The Sepher Bahir: Book Of Light

This little book is a "must have" for Kabbalists. It has helped me more fully understand some phrases in my "equal distant Torah code" or ELS. very helpful. Thanks

This is a sacred book of knowledge. Worth the buy. and great trustworthy seller.

Talmudic Texts - definite knowledge of Hebrew is prerequisite to reading and even then not necessarily intelligible, money and time better spent on other grimoires, but props to seller.

The ending of this book shocked me... "Whoever increases, diminishes...." That alone brought a lot of truth to me. This book does help break down a lot of the confusing, bible verses. A good start to the road of mystics. I recommend it. For anyone advancing their occult, knowledge....

Good books.If you're looking for beauty that's what you'll find.If you're looking for wisdom it won't find you.You'll have to find it with a receptive mind. The level of consciousness is in what you seek.If you're seeking the Creator from more than one perspective.Spiritual Entropy!

Excellent translation. I have no idea who publishes this and several other suburb Kabbalah books - but they are not to be missed.

Anyone expecting a full book of The Bahir, as I did, will be disappointed. It's a thin booklet with an introduction (apparently not by the author, or if by him, taken from other sources), no Hebrew text, no mention of who provided the translation and no commentary. I have no idea where the author 'borrowed' the text from. It's also incomplete; for example, the second sentence is totally lacking the words that in Hebrew explain the process by which "chaos" (Tohu) becomes the tangible "desolation" (Bohu). Admittedly the far superior volume of The Bahir by Aryeh Kaplan is similarly missing the translation of that phrase. Also worth mentioning is that the Tree of Life diagram on page 6 contains only the transliteration of the Hebrew terms without an English translation; interesting, since the whole rest of the text is in English. This book contributed little in the way of understanding such an esoteric text.

The book of light is so small the package you receive is like lettermail. However, it is a nicely printed book with a supple feeling to the cover. An excellent addition to any shelf and even better to carry around in a briefcase, suitcase or backpack. Very complex and sublime topic material but - as with all of the great mysteries - it's not about what you can rationally understand... it's about the LIGHT that is available.

Short but essential stuff for anyone interested in Kabbalah. Warwick's editing and notes are top notch.

As Expected

The Bahir describes a very different Kabbalah to most modern forms. You will be hard pressed to apply these ideas to any static representation of the tree of life popular in more recent works. Rather than dogmatically stating truths, it asks questions of our understandings and presents alternative rationalisations of biblical passages. Although there clearly are hidden meanings in the texts, this takes it to another level. Almost like a Rorschach revisioning, revealing the complexity of unconscious processing. Moreover this text proves that Jewish mysticism is an evolving tradition, incorporating the philosophy and politics of its time. At times it reads like stoners trying to out space each other, but nevertheless it is a sincere attempt to describe the ineffable. Much of the context is lost in time. But strangely a lot still seems relevant and indeed remains unsurpassed by later works. I read Kaplan’s translation over 10 years ago and most went straight over my head. Maybe I have changed, but this time I got it. So I guess this is not for everyone. If you adhere to a dogmatic interpretation of Kabbalah this may leave you with cognitive dissonance. But It’s good to have your beliefs challenged. The book feels cheap, does not look impressive on the shelf. But offers good value for those genuinely interested in reading it (rather than having a complete, but unread, Kabbalah library).