Arizal.org

Arizal.org: "Though he initially may have pursued a career in business, he soon turned to asceticism and mysticism.  About the age of twenty-two, he became engrossed in the study of the Zohar, a major work of the Kabbalah that had recently been printed for the first time, and he adopted the life of a recluse.  He retreated to the banks of the Nile, and for seven years secluded himself in an isolated cottage, giving himself up entirely to meditation.  He visited his family only on the Shabbat, speaking very seldom, and always in Hebrew."