Idra

The Idra, which means "threshing floor" in Aramaic, is a Kabbalistic work included in printings of the Zohar, and was probably written and appended to the main body of the Zohar at a later date. Contemporary scholars believe the "Idra" dates to the third generation of Zoharic literature, which produced also the Tiqqunim, the Ra'aya Meheimna, and other Zoharic material. The main body of the Zohar, or guf ha-zohar, dates to the second generation of Zoharic material.

There are actually two texts in Zoharic literature called "Idra": the first being the "Idra Rabba", or “greater "Idra"”, and the second being the "Idra Zuta", or “lesser "Idra"”, with these two texts being intimately connected to each other.

The story of the "Idroth" is as follows:

Idra Rabba: R. Shim‘on b. Yohai convenes with nine other scholars, and they gather in the sacred אִדְרָא, or threshing field, where they thresh out secrets. Each scholar expounds various configurations of the partsufin, and three of them die in ecstasy while doing so.

Idra Zuta: Years later, at RASHB"I’s deathbed, the seven still-living scholars come to his deathbed, along with the whole heavenly host. He alone explains the configurations of the partsufin, so this work is more unified. RASHB"I wavers between this world and the next.

In the standard printed edition of the Zohar, the "Idra Rabba" is printed in "Naso", and the "Idra Zuta" is printed in "Ha’azinu".

References

*cite book | last = William Oscar Emil Oesterley, George Herbert Box | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = A Short Survey of the Literature of Rabbinical and Mediæval Judaism | publisher = Macmillan | date = 1920 | location = | pages = Page 248
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=VRkRAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22Idra+Rabba%22&as_brr=1 | doi = | id =