The Greater Holy Assembly (Idra Rabba Qadisha) · 1 of 3 · tr. S.L. MacGregor Mathers
Idra Rabba, Chapter 1 (part 1)
p.
109 HADRA RBA QDIShA (HA IDRA RABBA QADISHA); OR, THE GREATER HOLY ASSEMBLY.
CHAPTER I.
THE INGRESS AND THE PREFACE.
1.
TRADITION.--Rabbi Schimeon spake unto his companions, and said: "How long shall we abide in the condition of one column by itself?
when it is written, Psa.
cxix.
126: 'It is time for Thee, Lord, to lay to Thine hand, for they have destroyed Thy law.' 2.
"The days are few, and the creditor is urgent; the herald crieth aloud daily, and the reapers of the land are few; and those who are about the end of the vineyard attend not, and have not known where may be the lawful place.
( That is, do not study holiness, which is called the vineyard .) 3.
"Assemble yourselves, O my companions, in an open space, equipped with armour and spears; be ye ready in your preparations, in council, in wisdom, in understanding, in science, in care, with hands and with feet!
Appoint as King over you, Him in whose power is life and death: so that the words of truth may be received: things unto p.
110 which the supernal holy ones attend, and rejoice to hear and to know them." 4.
Rabbi Schimeon sat down and wept; then he said: "Woe!
if I shall reveal it!
Woe!
if I shall not reveal it!" 5.
His companions who were there were silent.
6.
Rabbi Abba arose and said unto him: "With the favour of the Lord, also it is written, Psa.
xxv.
14: 'The Arcanum of the Tetragrammaton is with them that fear Him.' And well do these companions fear that Holy and Blessed One; and now they have entered into the assembly of the tabernacle of his house, some of them have only entered, and some of them have departed also." 7.
Moreover, it is said the companions who were with Rabbi Schimeon were numbered, and they were found to consist of Rabbi Eleazer, his son; and Rabbi Abba, and Rabbi Yehuda, and Rabbi Yosi the son of Jacob, and Rabbi Isaac, and Rabbi Chisqiah the son of Rav, and Rabbi Chiya, and Rabbi Yosi, and Rabbi Yisa.
8.
They gave their hands unto Rabbi Schimeon, and raised their fingers on high, and entered into a field under the trees and sat down.
9.
Rabbi Schimeon arose and offered up a prayer.
He sat in the midst of them, and said: "Let whosoever will place his hand in my bosom." They placed their hands there, and he took them.
10.
When he began, he said ( from Deut .
xxvii.
15): "Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place.
And all the people shall answer and say Amen!" 11.
Rabbi Schimeon began, and said: "Time for Thee, O Tetragrammaton to lay to Thine hand." Why is it time for the Tetragrammaton to lay to His hand?
Because they have perverted Thy law.
What is this, p.
111 they hath perverted Thy law?' The higher law, which is itself made void, if it be not carried out according to his commands.
Wherefore is this?
( Or, as others read: Wherefore is this name Tetragrammaton here employed?
) This hath been said concerning the Ancient of Days.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
The urgency of the 'time' for divine action suggests God's active ordering of historical events.
Final, collective cosmic judgment as an event in which the wicked are sentenced and the cosmos restored; distinct from psychopomp_journey (individual passage at death) and emphasising verdict where Zoroastrian frashokereti emphasises restoration.
The text declares it is 'time for Thee... to lay to Thine hand' due to the destruction of the law, implying divine intervention.
Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone.
The assembly involves ritual preparations ('armour and spears') intended to facilitate the reception of divine words.