Аннотация:The paper provides an overview and analysis of the philosophical commentary on
Sefer Ha-Bahir written by fourteenth century thinker, R. Elijah ben Eliezer of Candia.
This commentary was written in 1385, and remained in a single manuscript.
Rationalistic thinkers, generally speaking, did not relate to Sefer ha-Bahir. Indeed,
that R. Elijah ben Eliezer, who belonged to the rationalistic school, chose to interpret
Sefer ha-Bahir is itself a rather surprising fact that calls for explanation. R. Elijah’s main
concern in writing this commentary seems to have been a certain polemic need: R. Elijah
attacks therein the Kabbalists, who found support for their views in Sefer ha-Bahir and
interpreted it in a manner suitable to their positions and beliefs. According to R. Elijah,
the Kabbalistic reading of Sefer ha-Bahir (which he referred to as Sefer Midrashim, a
book of midrashim) is distorted, and the manner in which it is used is totally improper.
R. Elijah’s interpretation is explicitly philosophical, belonging in this respect to the
genre of philosophical interpretation of midrash and aggadah. R. Elijah’s method in
interpreting Sefer ha-Bahir is that of the allegorical, philosophical exegesis of Rabbinic
sayings, like that of Maimonides and his followers. According to this view, the Talmudic
Sages are seen as expert in the various sciences, like the great philosophers, their sayings
being interpreted as philosophical discourse concealed in poetic idiom and homiletics
on Biblical verses. R. Elijah’s Commentary also displays influence of Samuel Ibn Tibbon’s
Ma’amar Yikavu ha-Mayim.
