Sefer ha-Bahir 159-160 -- the seven gardens and the world to come
Sefer ha-Bahir · The Book of Brilliance
ספר הבהיר · קנט-קס
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)
The Sabbath and the world to come. The rest as a king’s seven gardens with a spring from the source of life in the middle, watering the heart, and the heart watering all the rest (§ 159); and “the world to come” read as “the world that comes” — the great light that arose in thought before creation, a seventh given and the rest hidden for the righteous, already come before the six days (§ 160).
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.
ומה הוי שביתה זו דלית בה מלאכה והוי הנחה דכתיב שבת, משל למה”ד למלך שהיה לו שבעה גנות ובגן האמצעי מעין נובע ממקור חיים, ג’ מימינו וג’ משמאלו, ומיד שפועל פעולה זו או מתמלא שמחים כולם, כי אמרו לצרכינו הוא מתמלא, והוא משקה אותן ומגדלן והם ממתינין ושובתין והוא משקה את השבעה, והכתיב (ישעי’ מ”ג ה) ממזרח אביא זרעך והוי חד מנהון ומשקה ליה, אלא אימא הוא משקה את הלב והלב משקה אח”כ את כולם:
And what is this rest, in which there is no work, and it is a repose, as it is written ‘Sabbath’? A parable: to a king who had seven gardens, and in the middle garden a spring flowing from the source of life (mekor chayim), three on its right and three on its left; and as soon as it performs this action, or is filled, they all rejoice, for they said, ‘for our need it is filled.’ And it waters them and makes them grow, and they wait and rest, and it waters the seven. But is it not written (Isaiah 43:5), ‘from the east I will bring your seed’ — and it is one of them, and it waters it? Rather say: it waters the heart (lev), and the heart afterward waters them all.
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
ישב ר’ ברכיה ודרש מאי האי דאמרינן כל יומא העולם הבא, ולא ידעינן מאי קאמרינן, העוה”ב מתרגמינן עלמא דאתי, מאי עלמא דאתי, מלמד שקודם שנברא העולם עלה במחשבה לבראות אור גדול להאיר, ונברא אור גדול שאין כל בריה יכולה לשלוט בו, צפה הקב”ה שאין יכולין לסובלו, לקח שביעית ושם להם במקומו והשאר גנזו לצדיקים לעתיר לבוא, ואמר אם יזכו בזה השביעי וישמרוה אתן להם זה לעולם אחרון והיינו עולם הבא שכבר בא מקודם ששת ימי בראשית הה”ד (תהלים ל”א כ) מה רב טובך אשר צפנת ליראיך וגו’:
Rabbi Berechiah sat and expounded: what is this that we say every day, ‘the world to come,’ and we do not know what we are saying? ‘The world to come’ we render ‘the world that comes (alma de-atei)’; what is ‘the world that comes’? It teaches that before the world was created, it arose in thought (machashavah) to create a great light to give light; and a great light was created that no creature could master. The Holy One foresaw that they could not bear it; He took a seventh of it and set it in its place for them, and the rest He hid for the righteous in the time to come. And He said: if they merit this seventh and keep it, I will give them this in the last world; and this is the world to come, which already came before the six days of creation; and this is what is written (Psalm 31:20), ‘how great is Your goodness which You have hidden for those who fear You,’ and so on.
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 seven gardens and the spring that waters the heart
The Sabbath rest is figured as a king’s seven gardens, with a spring ‘flowing from the source of life (mekor chayim)’ in the middle garden, ‘three on its right and three on its left.’ When it is filled, all rejoice, and it ‘waters the seven.’ But since one of the seven is itself the source (Isaiah 43:5, ‘from the east I will bring your seed’), the resolution is: ‘it waters the heart (lev), and the heart afterward waters them all.’ Sod: the central grade (the heart — Tiferet, or Yesod as the spring) receives the flow from the source and distributes it to the six directions / seven grades; the middle waters all (cf. the uniting holy, §§ 129, 159).
the world to come: the hidden light that already came
Rabbi Berechiah reads ‘the world to come (ha-olam ha-ba)’ through its Targum, ‘the world that comes (alma de-atei).’ Before creation ‘it arose in thought (machashavah) to create a great light’; but the light was too great to bear, so the Holy One ‘took a seventh and set it in its place’ and ‘hid the rest for the righteous in the time to come’ (Psalm 31:20). Sod: the world to come is not merely future — it ‘already came before the six days of creation,’ the primordial hidden light (or ha-ganuz, cf. §§ 147-148); a seventh is given to this world, and the whole is kept for those who merit it. ‘The world that comes’ is the ever-present source, not only the age ahead.
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