Hebrew name: האר״י
Years: c. 1534–1572
Primary city: Safed
Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, known as the Arizal, revolutionized the study of Kabbalah and is considered the father of modern kabbalistic thought. Born in Yerushalayim, he was raised in Egypt where he studied under Rabbi David ben Zimra and Rabbi Betzalel Ashkenazi. He moved to Tzfat in 1570, where he taught a small circle of disciples. Though he wrote almost nothing himself, his teachings were recorded by his primary student Rabbi Chaim Vital and shaped subsequent kabbalistic and Chasidic thought.