Isaac Luria (the Ari)

The Lion (Ari) of Safed: arrived 1570, taught for about two years, died at 38 in an epidemic — and rewired the entire tradition. Tzimtzum, the shattering, the partzufim, the sparks, the kavvanot, grave-communions with sages' souls, reading faces and foreheads, Sabbath hymns still sung at every kabbalistic table. He wrote almost nothing ("the sea would not fit the page"); his students' transcripts became the operating system of all later Kabbalah, Hasidism included. The most influence-per-year of any figure in the space.