isaac luria

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RabbiIsaac (ben Solomon) LuriaAshkenazi

Ha'ARIHa'ARI Hakadosh

ARIZaL

The grave of Isaac Luria in Safed

Personal details

Born 1534Jerusalem

Died July 25, 1572Safed

Buried Old Cemetery of Safed

Isaac LuriaFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Arizal" redirects here. For the Indonesian film director, see Arizal (director).

Isaac (ben Solomon) Luria Ashkenazi (1534[1] July25, 1572) (Hebrew: Yitzhak Ben Sh'lomo Lurya Ashkenazi), commonly knownas "Ha'ARI"[2] (meaning "The Lion"), "Ha'ARIHakadosh" [the holy ARI] or "ARIZaL"[3] [the ARI, OfBlessed Memory (Zikhrono Livrakha)], was a foremostrabbi and Jewish mystic in the community of Safed in theGalilee region of Ottoman Syria. He is considered thefather of contemporary Kabbalah,[4] his teachings beingreferred to as Lurianic Kabbalah. While his direct literarycontribution to the Kabbalistic school of Safed wasextremely minute (he wrote only a few poems), hisspiritual fame led to their veneration and the acceptanceof his authority. The works of his disciples compiled hisoral teachings into writing. Every custom of the Ari wasscrutinized, and many were accepted, even againstprevious practice.[3]

Luria died at Safed on July 25, 1572 (5 Av 5332). He wasburied in the Old Cemetery of Safed.[3]

Contents

1 Early life2 Fellowship, leadership, and discipleship3 Teachings4 See also5 Notes6 References7 External links

Early life

Luria was born in 1534 in Jerusalem[1] in what is now the Old Yishuv Court Museum[3] to an Ashkenazifather, Solomon, and a Sephardic mother.[5]

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Sefer HaKavanot U'Ma'aseh Nissim records that one day Luria's father remained in the Beth kneset alone,studying, when Eliyahu HaNavi appeared to him and said, "I have been sent to you by the Almighty to bringyou tidings that your holy wife shall conceive and bear a child, and that you must call him Yitzchak. Heshall begin to deliver Israel from the Klipot [husks, forces of evil]. Through him, numerous souls willreceive their tikkun. He is also destined to reveal many hidden mysteries in the Torah and to expound on theZohar. His fame will spread throughout the world. Take care therefore that you not circumcise him before Icome to be the Sandak [who holds the child during the Brit Milah ceremony]."[3]

While still a child, Luria lost his father, and was brought up by his rich maternal uncle Mordechai Frances, atax-farmer out of Cairo, Egypt. His uncle placed him under the best Jewish teachers, including the leadingrabbinic scholar David ibn Zimra.[5] Luria showed himself a diligent student of rabbinical literature andunder the guidance of another uncle, Rabbi Bezalel Ashkenazi (best known as the author of ShittahMekubetzet), he became proficient in that branch of Jewish learning.[6]

At the age of fifteen, he married a cousin and, being amply provided for financially, he was able to continuehis studies. Though he initially may have pursued a career in business, he soon turned to asceticism andmysticism. Around the age of twenty-two he became engrossed in the study of the Zohar (a major work ofthe Kabbalah that had recently been printed for the first time) and adopted the life of a recluse. Retreating tothe banks of the Nile for seven years, he secluded himself in an isolated cottage, giving himself up entirelyto meditation. He visited his family only on Shabbat. But even at home, he would not utter a word, even tohis wife. When it was absolutely necessary for him to say something, he would say it in the fewest numberof words possible,[3] and then, only in Hebrew. Hassidism believes that he had frequent interviews with theprophet Elijah through this ascetic life, and was initiated into sublime doctrines by him.

Fellowship, leadership, and discipleshipIn 1569, Luria moved back to the Ottoman Palestine Eretz Israel; and after a short sojourn in Jerusalem,where his new kabbalistic system seems to have met with little success, he settled in Safed.

Safed, over the previous several decades, had become something of a lightning-rod for kabbalistic studies. "[S]pawning an astounding array of impressive religious personalities [including] ... Rabbi Moses Cordovero,Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz, Rabbi Jacob Berab, Rabbi Moses di Trani, Rabbi Joseph Caro, Rabbi HayyimVital, Joseph ibn Tabul, Rabbi Abraham ben Eliezer ha-Levi Berukhim, Rabbi Israel Najara, Rabbi EleazarAzikri, Rabbi Eliyahu de Vidas, and Rabbi Moses Alshech;"[7] including some lesser known figures such asRabbi Joseph Hagiz, Rabbi Elisha Galadoa, and Rabbi Moses Bassola.

In this community, Luria joined a circle of kabbalists led by Rabbi Moses Cordovero. "Cordovero was theteacher of what appears to have been a relatively loose knit circle of disciples, of which the most noteworthywere Elijah de Vidas, Abraham Galante, Moses Galante, Hayyim Vital, Abraham ben Eliezer ha-LeviBerukhim, Eleazar Azikri, Samuel Gallico, and an important kabbalist who studied with Cordovero for ashort while in the 1560s, Mordechai Dato."[8]

There is evidence to suggest that Isaac Luria also regarded Moses Cordovero as his teacher. "JosephSambari (16401703), an important Egyptian chronicler, testified that Cordovero was 'the Ari's teacher for avery short time.'[9] ... Luria probably arrived in early 1570, and Cordovero died on June 27 that year (the

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Ark in the AriAshkenazi Synagogue.While Luria, the"Lion", gave thecomplete traditionalsystem of Kabbalah.Maimonides,Judaism's greatestRationalist, is calledthe "Great Eagle",both images takenfrom the Merkabahvision of Ezekiel.

