It is clear and known to every enlightened man (ish maskil) to whom God has given a heart to hear and eyes to see that King David, peace be upon him, and all the others who speak through the holy spirit, and how more so the righteous prophets who prophecy in the nation … most of their words are in parables and riddles, and they have inner aspects (panim penimiyyim), all that see them will not discern them and will not attend to them except for the elite (yehidim) whose hearts have been touched by God. Perhaps the external in them, which is good and beautiful, is fixed and received by the masses, and concerning this King Solomon, peace be upon him, said “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver” (Prov. 25-11). And how marvelously did the perfect sage, our master Moses, may his memory be for a blessing, explain this image, comparing the external to refined and polished silver and the inner to pure gold whose value is greater than all other metals, as is known from his words in his well-known and honorable book, the Guide.

Translated by Elliot Wolfson in- “Beneath the Wings of the Great Eagle- Maimonides and Thirteenth Century Kabbalah,” in Moses Maimonides (1138-1204) – His Religious, Scientific, and Philosophical Wirkensgeschichte in Different Cultural Contexts, edited by George K. Hasselhoff and Otfreid Fraisse, (Wurzburg- Ergon, 2004) 209-237, from Todros ben Joseph Abulafia, Sha‘ar ha-Razim, Edited from the manuscripts with Introduction and Annotations by Michal Kushnir-Oron (Jerusalem- Bialik Institute, 1989), p. 46.