Sefer ha-Bahir 121-122 -- the generations and the garments
Sefer ha-Bahir · The Book of Brilliance
ספר הבהיר · קכא-קכב
canonical late 12th c., Provence (ascribed to the 1st c. tanna) Hebrew Anonymous (attributed to Rabbi Nehunya ben ha-Kanah) tr. Hekhal Targum Project (machine-assisted draft; pending scholarly review)
One of the most consequential passages in the book: the earliest clear Kabbalistic statement of the transmigration of souls. The generation that “has already come” (§ 121); and the parable of the garments, stripped from the servants who spoiled them, washed until no stain remains, and re-worn by new servants — the soul returning into garments worn by others before, while “the spirit returns to God who gave it” (§ 122).
A provisional scholarly draft, released openly for correction and not yet reviewed by a credentialed editor. The Hebrew is reproduced verbatim (with a flagged citation slip — § 122’s Ecclesiastes 12:6 for the verse at 12:7); the standard modern English translation (Kaplan, 1979) is under copyright.
מאי דור דור אמר ר’ פפייס דור הולך ודור בא (קהלת א’ ד’) ואמר רבי עקיבא דור בא שכבר בא:
What is ‘generation, generation’? Rabbi Papyas said: ‘a generation goes and a generation comes’ (Ecclesiastes 1:4). And Rabbi Akiva said: ‘a generation comes’ — one that has already come.
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
משל למה”ד למלך שהיו לו עבדים והלבישן כפי יכלתו בגדי משי ורקמה, קלקלו השורה, השליכן ודחפן מעליו והפשיטן בגדיו והלכו להם, לקח הבגדים ורחצן היטב עד שלא נותר בהן שום סיג והניחן אצלו מזומנין, וקנה עבדים אחרים והלבישן הבגדים ההם והוא לא ידע אם טובים הם אותם העבדים אם לאו, והרי זכו בבגדים שכבר באו לעולם ולבשום אחרים לפניהם, אבל הארץ לעולם עומדת והיינו דכתיב (קהלת י”ב ו’) וישב העפר על הארץ כשהיה והרוח תשוב אל האלהים אשר נתנה:
A parable: to what is it comparable? To a king who had servants, and he clothed them, according to his means, in garments of silk and embroidery. They spoiled the order [of their conduct]; he cast them off and thrust them from before him and stripped them of his garments, and they went their way. He took the garments and washed them well, until no stain (sig) remained in them, and set them beside him, ready; and he bought other servants and clothed them in those garments — and he did not know whether those servants were good or not. So they came into possession of garments that had already come into the world and had been worn by others before them. But the earth stands forever; and this is what is written (Ecclesiastes 12:6 in the source; the verse is at 12:7), ‘and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.’
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 generation that has already come
Ecclesiastes 1:4, ‘a generation goes and a generation comes,’ is glossed by Rabbi Akiva: ‘a generation comes’ — one ‘that has already come.’ Sod: the returning generation, the soul that comes again — the doctrine the next section unfolds.
the garments and the return of souls (gilgul)
The king clothes his servants in fine garments; when they ‘spoil the order’ he strips the garments, washes them until ‘no stain remains,’ and clothes new servants in them — who thus ‘come into possession of garments that had already come into the world and were worn by others before them,’ while ‘the earth stands forever’ and ‘the spirit returns to God who gave it’ (Ecclesiastes 12:7). Sod: the garments are the bodies — or the souls — reused across lives; this is among the earliest clear statements of the transmigration of souls (gilgul) in the Kabbalah, the soul cleansed and re-clothed in new bearers. Gershom Scholem identified this parable as the first Kabbalistic doctrine of metempsychosis. (The verbatim Hebrew cites the verse as Ecclesiastes 12:6; the verse is at 12:7.) Scholem, Gershom 1987
Editorial decisions
- §122 Ecclesiastes citation. The verbatim Hebrew cites ‘the dust returns… the spirit returns to God’ as Ecclesiastes 12:6, but the verse is at 12:7 (a vav/zayin scribal slip, 6 for 7). Rendered as the source gives it with the correct locus flagged, at publish. (claude-opus-4-8[session-pipe], 2026-07-03)
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