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In shul a friend explained to me the moniker Ari actualy stands for Eloki Rav Yitzchak, meaning the Godly Rabbi Yitzchak (Luria). The appellation Godly struck me as odd. How is such a thing permissible? I understand the English connotation is pious, but in Hebrew it would seem to have heretical implications.

Isaac Moses
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please remove my account
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    It could also stand for Adoneinu or Ashkenazi – Aryeh Sep 03 '13 at 15:53
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    @Aryeh I guess it could stand for anything beginning with aleph, but that was the one I was told :) – please remove my account Sep 03 '13 at 15:55
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    From The Sages of Our Tradition by Cyril Mazansky: "His family originated in Germany and had previously the name Ashkenazi, thus the initials of Ari (Ashkenazi Rabbi Isaac)" – Aryeh Sep 03 '13 at 16:34
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    @Aryeh, I'm unfamiliar with that source but if it's reliable then I think you have an answer (disproving a necessary assumption of the question). – msh210 Sep 03 '13 at 18:45
  • "I understand the English connotation is pious, but in Hebrew it would seem to have heretical implications." I'm not sure this is so. Kabbalists are often referred to this way, and I think the connotation is holy, and perhaps that Shechina accompanies him. – Fred Sep 03 '13 at 22:49
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    I've seen Hatana HaEloki Rabi Shimon Bar Yohai. – Hacham Gabriel Sep 04 '13 at 02:53
  • dupe? http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/17718 – Double AA Dec 03 '13 at 17:39

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Hokhmah Elohit is the term coined by translators like the ibn Tibbon's to translate the Arabic "al-'ilm al-ilaahiy", which, in turn, was coined by Arab translators from the Greek to translate Aristotle's term for metaphysics/theology. An 'elohi' is therefore a practitioner of metaphysics or theology. See Philosophical Terms in the Moreh Nebukim by Israel Efros, page 49.

paquda
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  • That's really interesting! Can you document this etymology or that this is the title that was applied to the Ari? – Isaac Moses Sep 04 '13 at 19:08
  • Ahh, I think I know what you're referring to. IIRC the Zohar refers to Kabbalah as Hochma Elohit and therfor some Kabbalists got the name "Elohi". – Hacham Gabriel Sep 04 '13 at 19:24
  • So it's Elohi not Eloki. – Double AA Sep 04 '13 at 21:09
  • @Hacham Are you suggesting the author of the Zohar read Ibn Tibbon? – Double AA Sep 04 '13 at 21:10
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    I could document the etymology as it applies in philosophical literature and ibn Tibbon-style Hebrew. I can't prove and don't know whether this is what everybody had in mind when they applied it to the Ari. I do think though that the the term first entered the Hebrew language with the meaning 'metaphysician'. – paquda Sep 08 '13 at 02:57
  • @DoubleAA I've read your comment over and over and I still don't seem to understanding what you're saying. – Hacham Gabriel Sep 08 '13 at 04:35
  • @HachamGabriel paquda says this term was first coined by early medieval translators of Arabic, who got it from translating Aristotle. If it's in the Zohar, that piece must date to authors who read those medieval works – Double AA Sep 12 '13 at 18:21