Sefer ha-Bahir · Translation 2 · §2
Tohu and Bohu
Two states, an “already” in the typed witness, and a materially different printed sequence.
Passage 2
Tohu and Bohu
תהו · בהו
Two states, an “already” in the typed witness, and a materially different printed sequence.
Source text
Translation
Rabbi Berechiah said: What is it that is written Gen 1:2, “and the earth was tohu and bohu”? What does “was” convey? — that it had already been tohu. And what is tohu? A thing that makes the sons of adam wonder. And what is bohu? Rather: it was tohu, and it returned to bohu. And what is bohu? A thing in which there is mamash — substance — as it is written: bohu — bo hu, “in it, it is.”
Source text: Torat Emet
Key terms
- ha-aretzהארץא.ר.ץ · BDB s.v. אֶרֶץearth, land, ground · here: the grammatical subject of היתה · Gen 1:1, 1:2, 1:10 (the dry ground named eretz); Isa 45:18 (“he did not create it tohu; he formed it to be inhabited”) · neither “bounded body” nor existence before the verse follows from the noun alone.
- haytaהיתהה.י.ה · BDB s.v. הָיָהto be, to become, to come to pass · in the typed witness, the gloss שכבר היתה supplies “it had already been”; the qatal form היתה by itself does not require an English pluperfect · the Amsterdam print instead asks מאי משמע תהו and therefore does not place the same pressure on “was.”
- tohuתהוBDB s.v. תֹּהוּformlessness, confusion, unreality, emptiness; used of a waste (Deut 32:10), of nothingness (Isa 40:17), of idols that are "nothing" (1 Sam 12:21) · the Bahir's own etymology: דבר המתהא בני אדם, a thing that astonishes (תהא / תמה, to wonder) — defined by its effect on an observer · Gen 1:2; Isa 34:11 and Jer 4:23 (the only other places tohu and bohu stand together).
- bohuבהוBDB s.v. בֹּהוּemptiness; never found without tohu (Gen 1:2, Isa 34:11, Jer 4:23) · the Bahir's etymology: בו הוא, "in it, it is" — a thing that has something in it · here: the state the earth "returned to", the state with substance.
- mamashממשrabbinic Hebrewsubstance, actuality, concrete reality; often associated with מ.ש.ש, to feel or touch (BDB s.v. מָשַׁשׁ; Gen 27:12) · here: בהו is said to contain something actual · “can be touched” is a possible physical gloss, not a necessary claim of this passage.
- chazraוחזרהח.ז.ר · rabbinic Hebrewto return, to go back · here: the earth "returned to bohu" — the second state is reached by a return, not by a first making; the verb the Bahir chose, not the verse's.
- bnei adamבני אדםsons of adam, human beings · here: the observers whose wonder defines tohu — the unformed is named by what it does to the one looking at it.
Significance
Rabbi Berechiah distinguishes two conditions, not two words for nothingness. Tohu confounds the observer; bohu contains mamash—something actual, something with substance. The phrase bo hu, “in it, it is,” makes the difference concrete. The question is how a world becomes something with recognizable form and contents.
The formation model in gives this contrast a physical interpretation. A defined space and an organizing pattern make particular forms possible within unconfined potential. Bentov’s image of a still sea becoming waves helps explain the relationship: the waves acquire shape and motion without becoming independent of the sea. In this reading, bohu is actuality taking form within potential, not matter appearing without a foundation. The connection is to the book’s discussion of Sefer Yetzirah’s engraving and confinement, rather than to an empty void waiting to be filled from outside.
Torat Emet adds a temporal clue: the earth had “already” been tohu and “returned” to bohu. This witness describes a change of state, leaving room for re-formation rather than only a first beginning. Isaiah 45:18 offers a related contrast: the earth is not made for tohu, but formed for habitation. The significance is the movement from an indeterminate condition to a world in which something can take shape, endure, and be encountered.
