs of everything, and afterward ‘God (Elohim).’ And what is written after it? ‘the heavens and the earth.‘
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
ומאי גם את זה לעומת זה עשה האלהים (קהלת ז’ יד), ברא בהו ושם מקומו בשלום וברא תהו ושם מקומו ברע, בהו בשלום שנאמר (איוב כ”ה ב) עושה שלום במרומיו מלמד שמיכאל שר הימיני של הקב”ה מים וברד וגבריאל שר שמאלו של הקב”ה אש, ושר שלום ביניהם מכריע והיינו דכתיב עושה שלום במרומיו:
And what is ‘God has made the one corresponding to the other (gam et zeh le’umat zeh asah ha-Elohim)’ (Ecclesiastes 7:14)? He created bohu and set its place in peace, and created tohu and set its place in evil. Bohu in peace, as it is said (Job 25:2), ‘He makes peace in His heights’ — this teaches that Michael, the prince on the right of the Holy One, is water and hail, and Gabriel, the prince on His left, is fire; and the prince of peace between them reconciles, and this is what is written, ‘He makes peace in His heights.‘
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
ומנלן דתהו הוא ברע דכתיב (ישעי’ מ”ה ז) עושה שלום ובורא רע, הא כיצד רע מתהו ושלום מבהו ברא תהו ושם מקומו ברע שנא’ עושה שלום ובורא רע ברא בהו ושם מקומו בשלום שנאמר עושה שלום במרומיו:
And how do we know that tohu is in evil? As it is written (Isaiah 45:7), ‘who makes peace and creates evil.’ How so? Evil from tohu, and peace from bohu. He created tohu and set its place in evil, as it is said, ‘who makes peace and creates evil’; He created bohu and set its place in peace, as it is said, ‘He makes peace in His heights.‘
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
ועוד ישב ר’ בון ודרש מאי דכתיב (ישעי’ שם) יוצר אור ובורא חושך, אלא אור שיש בו ממש כתיב בו יצירה, חשך שאין בו ממש כתיב ביה בריאה, כמה דאת אמר (עמוס ד, יג) יוצר הרים ובורא רוח. ואי בעית אימא אור שיש בו הויה דכתיב (בראשית א’ ג) ויאמר אלהים יהי אור ואין הויה אלא ע”י עשיה, קרי ביה יצירה, חשך דלא הוה ביה עשיה אלא הבדלה והפרשה בלבד קרי ביה בריאה כמד”א הבריא פלוני:
And further, Rabbi Bun sat and expounded: what is written (Isaiah 45:7), ‘who forms light and creates darkness’? Rather, of light, which has substance (mamash), ‘formation (yetzirah)’ is written; of darkness, which has no substance, ‘creation (beriah)’ is written — as you say (Amos 4:13), ‘who forms mountains and creates wind.’ And if you wish, say: of light, which has being (havayah), as it is written (Genesis 1:3), ‘and God said, let there be light’ — and there is no being except by making (asiyah) — read it ‘formation’; of darkness, in which there was no making but only separation and division, read it ‘creation,’ as one says ‘so-and-so recovered (hivri).’
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
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This edition sets the verbatim Hebrew beside a fresh English rendering and a critical apparatus: a running commentary on the passage, notes on the controlled vocabulary and the rendering chosen for each term, and cross-references to the lexicon and to related sections. It is a provisional scholarly draft, released openly for correction and not yet reviewed by a credentialed editor.
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the pre-cosmic Torah; olam as he’elem
Derash on Proverbs 8:23, where Wisdom (read as the Torah) declares herself established before the world. ‘me-olam’ (from eternity) is heard through the al-tikri device as ‘he’elem’ (concealment, Ecclesiastes 3:11): the Torah/Wisdom is the concealed beginning that precedes creation and must be hidden. ‘bara’ (created) is glossed as ‘prepared all the needs’ — creation as provision. Sod: the pre-cosmic Wisdom is Chokhmah, the ‘beginning’ (reshit) through which all is made.
tohu and bohu; Michael and Gabriel
On Ecclesiastes 7:14 (‘God made the one corresponding to the other’) read against Genesis 1:2’s tohu va-bohu: bohu is set ‘in peace,’ tohu ‘in evil.’ Job 25:2 (‘He makes peace in His heights’) is taken to name the two opposed princes — Michael on the right (water and hail) and Gabriel on the left (fire) — with a mediating ‘prince of peace’ reconciling them. This is the Bahir’s early figuration of the polarity later systematized as Chesed (right, water) and Gevurah (left, fire) held in balance.
tohu is evil, bohu is peace
Isaiah 45:7 (‘who makes peace and creates evil’) is read to fix the assignment: evil issues from tohu, peace from bohu. The two verses (Isaiah 45:7 and Job 25:2) are made to interlock so that the same creative act founds both the reconciling peace and the potential for evil.
light-formation and darkness-creation; the verbs of creation
On Isaiah 45:7’s two verbs: ‘yotzer’ (forms) light, which has substance/being, and ‘bore’ (creates) darkness, which has none. Light requires ‘making’ (asiyah) and so is ‘formation’ (yetzirah); darkness is only ‘separation and division’ and so is ‘creation’ (beriah, from nothing) — clinched by the wordplay on the root b-r-a in ‘hivri’ (recovered). This distinction among the creation-verbs (bara / yatzar / asah) is the seed of the later doctrine of the graded worlds (Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah).
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