Isaac Luria (the Ari)
1534 – 1572 Ottoman (Sephardic-Ashkenazi Jewish) Kabbalist, founder of Lurianic Kabbalah
Mystic of Safed whose Lurianic Kabbalah reshaped Jewish mysticism with its myth of creation and repair.
- Religion
- Judaism (Kabbalah)
- Affiliations
- Safed, Ottoman Galilee
Isaac Luria taught in Safed for only a few years before dying young, yet his ideas transformed Kabbalah. His system describes the divine withdrawal (tzimtzum), the shattering of cosmic vessels, and the human task of repairing the world (tikkun). Because he wrote little himself, his teachings survive mainly through his students, above all Hayyim Vital.
In the timeline
- 1548 Moses Cordovero systematizes Kabbalah mentioned
- 1550 Isaac Luria develops Lurianic Kabbalah central figure
- 1570 Isaac Luria arrives in Safed central figure
- 1570 Isaac Luria transforms Kabbalah in Safed central figure