Reincarnation – The Transmigration of Souls
By Rabbi Dr. Hillel ben David (Greg Killian)
Reincarnation – The Transmigration of Souls
By Rabbi Dr. Hillel ben David (Greg Killian)
Which Body Will a Person Have at the End?
Kaf ha-Kela - כַּף הַקָּלַע, the giant slingshot
Eliyahu – the Soul Incarnation of Pinchas
Rectifying the Migrating Souls of Nadav and Avihu
The Witchcraft of Izevel, Queen of Israel
The Soul Travel of Izevel from Korach’s Wife and Kozbi, to the Wife of Turnus Rufus
Pinchas => Elijah => John the Baptist => Elijah
Reincarnation is the mercy HaShem has upon men in order to give them an opportunity to correct their sins. In the book of Iyov, we have it spelled out that HaShem will give us two or three chances to correct our sins. Reincarnation In Hebrew, it is called "gilgul ha'neshamot," literally the recycling or transmigration of souls.
This concept can be compared to a flame of one candle lighting another candle. While the essence of the second flame comes from the first one, the second flame is an independent entity. Still, the new flame contains imperfections inherited from the initial flame, and it is these imperfections that are to be corrected.
The soul is eternal, a spark of the Divine, or as the prophet Job calls it “a part of HaShem above”. The soul exists before it enters the body and it lives after the body is laid to rest. Though the soul’s place of origin is in the higher worlds, there is something that the soul can achieve in a body that it cannot achieve in the heavenly realms. The purpose of creation is to make an abode for the HaShem in this world. Although higher worlds are glorious in terms of revelation and offer the best reward for a soul after it has achieved its earthly mission, the heavenly realms are not the purpose of creation. It was HaShem’s desire to create a world where His presence would be acutely concealed and darkness and evil would prevail. He charged his children with the task of creating a home in this world, and the soul fulfills that mission by its adherence to Torah and Mitzvot.[1]
Kabbalah explains that the soul is comprised of 613 channels, which parallel the 248 limbs and 365 blood vessels of the body. These 613 channels attain eternal elevation when all 613 Mitzvot are fulfilled by a soul in its earthly descent.
Usually a soul does not manage to fulfill all the commandments in one descent, and the Arizal writes that every soul must be repeatedly reincarnated until it has fulfilled all 613 Mitzvot in thought, speech, and action. In Gehinnom the soul is cleansed in order to be elevated to the Garden of Eden. How is this concept reconciled with the possibility of reincarnation and a return to our world? The Kabbalists explain that when a soul returns to this world, the part of the soul that was elevated by its Torah learning and Mitzva performance is not reincarnated, rather it is only the other parts of the soul that were not affected by the first incarnation that return. The possibility of a soul being divided and part of a soul being reincarnated is discussed at length in Kabbalah. The original idea stems from the fact that the soul of Adam was composed of all future souls, and the soul of Jacob was comprised of 70 parts which were then further subdivided into the 600,000 souls of Israel. These 600,000 were then subdivided further into another 600,000. Through various reincarnations all parts of the soul are elevated and once the entire soul has been elevated the soul is no longer reincarnated. This explains the strange phenomena of why certain people engage in a specific Mitzva in which they excel. It could be that the person’s soul descended again for sake of that specific Mitzva.
Most of the written material on this topic is very esoteric. Some of the prominent works dealing with this subject are the "Zohar" and the Arizal's "Shaar HaGilgulim". In the Tanach itself, this idea is intimated in:
Devarim (Deuteronomy 25:5-10 If brothers reside together, and one of them dies having no son, the dead man's wife shall not marry an outsider. [Rather,] her husband's brother shall be intimate with her, making her a wife for himself, thus performing the obligation of a husband's brother with her. 6 And it will be, that the eldest brother [who performs the levirate marriage, if] she [can] bear will succeed in the name of his deceased brother, so that his [the deceased brother's] name shall not be obliterated from Israel. 7 But if the man does not wish to take his brother's wife, the brother's wife shall go up to the gate, to the elders, and say, "My husband's brother has refused to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel he does not wish to perform the obligation of a husband's brother with me." 8 Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and he shall stand up and say, "I do not wish to take her." 9 Then his brother's wife shall approach him before the eyes of the elders and remove his shoe from his foot. And she shall spit before his face and answer [him] and say, "Thus shall be done to the man who will not build up his brother's household!" 10 And that family shall be called in Israel, "The family of the one whose shoe was removed."
