Isaac Luria

Isaac Luria (1534–August 5 1572) was a Jewish scholar and mystic who was secretly believed by some to be the messiah. In many ways he is the founder of Judaism's Kabbalah in its modern form; modern Jewish mysticism is often referred to as Lurianic Kabbalah.

Disciples

In 1569 Luria moved to Palestine; and after a short sojourn at Jerusalem, where his new kabalistic system seems to have met with little success, he settled in Safed. There he formed a circle of kabbalists to whom he imparted the doctrines by means of which he hoped to establish a new basis for the moral system of the world. To this circle belonged Rabbi Moses ben Jacob Cordovero, Shlomo Alkabetz, Joseph Karo, Moses Alshech, Elijah de Vidas, Joseph Hagiz, Elisha Galadoa, and Moses Bassola. They met every Friday, and each confessed to another his sins. Soon Luria had two classes of disciples: (1) novices, to whom he expounded the elementary Kabbalah, and (2) initiates, who became the depositaries of his secret teachings and his formulas of invocation and conjuration. The most renowned of the initiates was Chaim Vital of Calabria, who, according to his master, possessed a soul which had not been soiled by Adam's sin. In his company Luria visited the grave of Shimon bar Yochai and of other eminent teachers, it is said that these graves were unmarked and the identitys of each grave was unknown and through Elijah was each grave recognized . Luria's kabbalistic circle gradually widened and became a separate congregation, in which his mystic doctrines were supreme, influencing all the religious ceremonies. On Sabbath Luria dressed himself in white and wore a fourfold garment to signify the four letters of the Ineffable Name.

Related Topics:
1569 - Palestine - Jerusalem - Kabalistic - Safed - Moses ben Jacob Cordovero - Shlomo Alkabetz - Joseph Karo - Moses Alshech - Chaim Vital - Shimon bar Yochai - Elijah - Sabbath - Ineffable Name

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