Etz Chayyim, Volume 1, The Tree of Life

Gates 1–8

Etz Chayyim (The Tree of Life) is the foundational text of Lurianic Kabbalah, compiled by Chaim Vital from the oral teachings of Isaac Luria in 16th-century Safed. This is the first volume of a complete, critically edited English translation based on the most reliable manuscript witnesses. Each page presents the Hebrew original, scholarly transliteration, and English translation in parallel columns, allowing readers to engage with the text at multiple levels. Volume I includes Gates 1 through 8, covering the primary structures of creation, the shattering of the vessels, and the process of cosmic restoration. Each gate is annotated with cross-references to parallel passages in other Kabbalistic works and historical context on the transmission of these teachings.

Contents

  1. Gate 1: Sha'ar HaKlalim (The Gate of Principles)
  2. Gate 2: Sha'ar ha-Tzimtzum (The Gate of the Contraction)
  3. Gate 3: Sha'ar ha-Reshimu (The Gate of the Residual Impression)
  4. Gate 4: Sha'ar ha-Tehiru (The Gate of the Primordial Ether)
  5. Gate 5: Sha'ar Adam Kadmon (The Gate of the Primordial Human)
  6. Gate 6: Sha'ar ha-Akudim (The Gate of the Bound Lights)
  7. Gate 7: Sha'ar Mati v'Lo Mati (The Gate of Reaching and Not Reaching)
  8. Gate 8: Sha'ar ha-Nekudim (The Gate of the Points)

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