Hey Av

Platinum Member Joined: Sep 11 2004 Posts: 19241

Today is the Arizal's yahrtzeit.
He passed away because of a small argument between two of his disciples.
Crying or Very sad

He was only 38. Shocked

Posted: Tue, Jul 17 2007, 2:20 am Post subject: re: Rosh Chodesh Av

I think his yartzheit is 5th Av.

Posted: Tue, Jul 17 2007, 5:29 am Post subject: re: Rosh Chodesh Av

Yes, the Arizal's yahrzeit is 5 Av.

Platinum Member Joined: Sep 11 2004 Posts: 19241

Interesting, I'll check again in the book I read yesterday.

Posted: Tue, Jul 17 2007, 8:51 am Post subject: re: Rosh Chodesh Av

He was born at Jerusalem in 1534 to an Ashkenazi father and a Sephardic mother; died at Safed, Israel July 25, 1572 (5 Av 5332). While still a child he lost his father, and was brought up by his rich uncle Mordecai Francis, tax-farmer at Cairo, Egypt, who placed him under the best Jewish teachers. Luria showed himself a diligent student of rabbinical literature; and, under the guidance of Rabbi Bezalel Ashkenazi (best known as the author of Shittah Mekubetzet), he, while quite young, became proficient in that branch of Jewish learning.

At the age of fifteen he married his cousin, and, being amply provided for financially, was able to continue his studies. Though he initially may have pursued a career in business, he soon turned to asceticism and mysticism. About the age of twenty-two years old, he became engrossed in the study of the Zohar, a major work of the Kabbalah which had recently been printed for the first time, and adopted the life of a recluse. He retreated to the banks of the Nile, and for seven years secluded himself in an isolated cottage, giving himself up entirely to meditation. He visited his family only on the Shabbat, speaking very seldom, and always in Hebrew. Hassidim attribute to him that he had frequent interviews with the prophet Elijah through this ascetic life, by whom he was initiated into sublime doctrines.

Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534 � July 25, 1572) was a Jewish mystic in Safed. His name today is attached to all of the mystic thought in Safed: while his literary contribution to the Kabbalistic school of Safed was extremely minute (he only wrote a few poems), his fame led to the school and all its works being named after him. The main popularizer of his ideas was Hayim Vital, though Vital's claim to be the official interpreter of the Lurianic system was not undisputed.

Lurianic Kabbalah lost a certain amount of credit owing to its association with the false Messiah Shabbetai Tzvi: however it remained the leading school of mysticism in Judaism, and is an important influence on Hasidism. A minority of today's Jewish mystics belong to other branches of thought in Zoharic mysticism.

In Hebrew he is called Yitzhak Lurya יִצְחַק לוּרְיָא, Yitzhak Ben Shlomo Ashkenazi, and Yitzhak Ashkenazi. He is also known as Ari אֲרִי and He-Ari ("The Lion") from the acronym for Adoneinu Rabbeinu Itzhak ("Our Master Our Rabbi Yitzhak"), thus Arizal with "ZaL" being the acronym for Zikhrono Livrakha ("of blessed memory" or literally "let the memory of him be for a blessing"), a common Jewish honorific for the deceased, and known as Ari Ha-Kadosh ("Ari the Holy").

Platinum Member Joined: Sep 11 2004 Posts: 19241

Thanx for the correction. I somehow missed "five days later." Rolling Eyes

Platinum Member Joined: Sep 20 2004 Posts: 17151

an article by Tzvi Freeman about the Arizal:

http://www.chabad.org/library/article.asp?AID=296601

Posted: Wed, Jul 18 2007, 10:21 am Post subject: Re: Hey Av

Posted: Wed, Jul 18 2007, 10:30 am Post subject: re: Hey Av

Green, it's nice that you posted on the Arizal, but those excerpts you printed have blatant inaccuracies, written by secularists, with no knowledge about the Arizal's teachings. Confused

Posted: Thu, Jul 19 2007, 12:55 am Post subject: re: Hey Av

Hey Av is my baby's birthday!!

Platinum Member Joined: Sep 20 2004 Posts: 17151

Platinum Member Joined: Sep 20 2004 Posts: 17151

Platinum Member Joined: Sep 20 2004 Posts: 17151

some teachings of the Arizal:

http://www.kabbalaonline.org/safedteachings/sfari/

Posted: Fri, Jul 20 2007, 2:27 pm Post subject: Re: re: Rosh Chodesh Av

Platinum Member Joined: Sep 20 2004 Posts: 17151

timely thread

Posted: Tue, Aug 05 2008, 5:45 pm Post subject:

yes thanks for the reminder...just an hour or so ago I told my daughter about it and that we were going light a yahrzeit candle and in that space of time it already slipped my mind (sigh).
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