Gilgul

The Ark in the Ari (Isaac Luria) Ashkenazi Synagogue in Safed. Luria fully expounded the Kabbalistic doctrine of gilgul

Gilgul/Gilgul neshamot/Gilgulei Ha Neshamot (Heb. גלגול הנשמות, Plural: גלגולים Gilgulim) refers to the concept of reincarnation, emanating from the Kabbalistic framework within Judaism. In Hebrew, the word gilgul means "cycle" and neshamot is the plural for "souls."

Reincarnation and Ashkenazi Judaism

Reincarnation is not an essential tenet of traditional Judaism. It is not mentioned in the Tanakh ("Hebrew Bible"), the classical rabbinic works (Mishnah and Talmud), or Maimonides' 13 Principles of Faith, though the tale of the Ten Martyrs in the Yom Kippur liturgy, who were killed by Romans to atone for the souls of the ten brothers of Joseph, is read in every Orthodox Jewish community. But books of Kabbalah — Jewish mysticism — teach a belief in gilgul, transmigration of souls, and hence the belief is universal in Hasidic Judaism, which regards the Kabbalah as sacred and authoritative.

The 16th-century systemisation of Cordoveran Kabbalah and the subsequent Lurianic Kabbalah replaced "Rationalistic Medieval Jewish Philosophy as the mainstream traditional Jewish theology, both in scholarly circles and in the popular imagination. Esoteric explanations of gilgul were articulated as part of the metaphysical purpose of Creation. Luria taught new explanations of gilgul and advocated identification of the reincarnations of historic Jewish figures, compiled by Haim Vital in his Shaar HaGilgulim The idea of gilgul became popular in Jewish folk belief and is found in much Yiddish literature among Ashkenazi Jews. The Hasidic tzadik was believed to know the past gilgulim of each person through their semi-prophetic abilities but would not directly reveal this information. Gilgul is contrasted with the other processes in Kabbalah of Ibbur, the attachment of a second soul to an individual, and Dybuk, the exile of a soul.

Rabbis who accepted reincarnation include the mystical leaders Nahmanides (the Ramban) and Rabbenu Bahya ben Asher, Levi ibn Habib (the Ralbah), Shelomoh Alkabez, Yisrael Baal Shem Tov, later Hasidic masters and the Vilna Gaon. Rabbis who have rejected the idea include Saadia Gaon, David Kimhi, Hasdai Crescas, Joseph Albo, Abraham ibn Daud and Leon de Modena. Among the Geonim, Hai Gaon argued with Saadia Gaon in favour of gilgulim.

In Kabbalistic understanding reincarnation is not fatalistic, automatic, a punishment of sin or reward of virtue. Rather, it is concerned with the process of rectification of the soul, tied to the Lurianic doctrine of the rectification of creation. Gilgul is a heavenly agreement with the individual soul. The true essence of anything is the divine spark within that gives it existence. Even a stone or leaf possesses a soul that "came into this world to receive a rectification". A soul may occasionally be exiled into such lower creatures. Each Jewish soul is reincarnated in order to fulfil each of the commandments that elevate a particular spark of holiness associated with each commandment. Once all the Sparks are redeemed to their spiritual source, the Messianic Era begins.

The most basic component of the soul, the nefesh, is always part of the gilgul process, as it must leave at the cessation of blood production (a stage of death). It moves to another body, where life has begun. There are four other soul components and different nations of the world possess different forms of souls with different purposes.

See also: Kabbalah § Human soul in Kabbalah

Incarnations of historical figures

• Chaim ibn Attar in his classic commentary on the Torah identifies Moses as the gilgul of Abel, and Rabbi Akiva as the gilgul of Cain.

Famous Jewish amulet attributed to Moshe Teitelbaum of Ujhel. While Hasidism sidelined gilgulim and Kabbalistic Kavanot, Hasidic Rebbes could follow these areas, without it externalising their inner dveikut

• The Hasidic Rebbe, Moshe Teitelbaum of Ujhel (1759–1841), who was one of the founders of Hasidism in Hungary, told his followers that he had been reincarnated three times, which he recalled. His first gilgul was as a sheep in the flock of the Biblical Patriach Jacob. He sang to his followers the song, he said, that Jacob sang in the pastures. His second gilgul was in the time of Moses, and his third gilgul, which he did not disclose out of humility, was in the time of the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem. His followers asked another Hasidic Rebbe, who identified the third gilgul as the Biblical Prophet Jeremiah. In Hasidic history, his daily life especially reflected a yearning for the building of the Third Temple with the arrival of the Messiah. In his later days he wore his Shabbat clothing the entire week, anticipating the Messiah's arrival.

• The contemporary scholar of Kabbalah and Hasidut, Yitzchak Ginsburgh, identifies Isaac Newton as the modern reincarnation of Noah on his website. He uses gematria in this identification, but also describes associations that run deeper. In the commentary of the Zohar on the story of Noah's flood, the Zohar gives a pediction that in the latter part of the 6th millennium in the Hebrew calendar dating system (the secular years 1740-1840), a great increase in "Wisdom (In the flood: water) from Above, and Widom (Bilically: water) from Below" will be revealed to prepare for the 7th Messianic millennium. If the generation of Noah had been worthy, their flood would have taken the form of wisdom rather than destructive water. This predicted expansion of Torah wisdom ("from Above") and Secular Wisdom and Science (from "Below") was instead delayed until the 6th millennium. This interpretation ties Newton, the founding forerunner of Modern Science, with Biblical Noah. Additionally, Newton rejected Trinitarian ideas in favour of Old Testament Monotheism, a more complete expression of the Seven Laws of Noah. He devoted his scholarly activity as much to esoteric calculations of Bible Codes and the Third Temple, of which Noah's Ark is seen in Jewish commentary as the spiritual prototype, as much as to Mathematics and Physics. His Newtonian physics defined the mechanistic philosophy of Science until modern Physics broke it, analogous to "Wisdom from Above" superseding "Wisdom from Below". Additionally, the Seven Colours of Newton's prism split light are the Jewish symbol for the Seven Laws of Noah. Yitzchak Ginsburgh uses this Kabbalistic identification to support his articulation of the inner Kabbalistic meaning of the Noahide Laws, which have both outer legislation in Halacha, and inner meaning in Kabbalah. Their inner meaning helps fulfil the eschatological role of each Righteous Noahide in the Jewish Messianic description of Universal Redemption for all Nations of the World.

External links

• Jewish view of reincarnation
• Ask the Rabbi - aish.com
• Jewish Spiritual Teachings on Reincarnation from Sefer Gilgulim by Reb Chaim Vital
• Sefer Nishmath Hayyim by Menasseh Ben Israel