Sefer ha-ḥezyonot (The Book of Visions): The Soul of the Gentile

Ḥayim Vital

16th Century

In the year 5332 [1572], we went out in the fields and we passed the grave of a gentile that was more than a thousand years old. His Animus was seen on his tombstone and he tried to harm me and kill me. There were many angels and innumerable souls of tzaddikim to my right and left and he was powerless to harm me. My teacher commanded me that when I…

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Creator Bio

Ḥayim Vital

1542–1620

A prominent kabbalist of the Safed circle and the most important disciple of Isaac Luria, Ḥayim ben Joseph Vital lived in Safed (where Moses Alsheikh and Moses Cordovero were among his teachers), in Jerusalem, and in Damascus, where he died. His ‘Ets ḥayim (Tree of Life) was a vast compendium of the collected writings of Luria—whose sole authoritative guardian Vital claimed to be. A second major work, Sefer ‘ets ha-da‘at (Book of the Tree of Knowledge), which appears to have included biblical commentary, is only partially extant. Ḥayim Vital also wrote commentaries to the Zohar as well as an autobiographical work, Sefer ḥezyonot (Book of Visions).

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