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Short Summary
Main recommendation: Study Tomer Devorah (the Palm Tree of Devorah), the ethics and spirituality work by Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, the Ramak, as the most accessible entry point into his teachings. The transcript frames the book as short, practical, and focused on personal refinement, so that a person's character traits and behaviors reflect their Creator. This introduction presents the author's biography rather than the book's contents.
Key Points
- "Ramak" is an acronym (Reish, Mem, Kuf) for Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, who lived in Safed in the 1500s and died in 1570 at age 48.
- Cordovero was a student of Rabbi Yosef Karo (the Beis Yosef) and Rabbi Yaakov Beirav, and was introduced to Kabbalah at age 20 by his brother-in-law, Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz, composer of Lecha Dodi.
- His encyclopedic Kabbalistic work, Pardes Rimonim (Orchard of Pomegranates), systematized the Kabbalistic teachings known up to that time.
- Cordovero's most famous student, the Arizal (Rabbi Isaac Luria), studied with him only briefly and later developed a new system of Kabbalah that differed in focus from his teacher's.
- The "pillar of fire" account at Cordovero's funeral explains why the Arizal chose his burial location; the Arizal's eulogy (quoting Deuteronomy 18) was a separate statement explaining why Cordovero died despite his great refinement.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: No specific steps, dosages, or practical methods for daily life are given. The only actionable guidance is to begin studying Tomer Devorah in the next class, which the speaker says is a short, practical work about personal refinement.
- Tomer Devorah takes its name from the palm tree under which the prophetess Devorah sat, referenced in the Book of Judges, and echoes the seventy palm trees mentioned in Cordovero's Elima.
- Other works attributed to Cordovero include Elima, Or Yakar (a twenty-two volume commentary on the Zohar, unprinted in manuscript), Or Ne'erav, Sefer Gerushin, Tefilah Ma'aseh, and Zivchei Rachamim.
- Cordovero's grave in the old cemetery of Tzfat is described as dyed blue, and the Arizal, who passed away about two years later, asked to be buried near him.
Bottom Line
Tomer Devorah is presented as the most accessible and practical of Cordovero's major works, and understanding its author's background helps frame the study of personal character refinement.