Devarim (Deuteronomy 33:6 Is this how you repay the Lord, you disgraceful, unwise people?! Is He not your Father, your Master? He has made you and established you.
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 22:24 "And it was revealed in My ears, the Lord of Hosts; [I, therefore, swear] that this iniquity shall not be atoned for you until you die, said the Lord God of Hosts.
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 65:6 Behold it is inscribed before Me; I will not remain silent until I have recompensed, and I will recompense onto their bosom.
The soul only comes into this world in the first place to make a spiritual repair. If that is not fulfilled by the end of one's lifetime, then the soul will be sent down again. The return trip may only be needed for a short time or in a limited way. This in part explains why people are born with handicaps or may live a brief life.
Reincarnation is an ancient, mainstream belief in Judaism. The Zohar, written by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai close to two thousand years ago, speaks frequently and at length about reincarnation.
Gilgulim,[2] reincarnation, is mentioned explicitly in the Tanach.
Onkelos, a righteous convert and authoritative commentator of the same period, explained the verse, "Let Reuben live and not die[3]…" to mean that Reuben should merit the World to Come directly, and not have to die again as result of being reincarnated. The great Torah scholar, commentator and kabbalist, Nachmanides,[4] attributed Job’s suffering to reincarnation as hinted in Job’s saying "G-d does all these things twice or three times with a man, to bring back his soul from the pit to…the light of the living":
Iyov (Job) 33:29-30 Behold, all these things does God do—twice, even three times with a man—to bring his soul back from the pit that he may be enlightened with the light of the living.
We shall now explain the difference in reincarnation between a righteous and wicked person... Sometimes we find that reincarnation only happens three times, in the secret of “two or three times with a man”,[5] and in the secret of “for three transgressions of Israel [I will bring back] but for four I will not bring back”,[6] and in the secret of “visiting the iniquity of parents upon children and children’s children, upon the third and fourth generations”.[7] [8]
Amos 2:6 Thus saith HaShem: For three transgressions of Israel, yea, for four, I will not reverse it: because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes;
In the Torah we see this concept of reincarnation as a gift from HaShem to allow us to correct out sins:
Shemot (Exodus) 34:6-7 HaShem passed before him and proclaimed: “HaShem! HaShem! A God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness, extending kindness to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin—yet not remitting all punishment, but visiting the iniquity of parents upon children and children’s children, upon the third and fourth generations.
Why should a son suffer because of the sins of their grandparents?
Debarim (Deuteronomy) 24:16 Parents shall not be put to death for children, nor children be put to death for parents; each person shall die for their own sins.
Yehezchel (Ezekiel) 18:20 Only the person who sins shall die. A child shall not share the burden of a parent’s guilt, nor shall a parent share the burden of a child’s guilt; the righteousness of the righteous shall be accounted to them alone, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be accounted to them alone.
To reconcile these two pesukim,[9] we must understand that if we mess up and die in our sins, then HaShem will reincarnate us two or three times to give us an opportunity to correct our sins.
... But we find that a righteous person might reincarnate even a thousand times. And the verse itself explains this, because the notion of “four generations” is for the wicked, as it says “carrying over the sins of the parents [onto the children to the third and fourth generations] to those who hate Me” [Exodus 20:5] but for whom is it said “acts kindly to thousands”? [10] To thousands of reincarnations for “those who love Me and keep My commandments”.
