רבי חיים ויטאל

Rabbi Chaim Vital is the hand that wrote down the teaching of the Ari, and without him its light would have vanished. The foremost disciple of the Holy Ari in Safed, he sat before him in his final years and absorbed from his mouth the new teaching of the secret, and after his master's early passing took upon himself the task: to commit to writing all he had received, in 'Etz Chaim' and the 'Eight Gates.'

The task was not simple. The Ari transmitted an immense teaching in a short time, and Rabbi Chaim Vital struggled to remember, order and transmit faithfully, out of a fear it might be forgotten or fall into unworthy hands. He even made his colleagues swear not to copy without permission, so heavy in his eyes was the burden of guarding the light.

In his book 'Sha'arei Kedushah' Rabbi Chaim Vital laid out a path of work on character and repentance, not only for kabbalists but for anyone seeking to repair his soul. He taught that the secret is not only lofty knowledge but work on the heart, a purity to which every person can aspire.

What do we learn from him? That there is greatness in being the vessel that carries a master's light onward, even when the price is to efface yourself for the sake of transmitting another. Rabbi Chaim Vital teaches that a disciple's faithfulness can save an entire teaching from oblivion, and that the greatest secret is, in the end, the simple work of purifying the heart.