ר' יצחק סגי נהור

Rav Yitzchak Sagi Nahor (c. 1160–1235), known also as the Risan, was among the first mekubalim of Provence and a son of the Raavad. He was blind from birth, and the Aramaic name Sagi Nahor — “of much light” — was given him as a gentle euphemism. He received the chochmat haKabbalah from his father the Raavad and from his grandfather before him, and he was the rebbi of Rav Ezra and Rav Azriel of Gerona, companions of the Ramban, who carried on the chain of Kabbalah after him.

His influence over the mekubalim of his generation ran so deep that the Spanish kabbalists of his time would refer to him simply as “the Chassid,” without naming him; Rabbeinu Bachya, in his commentary on Bereishit, calls him the father of Kabbalah, and in the circles of Provence and Sefarad he was counted as “third from Eliyahu” in the tradition’s chain. He taught that the sefirot have their root in a hidden and infinite depth within the Ein Sof, and that from the Ein Sof emanates the Divine machshavah, from which the other sefirot flow. It was told of him that he could discern from a person’s face whether his was a new soul or one returned in gilgul.

Early researchers ascribed the authorship of the Sefer HaBahir to him; later study held that he received the foundations of Kabbalah from his teachers and that the Bahir was composed by another. A commentary on Sefer Yetzirah bearing his name is likewise not able to be confirmed.

Most of his teachings were never printed, and manuscripts of his commentaries rest in libraries across the world, many in the Vatican. Among the works that did reach print are his letter to the Ramban and Rabbeinu Yonah on matters of Kabbalah, a commentary on Sefer Yetzirah, and a piece on the secret of the Chanukah lights. His best-known talmid was Rav Azriel of Gerona.