TOMER DEVORAH

Kabbalist RabbiMoshe CordoveroThe Ra'MaKRabbi Moshe Cordovero Z LMoshe Cordovero, also referred to as Ra MaK, was a leading kabbalist who lived and taught in Tsfat. His best-known work, Pardes Rimmonim, is a systematization of various schools of kabbalistic thought. He authored many highly influential works, included a defense of kabbalah, a highly-regarded ethical work based on kabbalistic thought, and a comprehensive commentary on the Zohar. He had many disciples and was considered the premier kabbalistic authority until superseded by Rabbi Yitzchak Luria [AR"e;I Z"e;L] shortly after his death. Rabbi Moses ben Jacob Cordovero was a central figure in the historical development of Kabbalah, leader of a mystical school in 16th-century Safed, Ottoman Syria. He is known by the acronym the Rama k. After the Medieval flourishing of Kabbalah, centered on the Zohar, attempts were made to give a complete intellectual system to its theology, such as by Meir ibn Gabbai. Influenced by the earlier success of Jewish philosophy in articulating a rational study of Jewish thought, Moshe Cordovero produced the first full integration of the previous differing schools in Kabbalistic interpretation. While he was a mystic inspired by the opaque imagery of the Zohar, Cordoverian Kabbalah utilised the conceptual framework of evolving cause and effect from the Infinite to the Finite in systemising Kabbalah, the method of philosophical style discourse he held most effective in describing a process that reflects sequential logic and coherence. His encyclopedic works became a central stage in the development of Kabbalah.