But the word ’aqrav (scorpion) is composed of: the word ’aqar (uprooted) and the letter Beiyt ב (house) – for it has uprooted the house of the Shekhinah.
And this is the meaning of his garment – of the snake of idol worship. When the snake comes to conjoin with the body of a sleeping person – for she, the brazen whore, said... lie down with me – it is stated of the ‘sign of covenant’ of circumcision:... and he escaped and went outside.’
[ms. Var. And, because of this: ‘Even if a snake is wound around his heel, he should not interrupt his prayer’, even if it surrounds that point of the letter Dalet ד, he should not stop, for if he stops, then because of him is withdrawn the tip of Dalet ד of EḤaD (One), and there remains AḤeR∞‘another’, which is the wound-up snake. Because of the snake he should not stop – and it is not withdrawn – unlike when he stops and flees from it. But for a scorpion he should stop, as did the righteous Joseph. It is this that is written: (Gen. 39:12)... and he left his garment with her and he escaped... etc.