Editing Kabbalah (section)

==== The Kabbalists of Tzfas ====
Kabbalah received extensive attention among the sages of [[Tzfas]] during the fourth century of the sixth millennium (the 1500s). Among the most famous were Rabbi Moshe Alshich, Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz, and the Radbaz. During that period, [[The Ramak|Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, the Ramak]], lived and worked, teaching many students Kabbalah. In his great work [[Pardes Rimonim]], he organized the approaches of earlier Kabbalists, summarized and decided between them, and explained his approach to Kabbalah.
[[File:ציון האריזל.JPG|thumb|Gravesites of the great Kabbalists in the Tzfat cemetery: The holy Arizal Rabbi Isaac Luria, Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz, Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, and Rabbi Yosef of Trani 'The Mabit']]
The greatest influence on the transmission of Kabbalah was [[The Ari|Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, the Arizal]], who moved from [[Egypt]] to Tzfas in 5330 (1570) and during the two years until his passing in 5332 (1572) established a group of students (called "the Arizal's cubs") to whom he transmitted his secrets. After his passing, his greatest student, Rabbi Chaim Vital, organized and arranged his teachings, and he is the primary writer of the Arizal's writings. The Arizal's system of Kabbalah spread throughout all Jewish communities and became the central approach to Kabbalah until today, among Sephardic Kabbalists, Lithuanian scholars, and Chassidim.
[[File:פרי עץ חיים.jpg|thumb|Title Page of 'Pri Etz Chaim' from the Writings of the Arizal, Dubrovna, 5564/1804]]
Despite the importance of the Ramak's Kabbalah and its great influence on Kabbalah until today, the Arizal's Kabbalah is the more primary approach. [[Rabbi Chaim Vital]] testified that after the passing of his teachers, the Ramak and the Arizal, the Ramak appeared to him and revealed that although both Kabbalistic approaches are true, nevertheless "my way is according to the simple understanding for beginners in Kabbalah wisdom, while your teacher's [the Arizal's] way is inner and primary, and even I now in heaven only study according to your teacher's way." In Chassidus it was explained that the difference between the approaches is that "the Ramak's Kabbalah deals with the Sefiros of Tohu (matters of Tohu within Tikkun itself), while the Arizal's Kabbalah deals with Tikkun"; the Ramak's Kabbalah is also true, but the Arizal's Kabbalah is absolute truth, and wherever Kabbalists disagree, the decision follows his approach.