Rabbi Chaim Vital, a prominent Safed kabbalist in the 16th–17th centuries, is best known for recording and editing the teachings of Rabbi Isaac Luria, better known as the Arizal, a founder of modern Kabbalah. Chaim Vital’s youngest son, Rabbi Samuel Vital, organized a collection of his father’s writings into eight “gates,” each of which “opens” up a particular topic. The second of these is Sha’ar Ma’amarei Rashbi (Gate of the Sayings of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai), a commentary on the various sections of the Zohar, the foundational kabbalistic text traditionally ascribed to the second-century sage Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, as well as on other ancient texts.