Sefer ha-Bahir 34-35 -- the chet, the north, and the intercessor
Sefer ha-Bahir · The Book of Brilliance
ספר הבהיר · לד-לה
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)
A letter and a parable on the origin of good and evil. The chet, shaped as a pataḥ (an “opening”), figures the north — the one open direction, open to good and to evil: the source of the destructive fire and wrath, yet where “the attribute of mercy rolls and turns about” when Israel is worthy (§ 34). The turn is dramatized as intercession: a governor vouches for the king’s servants as their surety, and the king’s wrath subsides (§ 35).
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.
שאלו לו מפני מה חי”ת צורת פתח ונקודה בפתח קטן, א”ל מפני שכל הרוחות סתומות חוץ מפאת צפון שהוא פתוחה לטוב ולרע, א”ל לטובה והכתיב (יחזקאל א’ ד) והנה רוח סערה באה מן הצפון ענן גדול אש מתלקחת, ואין’ אש אלא חרון אף דכתיב (ויקרא י’ ב’) ותצא אש מלפני ה’ ותאכל אותם וימותו, א”ל לא קשיא כאן בזמן שישראל עושין רצונו של מקום כאן כשאין ישראל עושין רצונו, בזמן שאין ישראל עושין רצונו אש קרובה, ובזמן שעושין רצונו מדת הרחמים מתגלגלת וסובבת הה”ד (מיכה ז’ יח) נושא עון ועובר על פשע:
They asked him: why is the chet (ח) [in] the shape of a pataḥ (an opening), with a point in a small pataḥ? He said to them: because all the directions are closed except the north side, which is open to good and to evil. He said to him: to good? But is it not written (Ezekiel 1:4), ‘and behold, a storm wind came from the north, a great cloud and a fire flashing up’? And ‘fire’ is nothing but the burning of wrath (ḥaron af), as it is written (Leviticus 10:2), ‘and fire went out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died.’ He said to him: it is no difficulty — here, at the time when Israel does the will of the Omnipresent; there, when Israel does not do His will. At the time when Israel does not do His will, the fire is near; and at the time when they do His will, the attribute of mercy (midat ha-raḥamim) rolls and turns about, as it is written (Micah 7:18), ‘who bears iniquity and passes over transgression.‘
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
משל למה”ד למלך שרצה לרדות את עבדיו וליסרם, עמד הגמון אחד ושאל על מה, אמר לו על כן, א”ל לא עשו עבדיך דבר זה מעולם ואני ערב לך בהם ואתה תבדוק אחריהם, בין כך ובין כך שככה חמת המלך:
A parable — to what is it comparable? To a king who wished to chastise his servants and discipline them. A certain governor (hegemon) arose and asked: on what account? He said to him: on such an account. He said to him: your servants never did this thing, and I am a surety for them; and you — examine after them. In the meanwhile, the king’s wrath subsided.
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 chet, the pataḥ, and the open north
Letter-and-vowel mysticism: the chet (ח) is figured as ‘open’ — its form tied to the pataḥ, which is at once ‘an opening’ and the name of a vowel. All the directions are closed except the north, which is ‘open (pataḥ) to good and to evil.’ The north is the source of the destructive fire (Ezekiel 1:4’s storm from the north; Leviticus 10:2’s consuming fire, glossed as ḥaron af, the burning of wrath) but also, when Israel does God’s will, of mercy. Sod: the north is the side of Gevurah / din (severe judgment, in the later Kabbalah the root of the ‘other side’), open to either outcome according to Israel’s deeds.
mercy that rolls and turns; the intercessor
The resolution: the fire is ‘near’ when Israel does not do God’s will, but when they do, ‘the attribute of mercy (midat ha-raḥamim) rolls and turns about’ (Micah 7:18, ‘who bears iniquity and passes over transgression’). § 35 dramatizes this as a parable of intercession: the king is about to punish his servants, but a governor (hegemon) stands as their surety and vouches that they never did the thing, and ‘the king’s wrath subsided.’ Sod: mercy — the grade of Tiferet/raḥamim on the central column — turns the northern fire aside, and the advocate (the righteous intercessor, the tzaddik) defers judgment through his suretyship.
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