"The truth is that I have so much to tell you, that if all the oceans were ink and all the skies were parchment, I could not give over what I have learned from the upper chambers. When I want to tell you one of the Torah's secrets, the flow of sustenance becomes so great like a surging river....

...and I try to open up before you a small conduit so you can absorb a little knowledge because if I teach you too much at once, you will lose everything, like a suckling baby who chokes because there's so much milk. My advice to you is that you have my permission to write whatever I teach you, however, your writings will not be saved for generations. Only one student has permission to write for generations and that's Reb Chaim Vital, because he totally understands me. Reb Chaim Vital is the spark of Rabbi Akiva and I have come down to rectify his soul, because I am a spark of Rav Shimon Bar Yochai."

Arizal wanted to explain to them, that there was so much light that came down to him that he could not even begin to explain everything he wanted to teach, only Reb Chaim Vital could really understand what was behind his words. We see that there is a change in this lifetime between the student and the teacher. In their past reincarnation Rabbi Akiva was the teacher and Rav Shimon Bar Yochai was the student. In this reincarnation, however, the Arizal [a spark of Rav Shimon Bar Yochai] was the teacher and Rav Chaim Vital was the student [a spark of Rabbi Akiva].

The Arizal would teach them six commentaries on each Halacha parallel to the six days of the week and then one commentary in Halacha parallel to the Sabbath.

Written with permission of Atarah C. Gur