Shemot (Exodus) 20:5-6 You shall neither prostrate yourself before them nor worship them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a zealous God, Who visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, upon the third and the fourth generation of those who hate Me, 6 and [I] perform loving kindness to thousands [of generations], to those who love Me and to those who keep My commandments.
So, the wicked get three addition reincarnations in order to correct their sins; while the righteous, who keep making progress, can get up to a thousand reincarnations.
Sha’ar HaGilgulim records that a person can reincarnate thousands of times, but only on the condition that they improve at least a little bit in each incarnation. If they fail to improve, they can only reincarnate a maximum of three times. After three strikes, that particular spark is sent to Gehinnom (loosely translated as “hell”) where it will be purified. However, the souls of those who regularly learn Torah are never sent to Gehinnom, and always merit reincarnation. This is one of the incredible protective powers of regular Torah study.
In multiple places, the Arizal teaches about the reincarnations of Abel, the son of Adam. Abel (הבל) had a good side and a bad one. The good side was represented by the letter Hei (ה) of his name, and the bad by the Beit and Lamed (בל). In order to be rectified, the bad part reincarnated in Laban (לבן), the wicked father-in-law of Jacob. Laban didn’t do much better, so he was reincarnated in the gentile prophet Bilaam (בלעם). He, too, was an ungodly person, so the Beit-Lamed soul was reincarnated for the third time in Naval (נבל), the ungrateful man who rejected David. Naval was strike three, and that Beit-Lamed soul no longer returned in the same way in a human reincarnation. It did suffer a punishment at some point in the form of a stone, which is why we read in the Tanakh[11] that when Naval died, “he became a stone” secretly alluding to a reincarnation in stone!
Shmuel alef (I Samuel) 25:37 And it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, that his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became like stone.
We see from the above how a person’s name may offer tremendous hints as to their soul sparks, previous lives, tests, challenges, and character traits. When we read about the above individuals in the Tanakh, we see how similar they were. All three were very wealthy, famous, and participated in divination and sorcery. All were cunning, greedy, and deceitful individuals. The Arizal explains in detail what rectifications each was supposed to do, and how one life affected the next, weaving together these three seemingly unrelated Biblical narratives that span nearly a thousand years into one beautiful tapestry.
In the Torah portion called ‘Mishpatim’ (Exodus 21:1-24:18), which is concerned with the first major set of laws that the Israelites received following the Ten Commandments. While the term mishpatim literally means “ordinances” or “judgements”, the Zohar[12] suggests a very different interpretation:
“And these are the judgements which you shall set before them…” These are the rules concerning reincarnation, the judgement of souls that are sentenced according to their acts.
The Zohar goes on to interpret the laws in the Torah with regards to the mechanisms of reincarnation. For example, whereas the Torah begins by describing a Hebrew servant who is indentured for six years of labour and must then be freed in the seventh year, the Zohar interprets that this is really speaking of souls which must reincarnate in order to repair the six middot before they could be freed. (The middot are the primary character traits: chessed, kindness; gevurah, restraint; tiferet, balance and truth; netzach, persistence and faith; hod, gratitude and humility; and yesod, sexual purity.)
Perhaps the most famous question: if a soul has so many different bodies over so many different lifetimes, which body will that soul inhabit in the afterlife, or in the world of Resurrection? Rabbi Vital writes:
And with each and every soul, when the time of the Resurrection comes, each and every body will take its corresponding soul, according to the part that it had at that particular time.
Thus, each part of the soul will have its own body, and all reincarnations will exist simultaneously as distinct individuals in Olam HaBa!
The most authoritative work on the topic of reincarnation is Sha’ar HaGilgulim, “Gate of Reincarnations,” by the great Kabbalist, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, or the “Arizal”. Not only is the book about reincarnation, it is also about personal rectification and how to avoid the need for reincarnation.
