Sefer ha-Bahir 41-44 -- the chirik and the charak
Sefer ha-Bahir · The Book of Brilliance
ספר הבהיר · מא-מד
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, in their severe register. The cholam gathers the root ח-ל-ם — the dream, the vowel, and the amethyst (§ 41); and the chirik, the point below the letter, “hates the wicked and chastises them,” unfolded through a chain of “do not read X but Y” readings on charaq: distance (rachaq), bald/clearing (qarach), and the fire that consumes all fires (§§ 42-44). The severe point distances, clears, and burns.
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.
ועוד אמרו שכל חלום הוא בחולם, וכל מרגלית לבנה הוא בחלם כדכתיב (שמות כ”ח יט) ואחלמה:
And further they said: every dream (ḥalom) is in [the vowel] ḥolam, and every white pearl is in ḥalam, as it is written (Exodus 28:19), ‘and an amethyst (aḥlamah).’
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
אמר להם עולו ושמעו דקדוקי נקודה דאורייתא דמשה. ישב ודרש להם חיריק שונא את הרעים ומייסרם, ובצדו הקנאה והשנאה והתחרות דכתיב (תהלים ל”ז יב) וחרק עליו שניו אל תקרי חרק אלא רחק, רחק אלה המדות ממך ויתרחק ממך הרע, וכל שכן דהטוב ידבק בך:
He said to them: come in and hear the fine points of the vocalization of the Torah of Moses. He sat and expounded to them: the ḥirik hates the wicked and chastises them, and at its side are jealousy and hatred and rivalry, as it is written (Psalm 37:12), ‘and he gnashed (ḥaraq) his teeth against him’ — do not read ḥaraq but raḥaq (distance): distance these traits from yourself, and the evil will be distanced from you, and all the more will the good cleave to you.
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
חרק אל תקרי חרק אלא קרח, אלא כל מקום שדבק חרק נשאר קרח שנאמר (שמות ל”ד ז) ונקה:
Ḥaraq — do not read ḥaraq but qaraḥ (bald): rather, every place to which the gnashing (ḥaraq) clings, it is left bald (qaraḥ), as it is said (Exodus 34:7), ‘and clearing (ve-naqeh).’
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
ומאי משמע דהאי חרק לשון שורף משום דהיא אש שורפת כל האשות דכתיב (מ”א י”ח לח) ותפול אש ה’ ותאכל את העולה ואת העצים ואת האבנים ואת העפר, ואת המים אשר בתעלה לחכה:
And how do we know that this ḥaraq is a term of burning? Because it is a fire that burns all fires, as it is written (1 Kings 18:38), ‘and the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench.’
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 ḥolam, the dream, and the pearl
Continuing § 40’s ḥolam-as-soul: ‘every dream (ḥalom) is in ḥolam,’ and ‘every white pearl is in ḥalam’ — the aḥlamah, the amethyst set in the high priest’s breastplate (Exodus 28:19). The vowel gathers the cluster of the root ח-ל-ם (ḥolam / dream / the gem): the soul’s vowel is linked at once to vision (the dream) and to the precious stone.
the ḥirik and the ḥaraq: the severe point
The ḥirik (a vowel-point written below the letter) is the severe point that ‘hates the wicked and chastises them,’ flanked by jealousy, hatred, and rivalry — the vowel of judgment, of a piece with the northern / Gevurah severity of §§ 34-35. Its sense is unfolded by a chain of al-tikri readings on ḥaraq (חרק, ‘to gnash,’ Psalm 37:12): read raḥaq (רחק, ‘distance’) — distance these traits and the evil is distanced, the good cleaves (§ 42); read qaraḥ (קרח, ‘bald, bare’) — where the gnashing clings, baldness or a clearing remains (Exodus 34:7, ve-naqeh, § 43); and ḥaraq as burning — the fire that consumes all fires, licking up even the water in the trench (1 Kings 18:38, Elijah on Carmel, § 44). The severe point purges: it distances evil, clears it away, and burns it.
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