Sefer ha-Bahir 197-198 -- Tamar and the male and female
Sefer ha-Bahir · The Book of Brilliance
ספר הבהיר · קצז-קצח
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)
Tamar and the male and female. Her twins read as the moon (Peretz, breached and rebuilt) and the sun (Zerach, constant), with the Davidic line running through the moon that is broken and restored (§ 197); and the date-palm, and Adam, and the divine image all “including male and female” — the primordial androgynous unity, unfolded by the three verbs of creation at the making of the soul (§ 198).
A provisional scholarly draft, released openly for correction and not yet reviewed by a credentialed editor. The Hebrew is reproduced verbatim (§ 198 cites Genesis 5:28 for the clause at 5:2); the standard modern English translation (Kaplan, 1979) is under copyright.
ישב רבי אמוראי, ודרש מפני מה זכתה תמר ויצאו ממנה פרץ וזרח, מפני שהיה שמה תמר, והא תמר אחות אמנון, היא דעבידא לכך, ומאי טעמא אקרי פרץ וזרח, פרץ איקרי על שם הלבנה, שהלבנה נפרצת לעתים ונבנית לעתיד, וזרח איקרי על שם החמה, שהחמה זורחת תמיד בענין אחד, והא פרץ היה הבכור וחמה גדולה מן הלבנה, לא קשיא דהא כתיב (בראשית ל”ח כח) ויתן יד, וכתיב (שם) ואחר יצא אחיו אשר על ידו השני ויקרא שמו זרח, דהוא היה לו להיות הבכור, ומפני שמחת הקב”ה שצפה שעתיד לצאת ממנו שלמה, שעתיד לומר שיר השירים החזירו:
Rabbi Amorai sat and expounded: why did Tamar merit that Peretz and Zerach came out from her? Because her name was Tamar. But Tamar [was] the sister of Amnon! She was made for this [purpose]. And why were they called Peretz and Zerach? Peretz was called on account of the moon, for the moon is breached at times and is built up in the future; and Zerach was called on account of the sun, for the sun shines always in one manner. But Peretz was the firstborn, and the sun is greater than the moon! It is not difficult, for it is written (Genesis 38:28), ‘and [one] put out a hand,’ and it is written (ibid.), ‘and afterward his brother came out, on whose hand was the scarlet thread, and his name was called Zerach’ — [Zerach] should have been the firstborn; and because of the joy of the Holy One, who foresaw that Solomon would come out from him [Peretz], who would speak the Song of Songs, He returned him [and made Peretz first].
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
ומאי טעמא אקריאת תמר ולא שאר שמות, מפני שהיא נקבה, נקבה סלקא דעתך, אלא מפני שכוללת זכר ונקבה, דכל אילני תמרים כלולים זכר ונקבה, והאיך, שהלולב הוי זכר, והפרי מבחוץ הוי זכר ומבפנים הוי נקבה, והאיך, בגרעיני התמר שהיא סדוקה כעין אשה, כנגדה כח הלבנה למעלה, והקב”ה ברא אדם זכר ונקבה שנאמר (בראשית א’ כז) זכר ונקבה ברא אותם, אפשר לומר כך, והא כתיב (שם) ויברא אלהים את האדם בצלמו בצלם אלהים ברא אותו, ואחר כך (שם ב’ יח) אעשה לו עזר כנגדו, (שם כא) ויקח אחת מצלעותיו ויסגור בשר תחתינה, אלא אימא כתיב בהם יצירה וכתיב עשיה וכתיב בריאה בעת עשיית הנשמה, עשיה זכר ונקבה בראם, יצירה בעת הרכיב הנשמה על הגוף, ואסף הרוח, ומנא לן דהאי יצירה לישנא דאסיפה דכתיב (שם יט) וייצר ה’ אלהים מן האדמה כל חית השדה ואת כל עוף השמים ויבא אל האדם לראות מה יקרא לו וגו’ והיינו דכתיב (שם ה’ ב) זכר ונקיבה בראם, וכתיב (שם ה’ כח) ויברך אותם אלהים:
