The Torah Atlas

person · P0244

The Arizal האר"י

The master of Tzfat kabbalah: in barely two years of teaching before his death at thirty-eight, he reorganized the whole map of Jewish mysticism (tzimtzum, shevirah, tikkun). He wrote almost nothing — his Torah survives through R' Chaim Vital's records. No reception edge is drawn: his halakhic teachers in Egypt (Radbaz, R' Betzalel Ashkenazi) and his brief contact with Ramak in Tzfat are not yet in the atlas, and his kabbalah is claimed by tradition as direct revelation — which this atlas records but cannot draw.

I. Who

Hebrew
האר"י
Also known as
Yitzchak Luria, Isaac Luria, HaAri HaKadosh
Era
acharonim

II. When

Traditional
5294–5332 AM
Academic
1534–1572 CE
Lifespan (traditional)
≈38 years
Precision
exact

III. Where

Places
Tzfat, Jerusalem

V. How do we know

ClaimEvidenceConfidenceSources
In Egypt he studied halakha under the Radbaz and R' Betzalel Ashkenazi (collaborating on the Shitah Mekubetzet circle's work); arriving in Tzfat c. 1570 he studied briefly with R' Moshe Cordovero before the latter's death — all claim-level here, as none of these teachers is yet in the atlas. tradition reconstruction ★★★☆☆
Tradition ascribes his kabbalah to direct disclosure — visits of Eliyahu and instruction from souls of the righteous — a claim of revelation, not of human reception, and therefore recorded with the tradition category and no edge.
Structurally parallel to the Baal Shem Tov's Achiyah tradition: the tradition itself is documented; the event is not historically attestable.
tradition ★☆☆☆☆
His teachings were committed to writing by his student R' Chaim Vital (Etz Chaim and the Shemonah She'arim), through whom Lurianic kabbalah spread to the entire Jewish world and underlies both chasidut and the Mitnagdic kabbalah of the Vilna Gaon's school. tradition ★★★★☆
Around the age of twenty-two he withdrew into seclusion and immersed himself for years in the Zohar, newly available in print — his kabbalah is expounded throughout as interpretation of it — alongside the talmudic training in the Radbaz's circle noted above; both writings-reception edges rest on this documented study. tradition external ★★★★☆
Yitzchak Luria was born in Jerusalem in 1534 to an Ashkenazi father who had migrated from Central or Eastern Europe. After his father's death, his mother took him to Egypt, where he lived in the household of a wealthy maternal uncle who worked as a tax collector.
The cited source does not name his mother or uncle.
external ★★★★☆
Luria moved from Egypt to Safed in late 1569 or early 1570 and gathered a circle of approximately thirty-five formal disciples, including Chaim Vital, Yosef ibn Tabul, and Moshe Yonah.
The figure of approximately thirty-five comes from later accounts of his circle.
external ★★★★☆
Luria died in Safed in 1572, approximately two years after arriving there, and was buried in Safed's old Jewish cemetery; the grave identified as his remains an established pilgrimage site.
The burial identification is traditional and continuous but has not been archaeologically tested.
external tradition ★★★★☆