Rabbi Chaim Vital of Safed
The DiscipleRabbi Chaim Vital (sometimes referred to as Rabbi Chaim Vital Calabrese, since his family was from Calabria, Italy) was born c. 1543 and raised in Safed. Rabbi Chaim is renowned primarily as the recorder and editor of the teachings of 'the Holy Ari' (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria), although he himself was also an accomplished kabbalist and writer. Rabbi Chaim's father, Rabbi Yosef was famed as an expert scribe whose tefillin were much sought after, having been written in holiness and purity, and with special kabbalistic intentions. Rabbi Yosef Caro said in the name of his maggid (an angelic teacher) that half the world existed by virtue of Rabbi Yosef Vital's tefillin. Rabbi Chaim studied the revealed aspects of Torah [Scripture, Talmud, Midrash, Jewish Law] under Rabbi Moshe Alshich, one of the foremost rabbis in Safed. Rabbi Yosef Caro [Author of Shulchan Aruch ["Code of Jewish Law"], at the behest of his maggid, advised Rabbi Alshich to invest as much effort in his young student as possible, for he would be Rabbi Caro's successor as the leading decider of Torah law. At the same time, Rabbi Chaim studied Kabbalah under the leading kabbalistic luminary in the world in that period, Rabbi Moshe Cordovero (Ramak). One of the senior kabbalists living in Safed, Rabbi Shabtai Lapidot, recognizing that Rabbi Chaim was destined for greatness, urged the young man to extract himself from all worldly matters and devote himself to the study of Kabbalah, promising him that he would reach unimaginably lofty levels. Indeed, in the year 1569, at the relatively young age of 26, Rabbi Chaim began writing - based on the teachings of Ramak -- a commentary on Zohar, the primary text of Kabbalah. However, by the following year Rabbi Chaim's life took a completely different direction. In the year 1570, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria (the Arizal) came to Safed from Egypt. Initially Rabbi Chaim was not attracted to the Arizal, but after the passing of his teacher, Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, he became attached to the Arizal, quickly becoming his chief disciple. He tells that Ramak appeared to him in a dream a few months after his passing, and when Rabbi Chaim adjured him to tell him the truth - whether they studied Kabbala according to his system or according to the Arizal's in the Heavenly Academy - his former teacher replied: "Both approaches are true. However, my approach is the simple one, suitable for beginners in the wisdom of Kabbala, whereas the teachings of your teacher [the Arizal] are deeper and are the primary approach. I, too, in the Heavenly Academy, study only according to the approach of your master." In the initial
stages of Rabbi Chaim's initiation into the Arizal's new approach to Kabbala,
Both the intensity of their learning and its tremendous quantity and complexity
affected Rabbi Chaim strongly. He confessed to his mentor that he could not
retain or integrate all of the vast wisdom that was being bestowed upon him.
"Drink this!"
he ordered his disciple. "It is water from the well of Miriam from which
our forefathers drank in the wilderness. They were called the 'Generation of
Knowledge', and once you have partaken of this water, it will cure you and you
shall forget nothing I teach you." [1] The Arizal was not accustomed to record his teachings in writing. Many of his disciples, however, recorded his oral teachings, despite the Arizal's explicit prohibition to do so. He had given only Rabbi Chaim permission to record his teachings. After the Arizal's passing In the year 1572, when the population of Safed was decimated by a terrible plague, Rabbi Chaim gathered all the manuscripts of his fellow disciples and began editing and organizing them. Today these are known as Kitvei Arizal - the Writings of the Holy Ari. He began teaching the kabbalistic insights he had received from his master to his many disciples and thus he became the revered leader of a significant group of kabbalists. He also gained a reputation as a miracle worker, a healer and a master of practical kabbala. He was able to discern the nature and history of the souls of men. In 1587 Rabbi Chaim was appointed a leading judge in the rabbinical courts in Jerusalem by his teacher, Rabbi Moshe Alshich. He remained there for several years and then returned to Safed. He moved to Damascus in 5354 (1594) where he passed away in 5380 (1620 CE) at the age of seventy-seven. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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