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The Idra, which means threshing floor in Aramaic, is a Kabbalistic work included in printings of the Zohar. It is probably later than the main body of the text of the Zohar. Contemporary scholars believe that the Idra dates to the so-called 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 the Zoharic literature called Idra. The first is the Idra Rabba, or greater Idra, and the second is the Idra Zuta, or lesser Idra. However, these two texts are intimately connected with each other, and therefore, they warrant being placed under the same Wikipedia article.
The story of the Idroth is as follows:
Idra Rabba: R. Shimon b. Yohai convenes nine other scholars, and they gather in the sacred אִדְרָא (threshing field), where they thresh out secrets. Each scholar expounds various configurations of the partsufin; three of them die in ecstasy while doing so.
Idra Zuta: Years later, at RASHB"Is 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 Haazinu.
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