Tefilah mi-kol ha-shanah me-ha-ari (Prayer for the Whole Year According to the Ari)

Artist Unknown

ca. 1750

Facing-page manuscript with Hebrew text and small geometric shape with rectangle and small concentric circles on left-hand page. — Isaac Luria , known as “the holy ARI” (an acronym of his name, meaning “lion”), was one of the most significant figures in Jewish mysticism, famed for pioneering a new conception of theoretical kabbalah. Luria was born in Jerusalem and, following the death of his father, was raised by his maternal family in Egypt. There Luria studied rabbinic literature and halakhah, while working as a merchant. He embarked on esoteric studies and lived in seclusion on an island in the Nile (allegedly for seven years). In 1569/70, he settled in Safed, where he studied kabbalah with Moses Cordovero. Luria soon began to develop his own innovative kabbalistic system. However, aside from delivering a few homilies in synagogues, he did not often teach in public. Luria himself wrote very little; his teachings were recorded by the disciples who gathered around him.

Credits

Courtesy GFC Trust / William L. Gross.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.

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