Rabbi Isaac Luria | |
|---|---|
 The grave of Isaac Luria in Safed | |
| Title | Ha'ari Ha'ari Hakadosh Arizal |
| Personal life | |
| Born | 1534 |
| Died | July 25, 1572 (aged 37–38) (5Av 5332AM) Safed, Damascus Eyalet, Ottoman Syria, Ottoman Empire |
| Buried | Old Cemetery of Safed |
| Signature |  |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Judaism |
Isaac ben Solomon Ashkenazi Luria (Hebrew:יִצְחָק בן שלמה לוּרְיָא אשכנזי; bornc. 1534[1] – died July 25, 1572[2]), commonly known in Jewish religious circles asHa'ari,[a]Ha'ari Hakadosh[b] orArizal,[c] was a leadingrabbi andJewish mystic in the community ofSafed in theGalilee region ofOttoman Syria, now Israel. He is considered the father of contemporaryKabbalah,[5] his teachings being referred to asLurianic Kabbalah.
While his direct literary contribution to the Kabbalistic school of Safed was extremely minute (he wrote only a few poems), his spiritual fame led to their veneration and the acceptance of his authority. The works of his disciples compiled his oral teachings into writing. Every custom of Luria was scrutinized, and many were accepted, even against previous practice.[4]
Luria died at Safed on July 25, 1572, and is buried at theSafed Old Jewish Cemetery.[4][2] TheAri Ashkenazi Synagogue, also located in Safed, was built in memory of Luria during the late 16th century.[6]
Luria was born in 1534 inJerusalem[1] in what is now theOld Yishuv Courtyard[4] to anAshkenazi father, Solomon, and aSephardic mother.[7]
While still a child, Luria lost his father and was raised by his rich maternal uncle Mordechai Frances, amültazim (tax farmer) fromCairo inOttoman Egypt. His uncle placed him under the best Jewish teachers, including the leading rabbinic scholarDavid ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra.[7] Luria showed himself a diligent student of rabbinical literature and under the guidance of another uncle,Bezalel Ashkenazi, best known as the author of theGathered Method (Hebrew:שיטה מקובצת), he became proficient in that branch of Jewish learning.[8]
At the age of fifteen, he married a cousin, the daughter of Mordechai Frances, and, being amply provided for financially, he was able to continue his studies. Around the age of twenty-two, he became engrossed in the study of theZohar, a significant work of theKabbalah that had recently been printed for the first time, and adopted the life of a recluse. Retreating to the banks of theNile for seven years, he secluded himself in an isolated cottage, giving himself up entirely to meditation. He visited his family only onShabbat. But even at home, he would not utter a word, even to his wife.[9]
In 1569, Luria moved back to theJerusalem Sanjak, and after a short sojourn there, where his new kabbalistic system seemed to have met with little success, he settled in theSafed Sanjak.Safed in theGalilee had become a center for kabbalistic studies over the previous decades, led byMoses ben Jacob Cordovero.[10][11] There is evidence that Luria also regarded Cordovero as his teacher:Joseph Sambari (1640–1703), an Egyptian chronicler, testified that Cordovero was "the Ari's teacher for a very short time".[12] Luria probably arrived in early 1570, and Cordovero died on June 27 that year (the 23d day of Tammuz).[13] Bereft of their most prominent authority and teacher, the community looked for new guidance, and Luria helped fill Cordovero's former role.[citation needed]
Soon Luria had two classes of disciples: novices, to whom he expounded elementary kabbalah, and initiates, who became the repositories of his secret teachings and the formulas and intentions of prayer. The most renowned of the initiates wasHayyim ben Joseph Vital, who, according to his master, possessed a soul that Adam's sin had not soiled.[11] With him, Luria visited the grave ofShimon bar Yochai and those of other eminent teachers; it is said that these graves were unmarked, but through the mystical guidance given by Elijah, each grave was recognized.
Luria's kabbalistic circle gradually widened and became a separate congregation in which his mystic doctrines were supreme, influencing all the religious ceremonies. On Shabbat, Luria dressed himself in white and wore afourfold garment to signify the four letters of theTetragrammaton.[citation needed]
Many Jews who had been exiled from Spain following theExpulsion of Jews from Spain believed they were in the time of trial that would precede the appearance of theMessiah in Galilee. Those who moved toDamascus Eyalet in anticipation of this event found a great deal of comfort in Luria's teachings due to his theme ofexile. Although he did not write down his teachings, they were published by his followers and by 1650 his ideas were known by Jews throughout Europe.[14]
Luria delivered his lectures spontaneously, without ever writing down his ideas (with a few exceptions, including kabbalistic poems in rabbinicalAramaic for the Shabbat table). The foremost advocate of his kabbalistic system was Vital, who collected all the disciples' lecture notes. Numerous works were produced from these notes, the most important of which was theEtz Chaim, "Tree of Life", in eight volumes (see below). Originally, it circulated only in manuscript copies. Each of Luria's disciples had to pledge—under pain of excommunication—not to allow any copy be made for a foreign country, so that for a time all the manuscripts remained in Ottoman Syria. Eventually, one was brought to Europe and was published atZolkiev in 1772 byIsaac Satanow.[11] In this work, both the theoretical and thedevotional-meditative teachings ofLurianic Kabbalah, based on theZohar, are elaborated upon.[citation needed]
Tzimtzum was one of Luria's most important ideas that he stressed in his lectures.[3]
