We left off with the exile of Spanish Jewry. They were scattered to many lands; some European (particularly Amsterdam), but mostly Mediterranean countries. The Turkish Empire, especially welcomed them. The King of Turkey said: "The King of Spain has impoverished his land, and enriched mine".

Many settled in the Holy Land, particularly in the city of Safed (Tzfat), which by the early 1500s boasted some 15,000 Jews, mostly Spanish refugees. Among them were Talmudic scholars, codifiers, and Kabbalists. I mentioned at the end of the previous post that they were in possession of a wonderful book. This was the Zohar, the Book of Splendor.

The Zohar had appeared in Spain just before 1300. It is a Kabalistic Midrash, a running narrative on the Torah, based on Kabbalistic ideas. It was attributed to Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, a great second century rabbi. Whether this attribution is accurate, or whether it had only been composed in the late thirteenth century, or was an ancient work that had gone through substantial editing, has been a subject of controversy ever since. It is a most remarkable work with incredible depth, which had been cherished by the last two centuries of Spanish Kabbalists. It speaks of future events, hidden meanings of the mitzvot, and especially of effecting a Tikkun; a repair or rectification of the Universe.

The new exiles, especially those who had chosen to live in the Land of Israel, dove into the depths of this book in order to understand the meaning of their woes, and how to reverse them. The greatest of these was Rabbi Isaac Luria, known as the Ari (1534-1572). His father had died when he was an infant. His mother, who was an Egyptian Jew, took her son with her to live with her family in Egypt. When he married, his father in law arranged for him a place to live on the Nile, so he could immerse often, and hired nine Jews to stay with him, so he would always have a prayer quorum (minyan). He delved deeper and deeper into the Zohar, and had the Prophet Elijah revealed to him.

Once, Elijah told him: "Know, that your time in this world is almost up. You have come into this world to teach one person, Rabbi Hayyim Vital, and he will teach the entire world. You must go to Safed to find him." He moved to Safed, where he lived another year and a half, passing away at the age of 38. Rabbi Hayyim was his constant companion. The Ari heard messages from G-d; not only through the holy books, but in the sound of the wind, the chirping of birds...everywhere. He would look at a person, tell them what they had done wrong, and how to correct it. He would reveal past lives to people, and inform them why they had come back; what was left undone. He would comment on customs; sometimes preferring an Ashkenazic custom, sometimes a Sephardic, sometimes saying a particular thing could be done either way, sometimes saying that both were wrong and something entirely different should be done. He only wrote a few hymns, but Rabbi Hayyim Vital wrote what he had heard.

The edition that I have fills an entire shelf. People flocked from all over, even Muslim clergy, to hear his wisdom. He hinted that he was the reincarnation of Moses and Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. Besides the ordinary practices, he introduced several new ones, aimed at "Raising up the Divine Presence from the dust". He elaborated on the Zohar's teaching about the Sefirot. There were not just ten, but numerous sub-sefirot, and combinations of Sefirot, which made G-d appear to have different "faces" at different times. He also posited an "empty space" between G-d and the first Sefirot, which gives G-d the appearance of transcendence, although in reality he is very imminent, always. He saw all things in terms of "sparks" of G-d, which needed to be raised, effecting that object's Tikkun, and contributing to the Tikkun of the Universe. The Ari's teachings spread far and wide in the Jewish world. Middle Eastern Jews, especially, accepted him completely, and adjusted their practices accordingly. But every Jewish community adopted the Ari's teachings and instructions to one degree or another. Redemption seemed nearer than it had ever been before. But then, tragedy struck. Stay tuned.