Sefer ha-Bahir 36-40 -- the gates of Zion and the vowel-points
Sefer ha-Bahir · The Book of Brilliance
ספר הבהיר · לו-מ
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)
The vowel-points and the gates, read together on the origin of good and evil. The dalet and the pataḥ (“an opening”) identified with the north, where “from the gate whence the evil goes out, the good goes out” (§§ 36-37); the gates of Zion loved “because they are on the side of evil,” and the return that turns them to good loved more than the peace of Jacob’s tents (§§ 38-39); and the cholam, the vowel read as the soul that heals or sickens the body (§ 40).
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 תלמידיו ואמרו מפני מה דלי”ת עבה מן הצד, אמר להם מפני הסגו”ל שהוא בפתח וקטן שנאמר (תהלים כד ז) פתחי עולם, שם שם פתח למעלה וסגול למטה ובאה עבה:
His students asked and said: why is the dalet (ד) thick on the side? He said to them: because of the segol, which is a pataḥ and small, as it is said (Psalm 24:7), ‘the everlasting doors (pitchei olam).’ There he placed a pataḥ above and a segol below, and it came out thick.
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
מאי פתח, פתח, ומאי פתח, הוא רוח צפונית שהוא פתח לכל העולם, מן השער שיצא הרע יוצא הטוב, ומה טוב, לגלג עליהם הלא אמרתי לכם פתח קטן, אמרו לו שכחנו שנה לנו, שנה אמר להם למה”ד למלך שהיה לו כסא לפעמים לוקח אותו בזרועו ולפעמים על ראשו, א”ל למה, לפי שהוא נאה וחס לישב עליו, א”ל ואנא שמו על ראשו, אמר להם במ”ם פתוחה שנאמר (תהלים פ”ה יב) אמת מארץ תצמח וצדק משמים נשקף:
What is pataḥ? An opening (pataḥ). And what is pataḥ? It is the north wind, which is an opening to the whole world. From the gate whence the evil goes out, the good goes out. And what is ‘good’? He mocked them: did I not tell you, a small pataḥ? They said to him: we have forgotten; teach us again. He taught again. He said to them: a parable — to what is it comparable? To a king who had a throne; sometimes he takes it upon his arm, and sometimes upon his head. He said to him: why? Because it is fine, and it is too dear to sit upon. He said to him: and where does he set it? Upon his head. He said to them: in an open mem (mem petuḥah), as it is said (Psalm 85:12), ‘truth springs up from the earth, and tzedek looks down from heaven.‘
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
ישב ר’ אמוראי ודרש מאי דכתיב (תהלים פ”ז ב) אוהב ה’ שערי ציון מכל משכנות יעקב, שערי ציון הם פתחי עולם, ואין שער אלא פתח כמד”א פתח לנו שערי רחמים, כך אמר הקב”ה אוהב אני שערי ציון כשהן פתוחין, למה, שהן מצד הרעה, וכשישראל טובים לפני המקום וראוים להפתח לטוב הקב”ה אוהבם מכל משכנות יעקב שהם כולם שלום שנאמר (בראשית כה כז) ויעקב איש תם ישב אהלים:
Rabbi Amorai sat and expounded: what is written (Psalm 87:2), ‘the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob’? The gates of Zion are the everlasting doors (pitchei olam); and ‘gate’ is nothing but an opening (petaḥ), as one says, ‘open for us the gates of mercy.’ Thus said the Holy One: I love the gates of Zion when they are open. Why? Because they are on the side of evil; and when Israel are good before the Omnipresent and worthy to be opened to good, the Holy One loves them more than all the dwellings of Jacob, which are all peace, as it is said (Genesis 25:27), ‘and Jacob was a wholesome man, dwelling in tents.‘
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
משל לשני בני אדם אחד מזומן לעשות רעה ועשה טובה, ואחד מזומן לעשות טובה ועשה טובה, למי משבחין יותר למי שרגיל לעשות רע ועשה טוב, אולי יעשה פעם שניה הה”ד (תהלים פ”ז ב) אוהב ה’ שערי ציון מכל משכנות יעקב שהן כולם שלום שנאמר (בראשית כ”ה כז) ויעקב איש תם ישב אהלים:
A parable of two men: one disposed to do evil, and he did good; and one disposed to do good, and he did good. Whom do we praise the more? The one accustomed to do evil, and did good — perhaps he will do so a second time. This is what is written (Psalm 87:2), ‘the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob,’ which are all peace, as it is said (Genesis 25:27), ‘and Jacob was a wholesome man, dwelling in tents.‘
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
שאלו תלמידיו מהו חולם, א”ל נשמה ושמה חולם שאם תשמע תחלים גופך לעתיד לבוניו ואם תמרוד בה ישובו חלאיך בראשך וחלים בראשה:
His students asked: what is ḥolam? He said to them: a soul (neshamah), and its name is ḥolam; for if you listen (tishma), you will heal (taḥlim) your body in the time to come; and if you rebel against it, your sicknesses (ḥalayikh) will return upon your head, and sickness upon its head.