There are many volumes of the Arizal[14] that explain the concepts related to reincarnation. The Arizal discusses when and how reincarnation takes place. He also gives details regarding many soul-roots and how we find them reincarnated in the Bible and afterwards in the time of the Oral Torah, the Sages, and even to the age of the Arizal, himself. He traces the gilgulim from Adam until his own generation and explains that reincarnation is in order to rectify another level of the soul. The Arizal also revealed to people their reincarnation so that they would be able to rectify the blemishes of the previous lifetime.
Rabbi Chaim Vital, the disciple of the Arizal (1534-1572), explains in detail the Jewish concept of reincarnation. The soul is placed in a body in order for a person to attain spiritual perfection by refraining from transgression and performing mitzvot. If one accrues too much spiritual damage, the soul must return to repair the damage. Similarly, if one didn’t take full advantage of the opportunity to perfect the soul, it may be reincarnated to complete its perfection. The way it works is as follows:
The first time a soul enters this world, the person is able to perfect the three lower levels of soul, nefesh, ruach, and neshama (see "Ask the Rabbi-Soul"). If so, the soul goes to "the world of souls" where it awaits resurrection. If not, the different levels of soul can only be perfected in different lifetimes. Each time a level of soul is perfected, the person dies, is reincarnated, and given the chance to perfect the next level of soul. Previously perfected levels of soul are not damaged by sins in the current reincarnation. The soul continues to be perfected in this way until it is perfected at least in nefesh, ruach, and neshama, at which point the soul goes to "the world of souls". The bodies of all the soul’s reincarnations will be resurrected, but the first body is the main one.
Another reason souls may be reincarnated is for zivug (soul-mates): Either because they missed their zivug, and perfection can only be achieved through marrying one’s soul-mate; or even if they married but one soul wasn’t perfected, the other must return to be with its zivug. Sometimes even a perfected soul, such as that of a tzaddik (a very righteous person), may be reincarnated in order to help perfect others. While a person is not aware of previous reincarnations, the Arizal explained that those areas of Torah that a person particularly enjoys learning are those that weren’t completed in previous lives and should be concentrated on now. Conversely, the mitzvot that one finds particularly difficult are specifically those needing correction.
The majority of kabbalists are of the opinion that in addition to the first life, there are at most three incarnations. They cite the above-mentioned verse from Job "twice or three times with a man…". The Zohar says this on the verse "punishing the iniquity…to the third and fourth generation [reckoning from the first life]" (Exodus 34:7). However, Sefer HaBahir says that a soul can be reincarnated a thousand times. The renowned kabbalist of the 1600’s, Rabbi Menashe ben Israel, resolves this contradiction by saying that since the purpose of reincarnation is to perfect the soul, after three times with no progress the soul loses its chance ("three strikes and you’re out"). But if the soul is progressing, even in small increments, it can be reincarnated many times. Another resolution is that the soul can be reincarnated as a human only three times, as suggested by the verse "twice or three times with a man". Afterwards the soul may be reincarnated even a thousand times as a lower life form.
The following story illustrates how past wrongs may be corrected through reincarnation:
Once, a poor man complained to the Ba’al Shem Tov about his suffering. The rabbi sent him to a certain man in a distant town that might be able to help him. When he arrived and asked directions to the man’s house, one person after another spat and cursed at the mention of his name. Finally he reached the house only to have the door slammed in his face. After pleading with the owner of the house for an explanation, he was told that the man he wants, a terrible miser hated by all, died long ago. Bewildered, the man returned to the Baal Shem Tov and told him what happened. The rabbi looked him square in the eyes and said "the man you were looking for was you!" The man realized the reason for his poverty, and started giving whatever he had to charity. Eventually he was able to give extensively.
