Bahir - A Journey Into Redemptive Consciousness

אמר ר' נחוניא בן הקנה כתוב אחד אומר

"Rabbi Nehuniah ben HaKana said: One verse (Iyov 37:21) states ... "


The first word [1, דבר] of the first line [קו kav, 2] of the Bahir is the letter configuration אמר, where אמר is an expression signifying a direct connection to the sefirah malchut [3,4] and to the Oral Torah [3]. Importantly, the kav finds an attachment to reality through the "world of the feminine" (see Shechinah) which is malchut. The "origin" of this female "mentality" which establishes the point of attachment is in tevunah (comprehension), one of the two partzufim of imma-binah.

Without the first word of attachment through malchut, the whole brilliant light of the kav cannot be brought into manifest existence nor into the world of unified action. Without malchut to anchor it, it remains incomplete and unmanifest.

Further supporting this, the configuration of the last word in kav 1 is אומר. Simply, אומר demonstrates the whole function of kav 1 - to emanate, receive and anchor the brilliance of the kav, represented by the hebrew letter vav ו, in malchut, represented by the expression אמר.

We can also see that kav 1 in its entirety, אמר to אומר , represents the unification of tiferet (zer anpin ו) and malchut (nukvah אמר). Importantly, the unification (yichud) [5] is initiated by malchut, expanded by zer anpin, and that expansion is anchored by malchut. Moreover, we can see that the emanation of the kav (of Adam Kadmon) into reality indeed takes place in two stages -> אמר and אומר.

Further, kav 1 enclothes the dynamic which drives redemptive consciousness through the three stages of point (אמר), line (ו), and area (אומר). The first expression of אמר is written large, alluding to the full unrestricted rectified consciousness (of 3 heads) of malchut as it found in the sefirah keter.

Additionally, we note that, while the first word אמר does not, the last word אומר does contain the Divine Name associated with messianic consciousness [6] - that is, the configuration אום.

Footnotes:

[1] dvar, word, דבר signifying an act connected to gevurah [3, 4] - i.e., a tzimtzum

[2] "Into the primordial darkness, the "night" of the vacuum created by the tzimtzum with the "point" of the reshimu therein (filling the vacuum with "potential" being), God radiated a ray of Divine light, the ray of "morning." - This quote regarding the kav from The Inner Dimension fits with the message of entire first pasuk of the Bahir as well, which includes the statement "He made darkness His hiding place."

[3] Sha'are Orah (Gates Of Light), R' Yosef Gikatilla, first gate-tenth sphere

[4] אמר is the first דבר of the Bahir- the significance [3] of this is that malchut and gevurah are both "contained" in the first word of the Bahir, further signifying that the foundation of the Bahir is established on the perfect Unity of the Written and Oral Torah.

[5] That performing a yichud is the objective of the first pasuk of the Bahir is included in the first part of its third statement regarding verses: "A third verse comes and reconciles the two." Yet, even here in the first kav, we can see that objective is encoded and contained in the first word.

[6] The Hebrew Letters, R' Yitzchak Ginsburgh, on the letter נ nun: "נאמן (faithful) begins with נ, just as the full spelling of the letter נ itself, נון . When the middle letter of נון, vav ו, enters between the two middle letters (אם) of נאמן, the secret of the Divine Name אום, related to the coming of the mashiach, is formed."

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