23d day of Tammuz).[8] Bereft of their most prominent authority and teacher, thecommunity looked for new guidance, and Isaac Luria helped fill the vacuum leftby Cordovero's passing.

Soon Luria had two classes of disciples: (1) novices, to whom he expounded theelementary Kabbalah, and (2) initiates, who became the repositories of his secretteachings and his formulas of invocation and conjuration.

However, the most renowned of the initiates was Rabbi Hayyim Vital, who,according to his master, possessed a soul which had not been soiled by Adam'ssin. With him Luria visited the grave of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and those ofother eminent teachers; it is said that these graves were unmarked (the identity ofeach grave was unknown), but through the guidance given by Elijah each gravewas recognized. Luria's kabbalistic circle gradually widened and became aseparate congregation, in which his mystic doctrines were supreme, influencingall the religious ceremonies. On Shabbat, Luria dressed himself in white and worea fourfold garment to signify the four letters of the Ineffable Name.

Many Jews who had been exiled from Spain following the Edict of Expulsionbelieved they were in the time of trial that would precede the appearance of theMessiah in Galilee. Those who moved to Palestine in anticipation of this eventfound a great deal of comfort in Lurias teachings, due to his theme of exile.Although he did not write down his teachings, they were published by hisfollowers and by 1650 his ideas were known by Jews throughout Europe.[10]

TeachingsLuria used to deliver his lectures extemporaneously and did not write much, with a few exceptions,including some kabbalistic poems in Aramaic for the Shabbat table. The real exponent of his kabbalisticsystem was Rabbi Hayyim Vital. He collected all the notes of the lectures which Luria's disciples had made;and from these notes were produced numerous works, the most important of which was the Etz Chayim,("Tree of Life"), in eight volumes (see below). At first this circulated in manuscript copies; and each ofLuria's disciples had to pledge himself, under pain of excommunication, not to allow a copy to be made fora foreign country; so that for a time all the manuscripts remained in Palestine. At last, however, one wasbrought to Europe and was published at Zolkiev in 1772 by Isaac Satanow. In this work are expounded boththe theoretical and the devotional, meditative teachings of Lurianic Kabbalah based on the Zohar.

See also

Ari SynagogueAri Ashkenazi Synagogue

Notes

1. ^ a b Fine 2003, p. 24 (http://books.google.com/books?id=B2o8vqvrQOcC&pg=PA24)2. ^ Derived from the acronym for "Elohi Rabbi Itzhak", the Godly Rabbi Isaac or "Adoneinu Rabbeinu Isaac" (our

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master, our rabbi, Isaac).

3. ^ a b c d e f http://www.safed-kabbalah.com/Arizal/Biography.htm4. ^ Eisen, Yosef (2004). Miraculous journey: a complete history of the Jewish people from creation to the present

(http://books.google.com/books?id=7lsVajEtaQ0C&lpg=PP1&dq=%22yosef%20eisen%22&pg=PA213#v=onepage&q=&f=false) (Rev. ed.).Southfield, Mich.: Targum/Feldheim. p.213. ISBN1568713231.

5. ^ a b Fine 2003, p. 29 (http://books.google.com/books?id=B2o8vqvrQOcC&pg=PA29)6. ^ Fine 2003, p. 31 (http://books.google.com/books?id=B2o8vqvrQOcC&pg=PA31)-32

(http://books.google.com/books?id=B2o8vqvrQOcC&pg=PA32)7. ^ Fine 2003, p. 1 (http://books.google.com/books?id=B2o8vqvrQOcC&pg=PA1)

8. ^ a b Fine 2003, pp. 80 (http://books.google.com/books?id=B2o8vqvrQOcC&pg=PA80)-819. ^ Sambari 1673, p. 64

10. ^ Armstrong, Karen, The Battle for God: A History of Fundamentalism, Ballantine Books, 2001, pp. 8-14

References

Fine, Lawrence (2003). Rodrigue, Aron; Zipperstein, Steven J, eds. Physician of the Soul, Healer ofthe Cosmos: Isaac Luria and His Kabbalistic Fellowship (http://books.google.com/books?id=B2o8vqvrQOcC). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. p.480. ISBN0-8047-4826-8.Retrieved 2010-08-16.Eliahu Klein: Kabbalah of Creation: The Mysticism of Isaac Luria, Founder of Modern Kabbalah:Berkeley: North Atlantic Books: 2005: ISBN 1-55643-542-8Yosef Avivi: Kabbala Luriana. 3 Vol. Jerusalem, Ben Zvi Institute 2008. ISBN 978-965-235-118-0(in Hebrew)Joseph ben Isaac Sambari (1994) [1-23-1673]. Sefer Divrei Yosef. Jerusalem: Ben Zvi Institute.Troy Southgate: "Luria the Mystic: Medieval Kabbalah in Jewish Tradition" in Le Salon: Journal duCercle de la Rose Noire, Volume 2 (Black Front Press,2012).

External links

Short biography of Rabbi Isaac Luria - The Ari Hakodosh (http://www.chabad.org/library/article.asp?AID=111878)Video lecture on Rabbi Isaac Luria (http://jewishhistorylectures.org/2014/01/09/rabbi-isaac-luria-the-arizal-jewish-biographies-lecture/) by Dr. Henry AbramsonOU page on the Ari (http://www.ou.org/about/judaism/rabbis/ari.htm)Traditional Sphardi Singing of Luria's Yom Zeh L'Yisrael (http://hibba.org/node/399)

Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Luria, Isaac ben Solomon". Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.).Cambridge University Press.

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