Chaim Vital in 10 Minutes

Everything Jewish - 10 Minutes at a Time · May 12, 2026 · 10m

Meet Rabbi Chaim Vital (1543–1620), the indispensable figure who codified the entirety of Lurianic Kabbalah, ensuring its survival and transmission to the world. A distinguished scholar of Jewish law and student of Rabbi Moshe Cordovero and Rabbi Yosef Karo, Vital became the chief and most trusted disciple of Rabbi Isaac Luria (the Arizal) in Safed for the brief two years before Luria's passing. Luria himself wrote almost nothing, making Vital's comprehensive collection and organization of his master's oral teachings—primarily preserved in the seminal work Etz Chaim (Tree of Life)—the…