Q&A: The Ari and Rabbi Chaim Vital – a serious dilemma
The Ari and Rabbi Chaim Vital – a serious dilemma
Question
I happened to look through the books In Praise of the Ari and In Praise of Rabbi Chaim Vital, both of which were written by Rabbi Chaim Vital himself (In Praise of Rabbi Chaim Vital certainly, and In Praise of the Ari is largely backed up by his writings). The level of delusions, dreams, and fantasies running wild there wouldn’t embarrass even J. K. Rowling at the height of her glory. The dilemma is this: if I had lived my whole life on a desert island and someone handed me these books and asked me to give an opinion about the figures in question based on them, I’d say these were insane, mentally ill people who ought to be hospitalized urgently. On the other hand, we’re talking about a man who was a student of Rabbi Moshe Cordovero and received ordination from Rabbi Jacob Berab — they were not ignoramuses or unlearned people. So where, then, did such delusions come from, especially in the case of his famous disciple, Rabbi Chaim Vital?
I’d be glad to hear your opinion on the matter (please, if you can, elaborate a bit more in your opinion and don’t just dismiss it with a word or two).
Answer
I don’t have much to elaborate on. There really does seem to be a mental problem there, and a life lived in a delusional world. So what? The person is one thing and his Torah is another. Moreover, sometimes mental instability is needed in order to reach certain insights.
Discussion on Answer
That’s how it seems.
Rabbi Michi,
what do you mean by saying that “sometimes mental instability is needed in order to reach insights”? What kind of insights “require” mental instability?
It seems that mystical insights sometimes come to those whose mental stability is not complete.
Rabbi, why do you think that’s the case? Or why is that so?
My grandmother too, before she passed away, could see things no one had told her. דווקא at a time when it wasn’t clear that she fully understood what she was saying.
For example, one day she knew that we had gone to a cemetery that day without anyone telling her. And there were other things like that too — especially things connected to people’s funerals or weddings.
If in practice you think someone doesn’t have full mental stability, how can you rely on his intuitive feelings? Or not necessarily “rely,” but at least assume there is a reasonable possibility that his intuitive feelings are correct?
I don’t know.
Meir,
I don’t rely on anyone. Those intuitions need to be examined on their own terms, regardless of who said them. Whatever seems reasonable to me I’m willing to adopt and use, and whatever doesn’t — not. I’ve written more than once what Gershom Scholem writes: that a significant mystic hews insights out of himself, and after he reveals and conceptualizes them, many others find that they are true.
Do you really think this is a case of mental instability?