Mystical Flyer: Flavor Profiles Are Mysterious and Radical Lesson 3: Sefer haBahir

Intro: Sefer haBahir explains the relationship between God and the material world through metaphors including defining the sefirot as a conduit between divinity and humanity. While Sefer Yetzira mentions sefirot, it doesn't define them. Sefer haBahir introduces the idea of the divine feminine. The Talmud mentions Shechina, but Sefer haBahir identifies Shechina as feminine. Note the evolution of kabbalistic concepts.

Some believe the author is Rabbi Nehunya ben haKanah, who lived in the 1st cent. CE, but the book's linguistics and philosophy indicate it's Medieval. Academics have not identified the author(s).

Sefer haBahir 63

ספר הבהיר ס״ג

ומאי לבו, א"ל א"כ בן זומא מבחוץ ואתה עמו, לב הוא שלשים ושתים והיו סתומים ובהם נברא העולם, מאי ל"ב, א"ל ל"ב נתיבות, משל למלך שהיה בחדרי חדרים ומנין החדרים ל"ב, ולכל חדר יש לו נתיב, נאה למלך זה להכנס הכל בחדרו על דרך נתיבתיו, אמרת לא, נאה לו לגלות פניניו ומשבצותיו ומצפוניו וגנזיו וחמודותיו, אמרת לא, מה עשה נגע בבת וכלל בה כל הנתיבות ובמלבושה, והרוצה להכנס בפנים יסתכל הנה, ונשאה למלך גם נתנה לו במתנה, לפעמים קורא אותה באהבתו בה אחותי כי ממקום אחד היו, ולפעמים קורא אותה בתו כי בתו היא, ולפעמים קורא אותה אמי:

Sefer HaBahir 63

...

Sefer haBahir 63, Translation
What is, "His Heart"? He said, "If...[you don't already know], Ben Zoma is outside and you are with him." "Heart" represents the concealed 32, and through them the world was created. And what are 32? He said to them, "the 32 paths."

A parable: a king was in his innermost chamber. The number of chambers is 32. Each chamber has its own path. Is it appropriate for the king to invite all into his chambers by these paths? No! Is it appropriate for him to expose his pearls, treasures, gems and jewels? No! So what did he do?

He touched his daughter, and incorporated all the paths in her and her garments. Whosoever desires to enter must gaze at her. [Then], he married her to a king, giving her to him as a gift.

And sometimes, He calls her "love" [as in] "My sister/bride" (Song of Songs 5:1) [in that] place they were one. [But] sometimes He calls her "my daughter" because she is His daughter. And sometimes He calls her "my mother".

Sefer haBahir 63, Interpretations
If a mystic doesn't understand that heart/לב means lamed(30)+ bet(2) = 22 Hebrew letters + 10 sefirot then he is like "Ben Zoma" and should not approach the King or His palace. When Ben Zoma ascended to Paradise he wasn't prepared and went crazy. (See T.B. Chagigah 14b) What does mentioning a failed mystic add to this teaching?

What does the daughter in the parable symbolize: Torah? Israel? Who is she marrying: God? Israel? Why does He/he call her daughter and lover and mother? What does it mean to be all three?

"Assuming the parable is discussing God (the king) Torah (the daughter), and Israel (the groom/king), then the unstated nimshal (allegory) is as follows: the heart of God is found in the words and numbers of Torah. God and Israel engage with Torah in a gamos hieros (a sacred union that pleases and strengthens God); Torah is Israel's daughter in the sense that Israel has authority over it...the Torah is the "mother" of new insights and teachings that revitalize the Godhead and give birth to a better world." Rabbi Geoffrey Dennis

ספר הבהיר קי״ט

ומאי הוי אילן דאמרת, א"ל כוחותיו של הקב"ה זה על גב זה, והן דומין לאילן, מה אילן זה על ידי המים מוציא פירות אף הקב"ה על ידי המים מרבה כחות חאילן, ומאי ניהו מים של הקב"ה, היינו חכמה, והיינו נשמות הצדיקים שפורחין מן המעיין אל הצנור הגדול ועולה ודבק באילן, ועל ידי מה פורח, על ידי ישראל, כשהם צדיקים וטובים שכינה שרויה ביניהם ושרויה במעשיהם בחיקו של הקב"ה ומפרה אותם ומרבה אותם:

Sefer HaBahir 119

And what would the tree be that you spoke of? He said to him: [It is] the powers of the Holy One, this on back of this, and they resemble a tree: just as this tree, by means of the waters, brings out fruit, even so the Holy One by means of the waters increases the powers of the tree. And what are these waters of the Holy One? They are wisdom, and they are the souls of the righteous that fly from the spring unto the great channel. And he goes up and joins with the tree, and by what means does [the tree] grow? By means of Israel, [for] when they are righteous and good, Shekhinah rests among them, and through their deeds she rests in the bosom of the Holy One, and makes them fruitful and increases them.

Sefer haBahir 119, Interpretations
The tree = the powers of God = sefirot. They form a connection between Divinity and humanity like a tree stretching between ground and sky.

Both God and righteous souls sustain the tree with "water". What connects Divinity and humanity is maintained by both entities. Why is that?

What does "fruitful and increases them" mean in this context?

What are the symbols/metaphors in this teaching and how do you interpret them?

Sefer haBahir 79

ספר הבהיר ע״ט

ד"א שמעתי שמעך יראתי (חבקוק ג' ב) הבנתי שמעך יראתי, מה הבין שנתירא, הבין מחשבתו של הקב"ה, מה מחשבה אין לה קץ דהא חשיב אינש ושפיל לסופיה דעלמא אף האזן אין לה קץ ולא תשבע דכתיב (קהלת א' ח) דלא תמלא אזן משמוע...מאי טעמא, מפני שהאזן דמות אל"ף, ואל"ף עיקריהן דעשרת הדברות הלכך לא תמלא האזן משמוע:

Sefer HaBahir 79

...

Sefer HaBahir 79, Translation
"Oh Eternal One, I have heard of Your renown and I am awed!" (Habakkuk 3:2)

He [Habakkuk actually said], "I understand Your renown and I'm awed!" What did he understand? The thought of the Holy One of blessing. Just as thought has no end--for a person's thinking never reaches the end, even unto eternity--so too, the ear has no end to its hearing. As it is written, " The ear cannot have enough of hearing" (Eccl. 1:8)

And what is the reason?...because the ear is the image of alef, and the alef is the essence of the Ten Commandments, therefore, the ear cannot have enough of hearing.

Sefer haBahir 79, Interpretations
"The role of hearing occupies a unique role in the Jewish understanding of the divine-human relationship. Humanity is more likely to "hear" divine revelation than to see it (Gen. 3:8; Deut. 6:4; 32:1), and God more often "hears" rather than sees humans in crisis (Gen. 3:9, 18:21; Ex. 3:7)." Rabbi Geoffrey Dennis

"Alef is the essence of the Ten Commandments. The Decalogue begins with an alef. This is no coincidence, but is indicative of the infinite nature of divine speech. The letter alef, as it were, encapsulates the entire Torah in a single letter..."Rabbi Geoffrey Dennis

"The ear cannot have enough of hearing". Unlike the eye, which can be closed off from sensory input, the ear is always open and receiving all sounds within hearing. The Bible, strikingly, gives the ear a status as independent of human will, a true anatomic analogy to divinity that serves the writer of this teaching well. Alef signifies infinity, which is realized in embodied form in the human ear/hearing..."Rabbi Geoffrey Dennis