Rabbi Yitzchak Luria of Tsfat, ‘the ‘Holy Ari’ z’l (zichrono l’bracha – ‘May his memory be for a blessing’) knew the art of palm reading and also could gaze at the forehead of any person and decipher his character and past deeds. Rabbi Chaim Vital wanted to learn palm reading but the Arizal refused. “For you the knowledge in kabbalah is enough!” he told him.
Rabbi Chaim continued to want to know and the Arizal continued to refuse. So he came up with a scheme – he found a widow and asked her to go to the Arizal during the Purim festive meal with her daughter and ask for tzedakah, but then tell him, "you do not wish to take any money from him. Instead, he should please read your palm. After," he added, "tell me what he told you.”
The women came and made her request. The Arizal immediately said, “It is clear to me that you were sent here by Rabbi Chaim Vital and really I shouldn't tell you. But I will do this act of kindness for you. Stand at a distance and I will reveal something to you."
There were many others who asked the Arizal to look at their forehead and tell them their sins so they could repent. Among them were Rabbi Avraham Galante and his younger brother, Rabbi Moshe Galante, even though when the Arizal first came to Tsfat they did not recognize his greatness.
Then, one day, the Arizal told his students that they should prepare to go out in the field and arrange a full meal, on condition that the elder of these two Torah sages will join. They agreed. He also instructed them to tell him now, before he takes upon himself to make tomorrow a personal fast day, because if he makes such a decision, he will not revoke it.
Rabbi Chaim Vital and two of the other students were designated to invite Rabbi Avraham to the meal. “Why are you coming now already and not tomorrow?” he asked them.
They replied, “Because if you would make a vow that tomorrow is a fast day then you wouldn't be able to come.”
Rabbi Avraham retorted, “If this is the extent of your Rabbi's prophecy, then I am not at all impressed with him." Still, he agreed to join them.
The next day, they returned to Rabbi Avraham to bring him to the field. On the way, they stopped at the nearby gravesite of Rabbi Yehudah bar Elai, where they engaged in Torah discussion.
The Arizal joined them and started to teach a deep Torah lesson. At one point, he asked Rabbi Avraham, “Does this resonate with you?”
He answered, “Not at all. I have 22 questions on what you said. Furthermore, it contradicts the teachings of Rabbi Shimon bar-Yochai in the Zohar on this certain page, and a certain other book on that page, etc."
The students were amazed. How can it be that someone could contradict their Rebbe's teachings? The Arizal, however, was not disturbed. He told Rabbi Avraham to study a discourse from a certain Rabbi and then they would continue to discuss the issue.
Slowly, one by one each question was answered and clarified. The Arizal then announced, “Finish learning so that we can all start eating, the group is already hungry”.
While eating, Rabbi Avraham conceded the honored place on the right to the younger Arizal, because he finally realized that he had a G-dly sprit in him, as opposed to before, when he thought that the Arizal wasn't even worthy of being his student.
When they finished and were on their way home to Tsfat, Rabbi Avraham did not allow the Arizal to leave his side. He begged for a way to correct his past. He pleaded and pleaded, again and again, until the Arizal saw that he was truly serious. He told him, “Come to me tomorrow and I shall direct you in the correct righteous path.”
The next day the Arizal told Rabbi Avraham that his true path to righteousness is a difficult one. Rabbi Avraham stated that he was prepared to agree to anything the Master said. The Arizal told him, “You should eat a fattened chicken every day and deeply study Torah! There is no need for fasting. Indeed, I must say I have never encountered any other person with your corrective path.”
Rabbi Avraham went home with a heart full of joy. He told his brother about his experience, whereupon Rabbi Moshe also wanted to know what he needed to correct, so that his soul should not have to incarnate into a physical body anymore.
A sage of the Mishna. He was a leading student of Rabbi Akiva together with Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Shimon bar-Yochai. The Talmud states that in any dispute in Jewish law between R. Shimon and Rabbi Yehuda bar-Elai, the law is decided according to Rabbi Yehuda!
See the first story in my first book, “Saturday Night, Full Moon,” which is story #247 on this email list. Or, view my video of it this Saturday night--see “TillesTells” at the bottom of this page.
Source
Free adapted and supplemented by Yerachmiel Tilles from the translation “The Life and Stories of The Arizal” by Mrs. Zlata Ehrenstein (of Tsfat), posted on her LinkedIN page on July 26, 2017.
Why this week?
The 5th of the Jewish month of Menachem-AV (2024: Thursday night-Friday, August 9-10) is the date of the passing of the Arizal and the occasion of a large annual pilgrimage to his burial place.
Biographic notes
Rabbi Yitzchak Luria (‘the Holy Ari’), 1534 - (5 Av 1572), the leader of the Tsfat Kabbalists during the last years of his life, was the most influential Jewish mystic since Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai 1800+ years ago. Much of Chasidic thought is based on the Ari's teachings, as recorded by his main disciple, Rabbi Chaim Vital. (For a more detailed biography of the Holy Ari and of Rabbi Vital, go to //ascentofsafed.com or //KabbalaOnline.org.)
Rabbi Moshe Galante was one of ten great scholars of Tzefat (although we know the names of only four, including Rabbi Yosef Caro, author of Shulchan Aruch) to receive rabbinical ordination from Rabbi Yaakov Beirav in the 'renewal of biblical-level semicha' controversy in 1538. He and his older brother, Rabbi Avraham Galante, who subsequently became the city's chief rabbi, lived in Tzefat in the 1500's.
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