The Idra, 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 also produced the two anonymous or collective works of the Tikunei haZohar and Ra'aya Mehemna "Faithful Shephard" as well as other Zoharic material. The main body of the Zohar dates to the second generation of Zoharic material. There are two texts in Zoharic literature called the Idra. The first is the Idra Rabba "greater Idra", and the second is the Idra Zuta "lesser Idra." These two texts are intimately connected. In the standard printed edition of the Zohar, the Idra Rabba is printed in the section relating to the parasha of Naso, and the Idra Zuta is printed in Haazinu.

Lurianic systemisation of the partzufim

16th century Lurianic Kabbalah systemised the Zoharic partzufim in its recasting of the whole Kabbalistic scheme. On one occasion, as recorded by Hayyim ben Joseph Vital, Isaac Luria convened his students in the traditional location of the Idra Rabba Assembly near Meron, placing each one in the designated location of their former incarnations as the students of bar Yohai. In so doing, he identified himself with bar Yohai.