Prayer Composed by Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a for the Hillula of the Arizal

Our Rebbe [Rebbe Nachman] zy"a (may his merit protect us) said (Chayei Moharan, Section 279) that "From the time of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who was a world-renowned innovation, the world was quiet until the Arizal, of blessed memory—meaning that from Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai until the Arizal, no new revelations were revealed like those revealed by Rashbi (Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai), until the Arizal came, who was a world-renowned innovation, and he revealed entirely new things that no one had been found to reveal until the Arizal, of blessed memory. And from the Arizal until the Baal Shem Tov, of blessed memory, the world was also quiet without innovation, until the Baal Shem Tov, of blessed memory, came, who was a wondrous innovation, and revealed new things. And from the Baal Shem Tov, of blessed memory, until now, the world was also quiet without such innovation, and the world conducted itself only according to the revelations that the Baal Shem Tov, of blessed memory, revealed until now. Until I came, and now I am beginning to reveal entirely wondrous new things."

At the age of 36, Eliyahu HaNavi (Elijah the Prophet) appeared to him and told him that he had two years left in this world, and during this time he must ascend to the Land of Israel and find Rabbi Chaim Vital to teach him all the Torah and the holy revelations he had learned. The holy Arizal ascended to the Land of Israel with his family and established his residence in Safed, the city of the Kabbalists, where he founded a yeshiva (Torah academy) dedicated to the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Two years after his ascent to the Land of Israel, at only 38 years old, on the 5th of Av, 5332 (1572), the Arizal was called to the Heavenly Yeshiva (passed away) and was buried in the city of Safed.