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
❦
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.
⁂
the vowel-points and the openings
Vowel-and-letter mysticism: the dalet’s thickness is explained by the placing of a pataḥ above and a segol below (§ 36), and ‘pataḥ’ is at once ‘an opening’ and the name of a vowel. § 37 identifies the pataḥ with the north wind, ‘an opening to the whole world’ (Psalm 24:7’s ‘everlasting doors,’ pitchei olam). The crux is stated plainly: ‘from the gate whence the evil goes out, the good goes out’ — the same northern opening emits both. The throne carried ‘on the arm’ or ‘on the head,’ set at last upon the head ‘in an open mem,’ with Psalm 85:12 (‘truth springs from the earth, tzedek looks down from heaven’), figures the raising of the good/glory above; the passage is dense and its letter-and-vowel mechanics are not fully transparent.
the gates of Zion, loved because on the side of evil
§§ 38-39 draw the theology out of § 37’s crux. Psalm 87:2 (‘the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob’) is read with ‘gate’ as ‘opening’: the gates of Zion are ‘on the side of evil,’ and precisely when Israel, being worthy, turn them ‘to good,’ God loves them more than the peaceful dwellings of Jacob (Genesis 25:27). The parable of the two men clinches it — the one habituated to evil who does good is praised more than the one always good, ‘perhaps he will do so again.’ Sod: the redemption of the northern, severe side through teshuvah; the greater love is for the return that turns evil to good (cf. §§ 34-35, the north open to good and evil).
the ḥolam and the soul
The vowel ḥolam (חולם) is glossed as the soul (neshamah): heed it — ‘if you listen (tishma)’ — and ‘it will heal (taḥlim) your body in the time to come’; rebel, and ‘your sicknesses (ḥalayikh) will return upon your head.’ The wordplay turns on the roots ח-ל-ם (ḥolam / heal / dream) and ח-ל-ה (to be sick). Textual note: the source’s ‘le-vonav’ in ‘you will heal your body in the future le-vonav’ is obscure and most likely a scribal variant of ‘lavo’ (le-atid lavo, ‘the time to come’); rendered accordingly.
Editorial decisions
- le-vonav / lavo. Rendered § 40’s ‘le-vonav’ as ‘in the time to come,’ reading the source’s obscure ‘le-vonav’ as a scribal variant of ‘lavo’ (le-atid lavo); flagged in the apparatus. (provisional draft, 2026-07-01)
tzedek
Selected sense: righteousness
Active senses: righteousness, tzedek-the-shekhinah
Rationale: Tzedek appears in the prooftext of § 37, Psalm 85:12 (‘tzedek looks down from heaven’), rendered plainly ‘tzedek / righteousness.’ The pardes frame hears the technical Tzedek = the Shekhinah (cf. Bahir §§ 75, 120, where the Shekhinah is called Tzedek), tying the descent of tzedek from heaven to the descent of the indwelling presence; kept to the apparatus, not substituted into the body.
Lexicon: lexicon/tzedek
No public-domain translations indexed for this chunk.