Interestingly, reincarnation as well as other spiritual concepts in eastern religions may be rooted in Judaism. After Sarah’s death, Abraham remarried Hagar who was renamed Ketura because her deeds had become pleasant as incense (ketoret). Even though Isaac was Abraham’s main disciple, Ketura’s sons also received spiritual knowledge from Abraham that they spread to the East. According to Rabbi Menashe ben Israel, this is the meaning of the verses, "And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. But to the sons of the concubines…Abraham gave gifts…and sent them away…eastward, to the east country" (Genesis 25:5,6). Initially the knowledge spread by these sons was true to the teachings of Abraham, but over time it was tainted and transformed by idol worship.
Shaar HaGilgulim (“Gate of Reincarnations”), Ch. 8 Why reincarnate? Know that souls reincarnate for several reasons.
The first is for transgressing some sin in the Torah, and one needs to return to rectify it.
Second, to fulfil a [positive] mitzvah that he failed to fulfil [in a past life].
Third, one comes back for the benefit of others, to guide them and rectify them...
And there are other reasons such as:
Fourth sometimes a person will reincarnate to marry their soulmate, for they did not merit to marry them previously [in their past life].
Fifth And sometimes they did marry their soulmate, but sinned with some transgression, and need to come back to rectify it...
The Ari explains that people mainly reincarnate in order to atone for sins of past lives, or to fulfil mitzvot that they didn’t do previously. Later, in Chapter 16, we read that people who return do not have to fulfil all the mitzvot in one lifetime, but only have to accomplish those that their souls are still lacking. Some reincarnate not for their own rectification, but to assist others. We are told elsewhere that these are usually very righteous individuals who agree to return to this world in order to help others.
The Arizal teaches that, unfortunately, some people are so deeply mired in kelipot, negative spiritual “husks”, that they are unable to find their soulmate in this world. These people will reunite with their other half only in Olam HaBa, the “next world”, at the time of the Resurrection. With regards to finding soulmates, this is directed particularly at male souls, for it is primarily a man’s responsibility to find his soulmate.
On that note, the following chapter tells us that female souls actually reincarnate very rarely. To begin with, female souls are more refined than male ones, and are unlikely to require more rectifications. What does happen more commonly is that male souls are reincarnated into female bodies! This opens up a number of fascinating scenarios which Rabbi Chaim Vital describes.
You should also know that a person needs to fulfil all 613 mitzvot in action, speech, and thought, as stated by our Sages of blessed memoiy on the verse “This is the Torah for the olah offering, and the minchah offering...” meaning anyone who engages in the Torah study of olah is as if he actually brought an olah offering, etc. They meant by this that a person is obligated to fulfil all 613 mitzvot in speech and in the same way in thought. And if one did not fulfil all 613 mitzvot in these three ways, he is obligated to reincarnate until he does so. Also know that a person is obligated to study Torah on all four levels of Pardes, meaningpshat [simple], remez [allusions], derush [allegories], and sod [secrets], and one will reincarnate until he has fulfilled all four levels.[15]
Behold, after the passing of a person, he is held accountable for all of his sins before going to Gehinnom, with many kinds of punishment, all of which are reincarnations, meaning a person might reincarnate in inanimate matter, or in plant life, or in animal life, or in another human form. Essentially all humans reincarnate and will not be spared from such reincarnations. The reason is, a person is unable to receive their punishment until the body and soul are together, and only when reincarnated into a body can he feel the pain through which he will atone for his sins.[16]
In Chapter 22, we read that people can reincarnate not only into human bodies, but also animals, vegetation, and even inanimate matter. For example, a person who feeds others non-kosher food reincarnates as a tree; one who sheds blood reincarnates into water; those who transgress various sexual prohibitions reincarnate into bats, rabbits, and other animals; while proud people and those who talk too much reincarnate into bees. (We are told that this is what happened to the judge Deborah who, despite her greatness and wisdom, had a bit of pride and was required to reincarnate into a bee, hence her name devorah, which literally means “bee”!)
