When we mark the Memorial Day (day of passing) of the ARI we commemorate it with a festive meal, in which many students all over the world participate, those who honor this special soul who opened for us the path to spiritual liberation: to exit the final exile and attain the revelation of the Creator.

The revelation of the Creator is the revelation within us of the qualities of love and bestowal that connect us all together. And to the extent that we unite, we will reveal within ourselves the upper force, the higher, spiritual life.

If we speak of the ARI as a man who lived and died, and not as a soul eternally existing in the spiritual realm, then he was the one who threw the end of a rope to us here in this world,  and by holding onto it we can begin to ascend to the spiritual world from our current state.

This is why we are so grateful to the ARI and honor him so greatly. We want to be as close to him as possible because he represents us the desire of the Creator, and thanks to him, we rise.

Baal HaSulam writes that he did not add anything to the teaching of the ARI, but only explained it. Every Kabbalist who came after the ARI developed his teaching a little further; the ARI laid the very foundation of the method of correction.

You might ask what about Abraham, who is called the father of the nation, was it not he who possessed the method of correction? But in the time of Abraham, we had not yet gone through the shattering of the souls, the destruction of the First and Second Temples, nor had the period of exile ended.

The ARI lived at the very end of the era of the last exile; from him onward began the “birth pangs” of the era of redemption, when we must begin to ascend. Therefore, the ARI took all the Kabbalah of the past, the Kabbalah of the Patriarchs and of the time of exile, and from it created the method of the correction of souls. This is why this man is especially dear to us.

Let us hope that we will merit becoming true students of the ARI!
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/15/10, Writings of Baal HaSulam, Letter 39

Related Material:
The Significance of the Writings of the ARI
The Ari Is a Great Soul
Revelations Of The Ari For Humanity

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