These two short treatises by the renowned Kabbalist Yosef Gikatilla (1248-1325) focus on two of the most fundamental Kabbalistic secrets: the serpent of Genesis and the Hashmal of the Book of Ezekiel.

Gikatilla was a student of the mythical Abraham Abulafia, and was in close contact with Moses de Leon, the presumed author/compiler of the Sefer haZohar, as well as other great Kabbalists of his day. As scholar Charles Mopsik writes, "The wealth of his writings, which touch on all the important themes, attests that by his time Kabbalah was already capable of offering a total interpretation of Judaism and of posing itself as a credible alternative not only to philosophy but also to the literal exegesis and legalistic formalism of classical rabbinic teaching."

This is the first time that the Sod ha Nachash and the Sod haHasmal have been translated into a Western language.