From Shaar HaKavanot, Inyan Kabbalat Shabbat, in the Writings of the Ari

Translated by Baruch Erdstein

"For a mitzvah is a candle, and the  Torah is light." (Proverbs 6:23)

...Each candle has four types of flame, each corresponding to one of the letters of the name  Havayah (as is recorded in the  Zohar, parashat  Bereishit, pg. 50b, regarding the wisdom of [reading] flames of a candle). And the two color-types adjoining and connected to the wick are capable of being sensed by the eye and are visible to us. But the two upper [aspects] are hidden from the eye, and their existence and essential meaning are unfathomable.

" Thus, the first two letters of Havayah are hidden"

These four flames are called "mitzva", which is the secret of the four letters of the name Havayah, as is recorded in the Zohar. For the [first two letters of the word "mitzvah", spelled mem, tzadik, vav, hei] - mem and tzadik transformed in the  Atbash technique are yud and hei, respectively. [the first two letters of the name Havayah]. Thus, the first two letters [of Havayah] are hidden, exchanged with the two letters mem and tzadik, as mentioned above. But the last two letters [of Havayah], vav and hei, remain revealed as they are. And these are the four letters of the word "mitzvah".

Rabbi Yitzchak Luria [...Ashkenazi ben Shlomo] (5294-5332 = 1534-1572 c.e.) Yahrtzeit (anniversary of death): 5th of Av. Buried in the Old Cemetery of Tzfat. Commonly known as the Ari, an acronym standing for Elohi Rabbi Yitzchak, the G-dly Rabbi Isaac. No other master or sage ever had this extra letter Aleph, standing for Elohi [G-dly], prefaced to his name. This was a sign of what his contemporaries thought of him. Later generations, fearful that this appellation might be misunderstood, said that this Aleph stood for Ashkenazi, indicating that his family had originated in Germany, as indeed it had. But the original meaning is the correct one, and to this day among Kabbalists, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria is only referred to as Rabbenu HaAri, HaAri HaKadosh [the holy Ari] or Arizal [the Ari of blessed memory].

Baruch Erdstein is an Associate editor of KabbalaOnline.org, a student of the Kabbala, & father of a growing family. Originally from Detroit, he has been in Israel for most of the last ten years, and is now a resident of the Old City of Safed. He has an honors degree in Anthropology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and has worked in cross-cultural and Jewish education for about ten years.

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