Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, known as the Arizal, gave the world a new form of kabbalistic wisdom, most famously encapsulated in the book “Etz Chaim” which was compiled by Rabbi Chaim Vital. According to Rabbi Vital, the Arizal’s kabbalah superseded previous forms of spiritual wisdom.
In this class we look at the lives of the Arizal, Chaim Vital and Moshe Cordovero and trace the history of kaballah. We will learn an idea from Etz Chaim and see how it led to fundamental disputes about the nature of G-d, and was the main theological split between Rav Sheur Zalman Liadi and the Vilna Gaon.