And why was she called Tamar and not other names? Because she is female. ‘Female,’ does it enter your mind? Rather, because she includes male and female, for all date-palm trees include male and female. And how? For the lulav is male, and the fruit — from outside it is male and from inside it is female. And how? In the seeds of the date, which is split like a woman; corresponding to it [is] the power of the moon above. And the Holy One created the man male and female, as it is said (Genesis 1:27), ‘male and female He created them.’ Is it possible to say so? But it is written (ibid.), ‘and God created the man in His image, in the image of God He created him,’ and afterward (Genesis 2:18), ‘I will make him a helper corresponding to him,’ (ibid. 21), ‘and He took one of his ribs and closed up flesh in its place’? Rather, say: it is written of them ‘formation (yetzirah),’ and it is written ‘making (asiyah),’ and it is written ‘creation (beriah)’ at the time of the making of the soul. ‘Making (asiyah)’ — ‘male and female He created them’; ‘formation (yetzirah)’ — at the time of the mounting of the soul upon the body, and the gathering of the spirit. And whence [do we know] that this ‘formation (yetzirah)’ is a term of gathering? As it is written (Genesis 2:19), ‘and the LORD God formed from the ground every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens, and brought [them] to the man to see what he would call them,’ and so on; and this is what is written (Genesis 5:2), ‘male and female He created them,’ and it is written (ibid.), ‘and God blessed them.’
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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Tamar, Peretz and Zerach: the moon and the sun
Tamar (the palm) merited Peretz and Zerach because ‘she was made for this.’ The names are read: Peretz for the moon, which is ‘breached (nifretzet)’ and waning yet ‘built up in the future’; Zerach for the sun, which ‘shines (zorachat)’ constantly. Zerach put out his hand first (Genesis 38:28-30) and ‘should have been the firstborn’ (the sun greater than the moon) — but the Holy One, foreseeing that Solomon (who would sing the Song of Songs) would descend from Peretz, ‘returned’ Peretz to be first. Sod: the moon is the Shekhinah / Malkhut (waning and restored), the sun the masculine grade (Tiferet); the Davidic-messianic line runs through Peretz, the ‘moon’ that is broken and rebuilt — the exile and restoration of the Shekhinah (cf. the king’s daughter, § 54).
the palm as male and female; the three verbs of creation
Tamar is named for the date-palm because the palm ‘includes male and female’ — the lulav male, the fruit male without and female within, the split seed ‘like a woman,’ answering to ‘the power of the moon above.’ So too the Holy One ‘created the man male and female’ (Genesis 1:27), reconciled with the later ‘helper’ and ‘rib’ (Genesis 2:18, 21) by the three verbs: ‘creation (beriah),’ ‘making (asiyah),’ ‘formation (yetzirah).’ ‘Making’ is ‘male and female He created them’; ‘formation (yetzirah)’ is the mounting of the soul on the body — and yetzirah is ‘a term of gathering (asifah),’ as ‘the LORD God formed (va-yitzer)… and gathered them to the man’ (Genesis 2:19); ‘male and female He created them… and God blessed them’ (Genesis 5:2). Sod: the androgynous unity of male and female — in the palm, in Adam, in the divine ‘image’ — is the primordial state; the grades too are male and female joined, the moon (Malkhut) and the sun (Tiferet). (The verbatim Hebrew cites the last clause, ‘and God blessed them,’ as Genesis 5:28; it is at 5:2.)
Editorial decisions
- Genesis 5:2 citation. ‘And God blessed them’ is part of Genesis 5:2 (as is ‘male and female He created them’); the source cites it as Genesis 5:28 (which is ‘Lamech lived…’). Rendered at the correct locus with the slip noted. (claude-opus-4-8[session-pipe], 2026-07-04)
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