[prayers and meditations from the Zohar]

Seder Idra Raba / Seder Idra Zuta

Moriah

Jerusalem

1910

Divided and bound into 16 booklets and stored in a miniature metal chest with padlock.

This unusual miniature edition was published exclusively for the Sephardic communities whose custom it was to recite the Idra Raba on the night of Shavuoth and the Idra Zuta on Hoshana Raba and Lag B’Omer - the anniversary (known as the “Hilula”) of the death of R. Shimon b. Yochai. The Idra Raba (The Great Assembly) is the most systematic discourse found in the Zohar(according to G. Scholem, Major Trends In Jewish Mysticism (1941) p.160) in which R. Shimon and his companions discuss the most profound mysteries concerning the revelation of the Divine. The Idra Zuta (The Small Assembly) is a description of R. Shimon’s death and his closing words prior to his demise.