“The purpose of man in the world is to achieve the adherence to its Creator.”

1) Identity, dates and context

• Name: Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (Ramchal / Ramḥal).
• Place of birth: Padua, Republic of Venice). Year: 1707.
• Life trajectory: Padua → (controversies and censorship) → Amsterdam → Acre (Akko) in the Land of Israel.
• Death: there are discrepancy of sources: some place his death in Acre on may 16, 1746, the May 6, 1747; died of a plague, along part of his family. Indicated both by documentary transparency.

“The path of the righteous is not inherited: to be conquered step by step.”

2) Biography

• Early formation: from a young age dominated Tanakh, Talmud, rabbinic literature, and kabbala; also cultivated language and literature Hebrew “classic” and knowledge to the profane (stylistic and dramatic art).
• The “magguid” and the controversy: at 20 years of age claimed to receive teachings from a magguid (voice of angelica). This triggered strong resistance rabbis in Italy and Germany, with demands of withdrawal and burning/confiscation of manuscripts.
• Amsterdam (1735-1743 approx.): he worked as a diamond cutter, he wrote his major works and prevented teach kabbalah publicly to reduce tensions.
• Acre (from 1743): he emigrated to the Land of Israel; he died a few years later during an epidemic. The exact location of his grave it is discussed (Tiberias vs. Kafr Yasif).
• Reception posthumous: the Movement of the Musar he adopted his ethics; the Vilna gaon he praised “Mesilat Yesharim” as a play without words superfluous (testimony traditionally cited).

“All the perfection of the man depends on his mastery over himself.”

3) major Works

a) Ethics and Musar

• Mesilat Yesharim (the Path of The Righteous, Amsterdam, 1740): manual perfection of character and spiritual ascent stages (zehirut, zerizut, nekiyut, perishut, tahará, jasidut, anavá, irat jet, kedushá). There is a early manuscript in the form of a dialogue (1738) and a final version monológica published. Central text of the Musar in yeshivot.

(b) Theology and cabal systematic

• Derech Hashem (The Way of God): compendium doctrinal: existence and uniqueness of the divine, the purpose of creation, providence, free will, reward/punishment, the soul and the world to come, Israel and the nations, mitzvot, messianic times; organizes budgets luriánicos in clear language.
• Da'at Tevunot (The Heart that Understood): dialogue between the intellect and the soul that articulates the justification of the divine plan (theodicy) within the structure luriánica.
• Klaj Pitjéi Jojmá (138 Openings of Wisdom): synthesis cabal luriánica using 138 “openings” conceptual; dense text for advanced.
• Ma love HaGeulá (Discourse on the Redemption) and other ma amarim on hashgachah, din, merkavá, etc (part of the corpus preserved).

c) Logic, method, and language

• Derech Tevunot (Way of Understanding) / Sefer HaHigayon (Book of the Logic): formalizes logic and method of talmudic as instruments of thought.
• Leshón Limudim (Art of expression): treaty of style and grammar Hebrew for accurate writing.

d) Poetry & drama (Hebrew classic “renaissance man”)

• LaYesharim Tehilá and Migdal Oz, among other pieces; its slope literary placed it between precursors of the Haskala and the Hebrew poetry, modern.

“The study that does not lead to action is like a soul without a body.”

4) Core doctrinal (synthesis laboratory)

1. Purpose of creation and human perfection: the world was created for the human being to reach devekut (attachment to God) through free will; the earthly life is the field of merit, and polished moral. Axis ethical-spiritual Mesilat Yesharim and theological Derech Hashem.
2. Providence and free will: God rules with hashgachah pratit (providence particular) balanced with human freedom; the evil and suffering are understood within a plan rectificatorio.
3. Architecture luriánica “translated” to the system: tzimtzum, shevirat ha-kelim and tikún are presented with terminology orderly (pathways/“openings”) for students not esoteric; Ramchal avoids technicalities in Derech Hashem and concentrated in Klaj.
4. Israel and the nations: role of Israel in the sacred history, and in the dissemination of the amendment; topic addressed explicitly in Derech Hashem.
5. Method and intellectual discipline: requires logical rigour for the study of Torah and kabbalah; there is no real mysticism without ethics middot and without method.

“The knowledge of God is not an abstract thought, but a way of life.”

5) “Mesilat Yesharim”: structure and practical utility

• Structure of ascension: 1) surveillance (zehirut) → 2) diligence (zerizut) → 3) cleaning habits (nekiyut) → (4) separation (perishut) → 5) purity (tahará) → 6) mercy (jasidut) → 7) humility (anavá) → 8) fear of sin (irat jet) → 9) holiness (kedushá).
• Historic impact: the Movement of the Musar (R. Israel Salanter) turned in text backbone of the formation of character; the tradition attributed to the Vilna gaon praise superlatives for its brevity and conceptual precision.

“The light doesn't shine but from the darkness.”

6) Disputes and legacy text

• Censorship and destruction of manuscripts: opponents (e.g., Moshe Ḥagiz) forced commitments, writings and burial/burning writings by suspicions of messianism or revelacionismo. Part of the corpus reappeared with the time (e.g., Shiv'im Tikkunim found in Oxford in 1958, according to a tradition cited).
• Ambiguity funeral home: tombs attributed in Tiberias and Kafr Yasif; the synagogue of Ramchal in Acre was displaced after 1758, and today there is a small oratory with your name.

7) Influence intellectual

• In jewish ethics: canon of the Musar; its categories are used today in training programs rabbinic and community leadership.
• In philosophical theology: Derech Hashem continues to be a manual of theology regulations in multiple educational frameworks contemporaries.
• In Hebrew literature: your biblical Hebrew-classic places it between the founders of the Hebrew literature, modern.

“The bigger the person, the larger should be your humility.”

Conclusion

Ramchal is the great “computer” of the kabbalah to the reader ample: joined virtue ethics (musar) with systematic theology and methodology logic, and bequeathed a practical way of perfection staff (Mesilat Yesharim), supported by a architecture doctrinal (Derech Hashem, Da'at Tevunot, Klaj). Despite the controversy of his youth, his work remained as a pillar of study in yeshivot and frames academic, and as bridge between the mystical luriánica thinking and pedagogical-philosophical modern. The sources agree in their birth (Padua, 1707) and diverge in the exact date of death (1746 vs. 1747), but they converge in their death in Acre by plague and in the enduring influence of his work.

“The whole world is a stage of testing for the soul.”