02/08/2022
Tonight is the anniversary of the passing of Rabbi Yiztchak Luria, the Holy Arizal. The Arizal is probably the greatest Kabbalist since the time of the Mishna. His Kabbalistic system was accepted by all who follow him, and many of his customs became almost universally accepted across the Jewish World.
His level of Divine attainment was supreme. Rabbi Chaim Vital, his greatest student, said about his master:
“There was no one who could achieve this wisdom in its truth like him because he knew the Mishnah and Talmud and legends and sermons about everything. He understood the kabbalah of the Creation and the act of the Chariot. He understood the conversations of birds and the conversations of palms and trees and herbs and knew the secret that a stone from a wall would cry out, and the conversation of angels.
He spoke with spirits from incarnations, both good and evil. He brings a person's soul while he is alive and talks to him about all his needs and wants, and then takes him away. And he would see souls when they left the body, in the cemeteries, on their way to Heaven every Saturday evening. And he would speak with the souls of the righteous in the World to Come, and they would expound to him Torah verses.
And he also knew the wisdom of the face, and the drawings of the hands, and the true interpretation of dreams in both old and new incarnations. And he would see a person's forehead and know what they were thinking and what he dreamed, and what verse he read when his soul ascended to heaven at night. He would teach the interpretation of the root of his soul. And he would read on his forehead Mitzvot and Offenses that he did. And he would give each and everyone a correction.
And he knew how many mistakes were made in the books. And he was full of piety and good manners, and humility, fear of God and love of God, and fear of sin. All good virtues and good deeds were in him.
And all these things he would know at any time and moment. These wisdoms were always in his lap. And all of this he achieved through his faithfulness and asceticism, after which he spent many days in old books as well as new ones with this wisdom. And with them, he added devoutness and asceticism and purity and holiness, and this brought Divine Spirit to him, and Elijah the Prophet was always revealed to him."
🕯 May his merit protect us and all Israel, Amen.
