Dr. Morris M. Faierstein is an independent scholar of Hasidism, Kabbalah, Early Modern Popular Jewish Culture and Early Modern Yiddish literature. His M.A. is from JTS and his Ph.D. from Temple University (Religious Studies), and he also holds rabbini ordination from Yeshiva Pri Etz Hayyim in Jerusalem. Among his 15 books are, Jewish Mystical Autobiographies: Book of Visions and Book of Secrets (Paulist Press, 1999); Ze’enah U-Re’enah: A Critical Translation into English (De Gruyter, 2017); ספר החזיונות: יומנו של ר׳ חיים ויטאל [Book of Visions: The Diary of R. Hayyim Vital] (Machon Ben Zvi, 2005); The Dybbuk: It Origins and History (SUNY Press, 2024); and Isaac Luria and Jewish Mystical Hagiography (SUNY Press, 2026).
Last Updated
May 4, 2026
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On the road to Meron, where the Safed kabbalists believe Jesus is buried, R. Hayyim Vital (16th cent.) encounters a dangerous spirit, who overpowers him in a moment of spiritual weakness. The spirit later tosses him in the air and exhausts him nearly to death, but Vital makes it to his master, the great R. Isaac Luria, the Arizal, who, fearing the spirit will kill Vital and thwart his plans to bring about the messianic age, exorcises it.
On the road to Meron, where the Safed kabbalists believe Jesus is buried, R. Hayyim Vital (16th cent.) encounters a dangerous spirit, who overpowers him in a moment of spiritual weakness. The spirit later tosses him in the air and exhausts him nearly to death, but Vital makes it to his master, the great R. Isaac Luria, the Arizal, who, fearing the spirit will kill Vital and thwart his plans to bring about the messianic age, exorcises it.
