Language:
Hebrew
Year of publication:
2020
Titel der Quelle:
מחשבת ישראל
Angaben zur Quelle:
ב (תשפא) 218-249
Keywords:
Sefer ha-bahir Criticism, interpretation, etc.
;
Sefirot (Cabala)
;
Cabala History To 1300
Abstract:
Research on Sefer HaBahir has been a source of disagreement and debateamongst scholars. One focus of the dispute is the issue of where the book waswritten (or collated). No doubt part of it was created in Provence, but was itall written there, or perhaps also in Germany, Babylon, or the Land of Israel?Another focus of the dispute is when the book was written. Some researchersmaintain that the writing began in the 9th century; others argue that theentire book was produced in the 13th century. Entwined in these first twodisputes are two additional questions. The first is whether the book waswritten by only one author, or whether many hands may have contributedto its current form by writing, editing, collating, adding glosses, or even byloss and censorship. The second question is how the book’s unusuallanguage, replete with contradictions, should be interpreted and explained.Is the phrasing an indication of the author’s lack of education, as some haveclaimed since as early as the 13th century, or have we simply not yetidentified its cultural background? This article, one of a series, argues for theimportance of the fact that the book’s text is very fragmentary and displaysa great variety of styles and inner contradictions. This has led me to preferthe longer term ‘multi-authored thesis’.Careful literary and textual analysis reveals that the Sefer HaBahirincorporates a variety of very different theologies. One of these isundoubtedly the well-known Kabbalistic theosophy, which first appeared atthe turn of the 12th century in Provence and described the ten divine Sefirot.In this article I show that some of the paragraphs of the book reflect abinatarian theology, which speaks about a harmonious division of power andfunctions between God and another being; unlike dualism, this relationshipis not antagonistic. In other articles I will try to show that other theologies,angelological in nature, are included in Sefer HaBahir.An analysis of paragraphs 4, 8, and 14 (and perhaps also 15) disclosesvarious nuances of the idea that Wisdom was God's means to create theworld. Paragraph 14 describes an extreme binatarian position, whereasparagraph 4 describes a milder one. According to paragraph 14, Wisdom,which is also the Torah, created the world and will redeem humankind at theend of times; it is the object of prophecy and vision and maybe even prayerand worship. Thus it seems that once God created Wisdom, He recoiled intohimself and was not active in this world anymore. Wisdom had taken Hisplace in every aspect.These short paragraphs elucidate Wisdom (Torah) in an abundance ofdirect and indirect descriptions. Some of them have become very famous in the history of Kabbalah: a pool and a blessing, a tree or a grove of trees, ahewn spring, "The All" (ha-Kol) or the Fullness (ha-maleh), "Who" (mi), andalso – a gigantic angel, with whom God shares the secrets of Creation.Paragraph 4 describes Wisdom using a parable about an invisiblespring. Once it is hewn out of the rock and revealed, it brings affluence to asomewhat arid place. In this article, I suggest that this parable emerged inthe Land of Israel or Syria, where this system of hewn springs had animmense importance for agriculture for thousands of years. In Provence, onthe other hand, irrigation has always depended on the river Rhône, itstributaries, and a system of aqueducts which lead water further away, or,since the 12th century, on the use of canals as well. For different reasons, thephenomenon of hewn springs is not relevant to Germany or Babylon. Mightthis parable about hewn springs reflect the geographical and hydrologicalsituation of the author's habitat? If it does, these paragraphs would have tohave been written earlier than the Provencal ones. I will return to thisquestion in my next articles, focusing here on the binatarian theologyexpressed in these paragraphs, on the literary features of the text, andespecially on the poetics of concealment
Note:
With an English summary.
URL:
אתר את הפרסום בקטלוג המאוחד של ספריות ישראל
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