Rabbi Isaac Luria Ben-Shelomo
(Ha'Ari Ha'Kadosh)
Rabbi Isaac Luria, know as Ha'ARI ha-Kadosh (HaARI,
Hebrew for the lion, stands for ha-Elohi (the Godly) Rabbi Issac,
and ha-Kadosh means the holy), was the founder of the Lurianic
school of Kabbalah. Born in Jerusalem (1534) to parents of the
Ashkenazi descent, Luria moved to Cairo at a young age, due to
the death of his father, and grew up in Cairo where his uncle,
Mordecai Francis, lived. Being a tax-farmer, his uncle was able
to send him to study under the renown Rabbi Betzalel Ashkenazi. Luria
was evidently very successful in his studies, and at age fifteen
he was married to his cousin. His uncle continued to support him
and he devoted himself completely to study. He is said to have
spent seven year living as a hermit, visiting his family only on
the Sabbath, while studying the Zohar.
At close to thirty, after a short stay in Jerusalem, Luria
settled in Safed. Rabbi Joseph Caro, and Rabbi Moshe Cordovero
were already living in Safed at the time, and Luria became a
central figure in the most prominent circle of kabbalists
anywhere. Luria taught what was to be known as Lurianic Kabbalah
for the next eight years, and died at age thirty-eight in Safed
(1572), his disciple rabbi Hayyim Vital wrote his teachings in a
series of books (source: Ben-Gurion
University of the Negev, Israel).
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