Introduction of the Ra'avad, of blessed memory

Regarding the soul, whose beginning is in the firmaments original: "beraqim"—likely a transcription error for "reqi'im" (firmaments), let them go and learn, for they have understood you. Every bride is perfected and known; how she shall serve and be taught for His love. And "know My Name," for they called My Name "to the Lord," original: "l'Hashem" meaning "God," for he knew My Name in the Secret of Knowledge Sod ha-Da'at; the mystical bridge between the upper and lower intellects Tiferet.
Observe the glory of my father, and my sigh is with him—the wise of the soul—to solve the arrangement of the firmaments, that they should dwell and watch over you. "Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the heart?" Job 38:36. The explanation is: "Who has put in the kidneys," which are the covered parts original: "tuchot" and the secret of Wisdom Chokhmah; the first spark of divine intellect, for the kidneys provide counsel to a person. "Who has given to the heart" Tiferet "that which joins with Understanding" Binah; the analytical faculty of the divine intellect. For the Lord, we are crowned and prayed to, those who receive from Understanding.

It is known that the "pocket" likely referring to the vessel or containment, the place for all things, is composed of branches. There, the sensation is greatest, for the Sustainer is not divided from the portion called the "Tree" by way of the paths called "branches." Regarding this secret, it is said: "I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel; my kidneys also instruct me in the night seasons" Psalm 16:7. Because Wisdom requires arrangement in its existence and is related to physical action, therefore all Wisdom and Understanding are "simple intellects," and Counsel Etzah is what introduces order into Wisdom and Understanding until it reaches physical action. This is the secret of "With the Lord" Binah "He took counsel, and He instructed Him" Isaiah 40:14.

The reason for this is that the intellects are surrounded on every side like salt perhaps referring to preservation or permeation and are sealed within them. Therefore, they are called Tuchot (inward parts), which means "covered," from the language of "plastering a house" Hebrew: "tach et ha-bayit". Regarding this secret, it hinted and said: "Who original: "Mi"—a mystical name for the attribute of Binah has put wisdom in the inward parts?" for the star is called "Who," as it is said, "With whom Mi did He take counsel, that he might instruct Him?" She receives from the sparks of Wisdom and spreads through the "harp" likely a metaphor for the heart or the Sefirah of Yesod toward the inward parts the flow of Wisdom that comes upon it. "Or who gave understanding to the rooster?" Job 38:36, providing fruit to the Foundation of the World Yesod; the attribute of generation and connection, and Understanding to the order of the Kingdom Malkhut; the final attribute, representing the manifest world. From them, Wisdom exists in the kidneys, and is refined for Understanding Atarah/The Crown.

Know that the power of procreation has three centers: the Brain for the seed, the Heart for the spirit, and the Liver for the boundary likely referring to the physical maintenance/nutrients. From there, the liver sends the power of the boundary to the kidneys, and it flows through the kidneys. After the power of the kidneys has been explained to you, and the transformations of the boundary which "cooks" metabolizes or prepares through the action of the "three thirties" a cryptic reference to mystical numerical divisions toward male and female; and because the "cooking" is drawn from Knowledge Da'at in the heart, it is therefore said: "And Adam knew Eve his wife" Genesis 4:1. Behold, through their action in the "branch" of the kidneys, in the action of the "Root" which arouses nature and Wisdom, etc. This is because, in the value of the kidneys, they receive from everything that is above them; they are the sources of reception for the Crown Atarah/Malkhut, and thus the soul is born, which is included from "Being" Yesh.

There is also one "Who put wisdom in the inward parts (the kidneys)," or "Who gave the rooster original: "sekwi" understanding" to distinguish between day Tiferet and night Atarah. Know that just as there are four seasons Tekufot in the year through the movement of the sun, so too there are four seasons in the kidneys and in the movement of the day. Just as the sun is prevented from returning from the four corners... the Will, in its daily movement, when it moves to encompass these four corners, creates a "season." This is the secret: the four corners are between the divisions of the night and the twilight of the day, and in the middle of the night and the middle of the day. Behold, in these four times—and the time of each and every one of these—the Heavenly Host Pamalia shel Ma'ala; the celestial retinue of angels returns each to the labor they were made to do.

Therefore, when the "understanding" of one of these four times reaches the spirit of the rooster—whose root is in the Foundation of the World—it understands the strike of its root. Immediately, it claps its wings like its root and gives strength to the intellect. It stands at the time they are receiving dominion, each one an official over his labor. Therefore, the Masters of the Talmud, when they wished to punish a person, would act at these known times, as is explained in Tractate Berakhot a volume of the Talmud dealing with prayers and blessings.

And behold, I will tell you one story in the Holy Tongue, where the name of the deed is mentioned: a certain heretic original: "min" used to trouble Rabbi Joshua ben Levi excessively. The Rabbi set his mind to punish him. He tied a rooster to the leg of his bed and watched it, waiting for the hour of the "oath" the specific moment of divine judgment, when the rooster's comb turns white...