The Ari Zal

The Ari Zal: "The great Jewish kabbalist, Rabbi Isaac ben Solomon Luria (surnamed Ashkenazi), lived from 1534 to 1572. He was called the Ari (Lion) Zal (Of Blessed Memory) by his followers. He was born in the Jewish community in Jerusalem. In his 20s he spent seven years in seclusion, intensely studying the kabbalah. He settled (c.1570) at Safed (Tsfat) in the north of the Holy Land, where he became the teacher and leader of a large circle of students who formed an important school of Jewish mysticism. Combining messianism with his new insights into kabbalistic doctrines from an earlier period, Luria sought to understand the nature and connection between earthly redemption and cosmic restoration. He taught that our thoughts, speech and actions are linked to the secret processes of G-d's continuous creation of the spiritual and physical worlds, and are thus an integral part of the cosmic drama. Our positive deeds work toward Mankind's redemption by aiding in the restoration of the cosmos to its original state, before the first sin of Adam in the Garden of Eden. He taught that it is our adherence to G-d's commandments, communicated to Moses at Mt. Sinai and embodied in traditional Jewish Torah Law, which will effect this restoration and thereby bring forth the Messiah as the consummate act of earthly redemption. The Ari Zal's kabbalistic doctrines were passed down through the numerous works of Rabbi Hayim Vital, his chief disciple. A foundational teaching of the Ari Zal about the apparent concealment of G-d's Essence from the created realms was misinterpreted by some leading Rabbinical scholars in the 1600s and 1700s. It was Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi who correctly interpreted and expounded the Ari Zal's teaching in a logically consistent and practical way."