The ARI is a great soul who descended to our world in order to open the gates of wisdom to us. And therefore, as Baal HaSulam writes, from the time of the ARI onward everything depends on man, who must correct himself and then be able to reveal the Creator, become one with Him, and reach the goal of creation.

Before, prior to the ARI, this was simply closed to ordinary people since the souls were not yet ready and needed to go through a certain path of development and mix with each other.

The ARI symbolizes the period of Messiah (Mashiach); therefore, he is called Mashiach ben Yosef, and from his period onward the wisdom of Kabbalah began to take the form of a method of correction. And before it was intended only for selected individuals in a special form.

We must respect the Kabbalists who were in Safed at that time next to the ARI and recognized his greatness. They appreciated him. RAMAK was already old, famous, and respected, but he came to ARI’s lessons and sat like a student. Although he was twice as old as the ARI, he was known and revered as a great Kabbalist.

Thanks to him and several other Kabbalists who appreciated the ARI, he was protected from opponents of Kabbalah. After all, he had only a few young (26-year-old!) students. In those days, the attitude toward Kabbalah was not at all friendly. It only seems to us that everything was allowed, as they like to write about that now.

This is somewhat similar to the fate of RaMCHaL: he was persecuted for studying Kabbalah, expelled from the ghetto of Padua, the city where he lived. Until the Vilna Gaon declared to everyone about his greatness, and he was left alone.
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From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/8/10, Writings of Baal HaSulam Preface “Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

Related Material:
The ARI (Rav Isaac Luria), Man of God
Legacy Of The Ari
The Ari Is a Great Soul

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