Sefer ha-Bahir 173-175 -- the glory, the Song of Songs, and the citron
Sefer ha-Bahir · The Book of Brilliance
ספר הבהיר · קעג-קעה
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 four species through the word “goodly (hadar).” The glory as the female, the hadar of the Song of Songs, taken from Adam because the world cannot endure without her (§ 173); the Song of Songs as the holy of holies, holy for the six extremities (§ 174); and the citron as the “holy,” read “ha-dar” — that which dwells — separate from the bundle yet bound with all (§ 175).
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.
מאי הדר, היינו הדר הכל, והיינו הדר דשיר השירים דאמר בהו (שה”ש ו’ י) מי זאת הנשקפה כמו שחר יפה כלבנה ברה כחמה איומה כנדגלות, והיינו על שם נקבה, ועל שמה נלקחה נקבה מאדם שאי אפשר להתקיים עולם התחתון בלא נקבה, ומ”ט אתקריאת נקבה על שם שנקביה רחבים, ויש לה נקבים יתרים על האיש, ומאי ניהו, נקבי שדים ורחם ובית קבול:
What is ‘goodly (hadar)’? It is the glory (hadar) of all; and it is the ‘hadar’ of the Song of Songs, of which it is said (Song of Songs 6:10), ‘who is this that looks forth like the dawn, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, awesome as bannered hosts’; and it is on account of the female. And on her account the female was taken from Adam, for it is impossible for the lower world to endure without a female. And why is she called female (nekevah)? On account that her openings (nekaveha) are wide, and she has openings additional to those of the man; and what are they? The openings of the breasts, and the womb, and the receptacle.
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
ומאי ניהו שאמרת שיר השירים דהוא הדר, אין הדר הוא לכל ספרי הקודש, דאמר ר’ יוחנן כל הספרים קדושים וכל התורה קודש ושיר השירים קודש קדשים, ומאי ניהו קדש קדשים. אלא קודש שהוא לקדשים, ומה הם הקדשים, אלו שהם כנגד שש קצוות שבאדם, וקודש הוי להו קודש לכולהו:
And what is it that you said, that the Song of Songs is the glory (hadar)? Yes, it is the glory of all the holy books; for Rabbi Yochanan said: all the books are holy, and all the Torah is holy, and the Song of Songs is the holy of holies (kodesh kodashim). And what is ‘holy of holies’? Rather, holy that is for the holy ones (kedoshim); and what are the holy ones? These are [those] that correspond to the six extremities in man; and it is holy to them — holy to all of them.
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
ומאי ניהו קודש, זה אתרוג שהוא הדר הכל, ולמה נקרא שמו הדר, אל תקרי הדר אלא הדר, זה אתרוג שהוא נפרד מאגד לולב ואין מצות לולב קיימת אלא בו, והוא גם כן אגוד עם הכל שעם כל אחד הוא ועם כולן יחד הוא:
And what is ‘holy’? This is the citron (etrog), which is the glory (hadar) of all. And why is its name called ‘hadar’? Do not read ‘goodly (hadar)’ but ‘that which dwells (ha-dar)’ — this is the citron, which is separate from the bundle of the lulav, and the commandment of the lulav is not fulfilled except with it; and it is also bound together with all, for it is with each one, and with all of them together.
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 glory (hadar) and the female
’Goodly (hadar)’ is ‘the glory of all’ — the ‘hadar’ of the Song of Songs: ‘who is this that looks forth like the dawn… awesome as bannered hosts’ (Song of Songs 6:10), said ‘on account of the female.’ The female was taken from Adam because ‘the lower world cannot endure without a female,’ and she is ‘female (nekevah)’ because her ‘openings (nekaveha) are wide’ — the openings the man lacks (breasts, womb, receptacle). Sod: the glory / hadar is the Shekhinah, the divine feminine, the receiving grade (Malkhut) whose ‘openings’ make her the vessel that receives and bears the flow; the world below needs her as the male world needs the female.
the Song of Songs, the holy of holies
The Song of Songs is ‘the glory (hadar) of all the holy books’: ‘all the books are holy, and all the Torah is holy, and the Song of Songs is the holy of holies’ (Rabbi Akiva’s dictum, Mishnah Yadayim 3:5, here ascribed to Rabbi Yochanan). ‘Holy of holies’ is read ‘holy that is for the holy ones (kedoshim)’ — the grades that correspond to ‘the six extremities in man’; the Song is holy to them all. Sod: the Song of Songs, the love-song of the King and the bride, is the innermost holiness because it sings the union of the grades — the six (the masculine extremities, Tiferet and its neighbors) with the holy of holies (the Shekhinah, the etrog / female of § 172).
the citron: ‘that which dwells’
The ‘holy’ is the citron (etrog), ‘the glory (hadar) of all.’ Its name ‘hadar’ is read ‘ha-dar’ — ‘that which dwells (abides)’: the citron is ‘separate from the bundle of the lulav,’ yet ‘the commandment of the lulav is not fulfilled without it,’ and ‘it is bound with all — with each one and with all together.’ Sod: the etrog (the Shekhinah / Malkhut, the female) both stands apart from the three bound species (the masculine grades) and is joined to them all — the indwelling glory that abides (‘dar’) in the world, necessary to and united with the whole (cf. the plot watered separately, § 133, and the daughter, § 54).
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