Rabbi Yitzhak Luria Ashkenazi, Shlomo Bar (Ari Akadosh; Arizal, 5294-5332 / 1534-1572 / yy.) - the greatest righteous, miracle worker and expert on the hidden sections of the Torah.


Kabbalists Traditionally, it has been the epitome heart skilled master Bezalel ben Uri created in desert Sinai Ark Testament mishkan and its receptacles (Seder adorot).


He was born in Jerusalem. His father, p. Shlomo Luria Ashkenazi was a descendant of immigrants from Germany (this is indicated and the family nickname of "Ashkenazi") - to the Holy Land, he came from the Lithuanian city of Brisk (Brest); his relative was p. Shlomo Luria (Maarshal) - one of the spiritual leaders of the Jews of Poland. Arizal's mother came from a family of refugees from Spain.


The house where the Arizal spent his childhood, and now is located in the Jewish Quarter of the Old Town (ul. Or Hachaim, 6).


In 5302/1542 / year, at age eight, he lost his father; mother took him to Cairo, where her brother-rich, p. Mordecai Francis, ruled the city's customs office. Yitzhak was brought up in his uncle's house, and, having reached the age of fifteen years, married his daughter.


In 5308/1548 / year, he began his studies in Cairo yeshiva; He studied under the guidance of the chief rabbi of Cairo p. David Ibn Zimriya (Radvaz). In 5312/1552 / year when Radvaz "bump" in the Land of Israel, Yitzhak became a disciple of the new rabbi of Cairo p. Bezalel Ashkenazi, author Shita mekubetset (Overall concept).


The last six years of the twenty-eight held in Egypt, p. Isaac spent studying basic cabalistic work - Zohar (Radiance). During this period, he led a hermit's life on a deserted island in the middle of the Nile - in a special holiness and spiritual purity.


In 5330/1570 /, the heavenly messenger - the prophet Elijah, who taught him the secrets of the Torah, commanded him to go to the city of Safed, to transmit their knowledge to the student by the name of p. Chaim Vital.


In Safed district. Isaac Luria joined the circle of kabbalists, who led the famous sage p. Moshe Cordovero, Pardes Rimonim author and Tomer Court.


After the death of p. Cordovero, followed at the end of 5330/1570 / year, p. Isaac succeeded him at the head of the circle. Classes are held in the Ashkenazi synagogue in Safed or a surrounding town groves and vineyards; among students p. Isaac was outstanding kabbalists and Torah scholars, greatly superior to his age: author Resit Hochma p. Eliyahu De Vidas, the author of Sefer Haredim p. Elazar Adhkaar and even vosmidesyatidvuhletny p. Yosef Karo, the compiler code Shulhan Arukh.


R. Yosef Caro argued that in the body of a mentor bondage, who arrived from Egypt, "the soul lives one of the prophets - even the sages of the Mishnah does not have the knowledge that he possesses." Two great wise men, so different in age, linked by close friendship, and then kinship Son district. Yosef Caro married the daughter p. Yitzhak.


Only one of the students p. Isaac, twenty-eight p. Chaim Vital, it was permitted to write a speech in class, because only his perception was, mentor evaluation adequate enough. It is this student district. Isaac Luria was able to transfer a significant portion of its unique spiritual experience and his knowledge of the practical Kabbalah. Their joint sessions lasted one year and nine months: on the basis of records made by the then district. Chaim Vital wrote his later treatises Shemona Shearim (Eight Gates) and Hachaim Etz (Tree of Life), which became, along with Zohar, the seminal book of bondage.


In the preface to the book Etz Hachaim p. Chaim Vital said that his mentor "the Torah was full to the brim, like a grenade, filled with granules ... he opened the secrets of creation devices and the Divine control of the universe." Like a prophet, he had a wide range of extrasensory perception, "he had known all the deeds of men in the past and in the future; He could read people's minds before they are translated; he knew everything that was happening at the moment in any part of the globe; ... he was well versed in the vicissitudes of reincarnation and know what the soul was the first time in the world, and which has already visited it in other embodiments ". "All these phenomena are affecting the mind, I saw with my own eyes" - testified p. Chaim Vital.


According to him, such a high spiritual level p. Isaac Luria reached selfless spiritual work as "very much worked on comprehension of cabalistic wisdom - and countless nights he did not sleep, studying a fragment of the holy Zohar; sometimes six nights he spent everyday, trying to comprehend the meaning of a single passage. " At the same time, "he was a phenomenal expert on the open part of the Torah: Tanach, Mishnah, Talmud, Midrash, as well as an outstanding analyst."


Disciples thought that the Land of Israel returned to the blessed time of the ancient sages and prophets to confirm similarity p ages. Isaac Luria preferred to speak and teach in the holy language, Hebrew - and especially in the holy day of Shabbat, and only those who do not understand, he gave an explanation in Ladino, the language of the Spanish exiles.


Students called his mentor "Ari" - an abbreviation of the word "Elokim Rabbi Yitzchak" (a Divine Rabbi Yitzhak). After the death of mentor to the name of Ari been added ending "Zal" - Zichron livraha (let his memory be blessed).


However, some researchers believe that the basis of this name was born from another abbreviation: "Amar Rabbi Yitzchak" (said Rabbi Yitzhak) - with these words, as a rule, p. Chaim Vital starts quoting Arizal words in his books.


Rabbi Isaac Luria died during the epidemic, the fifth of Av 5332/1572 / year - he was only thirty-eight years. He was buried in the old cemetery near the grave of Safed district. Moshe Cordovero; and three years later next to them he was buried, and p. Yosef Caro - "golden age" of Safed ended.


Many of the great sages of Safed believed that the Arizal was "a potential Messiah," which opened a new era when "the heavens opened store of wisdom" in Jewish history. One of his most outstanding students p. Shmuel Di Ozeyda wrote that the Arizal was the "Messiah, chosen by Gd," but the sins of generations was not given to him to prove himself.


Formulated Arizal ideas formed the basis for all further development of bondage. Particular importance is attached to its presentation concept Tzimtzum (infinite compression Gd light which preceded the actual creation) and concepts Shevirat Akeley (decomposition "vessels") pertaining to the initial stage of the creation.


Numerous customs and innovations introduced by the Arizal in everyday community life and liturgy. For example, well-known dating back to the Arizal custom according to which boys do not cut before the age of three, and then perform this rite in Meron, at the tomb of the compiler of the Zohar, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (Rashbi).


Arizal created several Shabbat hymns - the most popular of them Azamer bishvahin (I will sing praise) and Yom ze LeIsrael (This day Israel), performed in the first-time meal and Asader liseudata (I Pristuplyu the meal), executable day.





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