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Ari Basics: Introduction
Although Rabbi Yitzchak Luria (the Arizal) wrote relatively
little himself, as mentioned in the "Works" section, his teachings were
nevertheless systematically recorded by his disciples, primarily by Rabbi
Chaim Vital. It is from these teachings that the startlingly innovative teachings of
the Arizal have been given to posterity.
Following the era of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his disciples,
a long line of distinguished kabbalists focused their teachings on one or more
of the themes already found explicitly or implicitly in early texts such as
Sefer Yetzira , Sefer HaBahir and Zohar and in the works of
their immediate predecessors and contemporaries. They set out to clarify and
compare these teachings, and ultimately to transmit them to a disciple or small
group of select disciples. In this sense the work of the Kabbalists after the
Tannaitic era (i.e., until the 4th or 5th century CE) was
primarily classificatory, with very little by way of innovation.
The Arizal, however, was clearly an original thinker. Although
he also set out to explain the most abstruse parts of the kabbalistic literature
available at the time, particularly Zohar, his analysis of those texts
and the innovations he subsequently taught his disciples were unparalleled and
may therefore be regarded as an entirely new school of kabbalistic thought.
There are five areas of focus in the Arizal's teachings that may
be regarded as the primary innovations of his system: the concept of tzimtzum
(G-d's self-contraction, so to speak) through its various stages; the
process of shevirat hakeilim (the shattering of the vessels in the world
of Tohu); the Tikkun (rectification) of that shevira
through birur hanitzotzot (elevating the sparks); the concept of
partzufim (literally, "visages" -- compound structures of the sefirot
in arrays that interact with each other); the nature of the soul, the purpose of
its descent into this world, and its relationship with the higher realms and
ultimately with G-d. To view
Ari Basics 2: 1st Constriction, please click here.
Visitor Comments: 1
Anonymous, 5/30/2005
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