Isaac of Acre, MS Guenzberg 775, fol. 50a

Jewish Mysticism
I have seen the truth of the revealed and hidden secret (sod nokhah ve nistar) in many verses and in prayers and blessings. The one who believes only in the hidden (nistar) is in the category of the heretics, and these are the foolish of the philosophers who philosophize and are dependent upon their speculations. They are wise in their own eyes, for they have no knowledge of the ten sefirot belimah which are the name of the Holy One, blessed be He. Their faith is evil and deficient, for they act negligently with respect to prayer and blessings and make light of all the commandments. The one who believes solely in the external (nokhah) are the foolish of the traditionalists (ha mekubbalim), for it is inappropriate to separate the Holy One, blessed be He, and His name. It is certainly the case that the Holy One, blessed be He, is His name and His name is the Holy One, blessed be He. Thus the ten sefirot belimah are the boundary without boundary . . . through them one can comprehend the secrets of the haggadot and the establishment of the words of the rabbis, blessed be their memory, “a verse should not lose its literal sense.

Translated by Elliot Wolfson in- “Beautiful Maiden Without Eyes- Peshat and Sod in Zoharic Hermeneutics.” In The Midrashic imagination – Jewish exegesis, thought, and history. Edited by Michael Fishbane, Albany – State University of New York Press, 1993, pp. 155-203.