Bahir

Bahir or Sefer HaBahir (Hebrew: סֵפֶר הַבָּהִיר, Hebrew pronunciation: [ˈsefeʁ ˌ(h)abaˈ(h)iʁ]; "Book of Clarity" or "Book of Illumination") is an anonymous mystical work, attributed to a 1st-century rabbinic sage Nehunya ben HaKanah (a contemporary of Yochanan ben Zakai) because it begins with the words, "R. Nehunya ben HaKanah said".^[1] It is also known as Midrash of Rabbi Nehunya ben HaKanah מִדְרָשׁ רַבִּי נְחוּנְיָא בֶּן הַקָּנָה‎.

First mentioned in late 12th century Provencal works,^[2] the Bahir is an early work of the esoteric Jewish mystical tradition that eventually became known as Kabbalah.

^ "Sefer Ha-Bahir - the Book of Illumination". Archived from the original on 2015-03-09. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
^ Matt, Daniel C. (2004). The Zohar, Pritzker Edition, Vol. 1 (Pritzker ed.). Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-4747-9. This slim volume is known as Sefer ha-Bahir, awkwardly renderable as The Book of Clarity. We first find reference to it in Provençal works of the latter twelfth century, and from that time forward it has a continuous history as a major shaper of Jewish mystical ideas.

[1] "Sefer Ha-Bahir - the Book of Illumination". Archived from the original on 2015-03-09. Retrieved 2009-12-21.

[2] Matt, Daniel C. (2004). The Zohar, Pritzker Edition, Vol. 1 (Pritzker ed.). Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-4747-9. This slim volume is known as Sefer ha-Bahir, awkwardly renderable as The Book of Clarity. We first find reference to it in Provençal works of the latter twelfth century, and from that time forward it has a continuous history as a major shaper of Jewish mystical ideas.

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