Etz Chaim (book)

For the Humash used in conservative Judaism, see Etz Hayim Humash.

Etz Chaim (Hebrew: עץ חיים, "Tree of Life") is a literary work that deals with the Kabbalah, written in 1573. It is a summary of the teachings of the Rabbi Isaac Luria, the Arizal (1534-1572), a rabbi and a kabbalist who led a study group on Kabbalah in the city of Safed, in indigenous Israel.

Luria did not publish any works of his own. Etz Chaim was compiled by his student and disciple, Rabbi Chaim Vital, who wrote down the lessons taught by Luria to his study group on Kabbalah.

The book talks about the divine order and the existence of things, and deals with revelation and the perception of reality by human beings. The first fragment of the book makes reference to the tree of life, which gives the book its name: "You know, before the beginning of the Creation there was only the highest and fullest light. The description of the creation process starts from that point, especially."

The book marks the beginning of the school of thought known as the Lurianic Kabbalah. Before Luria, Kabbalists revealed the development of reality from its origin to our world (from the understandable light). According to Rabbi Chaim Vital, Luria discovered a method to better understand this reality.

English translations

• The Tree of Life: Chayyim Vital's Introduction to the Kabbalah of Isaac Luria - The Palace of Adam Kadmon (1999, Jason Aronson) Translated by Donald Wilder Menzi and Zwe Padeh
  • 2nd Edition (2008, Arizal Publications)

This is a translation of the first volume of Etz Chaim.

• The Tree of Life (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform) Translated by E. Colle and H. Colle
  • Volume One: The Palace of Adam Kadmon (2015)
  • Volume Two: The Palace of Points (2016)
  • Volume Three: The Palace of Crowns and The Palace of Abba and Imma (2017)
  • Volume Four: The Palace of Zeir Anpin - Part One (2020)

• Etz Chayim: The Tree of Life (2016, David Smith) Translated by Baal Even
  • Tome 1 of 12
  • Tome 2 of 12
  • Tome 3 of 12
  • Tome 4 of 12
  • Tome 5 of 12
  • Tome 6 of 12
  • Tome 7 of 12
  • Tome 8 of 12
  • Tome 9 of 12
  • Tome 10 of 12
  • Tome 11 of 12
  • Tome 12 of 12