Declaration

We the undersigned have taken it upon ourselves to be in one society, to serve the Lord, may He be blessed, and to busy ourselves with His Torah day and night, in accordance with that which our teacher, the wise, complete and divine rabbi, our honored teacher, R. ḥayim Vital may his flame enlighten, will teach us. We will learn with him from the wisdom of truth, we will be faithful in spirit, and shall conceal [see Proverbs 11:13] some of all that he will tell us. And we will not bother him by pleading excessively for him to share the things that he does not want to reveal to us. And we will not reveal to others any secret from that which we will hear from his mouth regarding the path of truth, nor from all that he has taught us in the past, and not even from that which he taught us during the lifetime of our teacher, the great rabbi, our honored teacher R. Isaac Luria Ashkenazi, may his memory be for a blessing. We will not even reveal that which we heard from the mouth of this teacher of ours, may his memory be for a blessing. We may not reveal any of this without his authorization, since we would not understand these things without him, as he would review them with us. This acceptance [of this agreement] is undertaken through a severe oath to the Lord, may He be blessed, with the consent of our teacher, the honored teacher, R. ḥayim Vital, may his flame illuminate. And the due course of this acceptance is from today for ten consecutive years, and this is Monday, the twenty-fifth of consolation [Av], in the year 5335 from the creation [11 August 1575], here in Safed, may it be built and established quickly and in our time, and all is valid and clear and binding.