It is important to mention, though, that an entire human soul does not fully reincarnate into another organism. Rather, souls are complex entities made up of many different interacting sparks. It is only those sparks that require rectification that return to this world (Chapter 14). Interestingly, the Arizal teaches that when two people really dislike each other, and are constantly in conflict with one another, this is often because the two are sharing sparks from one soul!
... [the righteous] does not get judged in Gehinnom, so he needs to have his sins cleansed in order to enter the Garden of Eden, therefore he has no rectification other than through reincarnation, where he will suffer afflictions throughout this life in order to atone for his sins [of his past life]. He does not enter Gehinnom to receive his punishment, but needs to reincarnate for every sin to be rectified, and therefore will reincarnate many times to atone and rectify his sins. This is not the case with the wicked, who do enter Gehinnom, where all the sins can be cleansed, and there is no need to reincarnate.[17]
Mishnah, Eduyot 2:10 Five things last twelve months: The judgment of the generation of the flood was twelve months; The judgment of Job lasted twelve months; The judgment of the Egyptians was twelve months; The judgment of Gog and Magog in the time to come will last twelve months; The judgment of the wicked in Gehinnom lasts twelve months, for it is said, and “It will be from one month until its month”.[18] Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri says: [As long as] from Passover to Shavuot, for it is said, “And from one Sabbath until its [next] Sabbath”[19]
Mishnah, Avot 4:22 ... And let not your impulse assure you that the grave is a place of refuge for you; for against your will were you formed, against your will were you born, against your will you live, against your will you will die, and against your will you will give an account and reckoning before the King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.
Kaf HaKela is the Biblical term for reincarnation, which our Sages have termed ‘gilgulim’.
The Arizal taught, based on the Zohar, that when the Tanakh spoke of kaf HaKela, the cosmic “slingshot”, it was secretly referring to reincarnation. This term comes from I Samuel 25:29, when the prophetess Abigail blessed her future husband David: “And if anyone sets out to pursue you and seek your life, the life of my lord will be bound up in the bounds of life with Hashem, your God; but He will fling away the lives of your enemies as from the hollow of a sling.” Some saw within this “sling” a type of punishment in Hell where one’s soul is “flung” back and forth across the universe. The Arizal said this “flinging” is simply referring to reincarnation, where the soul is “flung” from one body to another.[20]
Shmuel alef (I Samuel) 25:29 And if anyone sets out to pursue you and seek your soul, let the soul of my lord be bound up in the bundle of life in the care of HaShem, your God; and let Him fling away the souls of your enemies as from the hollow of a sling (כַּף הַקָּלַע).
Know that the wicked, after their deaths, enter Gehinnom and receive their punishment there for atonement. And their judgement [in Gehinnom] is 12 months. And there are other wicked people of whom is written “and let Him fling away the souls of your enemies as from the hollow of a sling” and they do not merit to enter Gehinnom after their passing to cleanse their souls. Rather, their souls go from place to place in various reincarnations until their sins are mitigated a little bit and they will be able to enter Gehinnom for 12 months to be atoned for completely.[21]
Zohar II, 99b (Saba d’Mishpatim) How do souls reincarnate? Like a stone in a sling, as it is written, “He will fling away the souls of your enemies as from the hollow of a sling”.[22]
The body and the soul must come together for judgment, as only together can both parts be held accountable.
Sanhedrin 91a-b Antoninus said to Rabbi: “The body and the soul can both free themselves from judgment. Thus, the body can plead: ‘The soul has sinned, since from the day it left me I lie like a dumb stone in the grave/ While the soul can say: ‘The body has sinned, since from the day I departed from it I fly freely in the air like a bird/” He replied: “I will tell you a parable. To what may this be compared? To a human king who owned a beautiful orchard which contained splendid figs. Now, he appointed two watchmen, one lame and the other blind. [One day] the lame man said to the blind, ‘I see beautiful figs in the orchard. Come and take me upon your shoulders, that we may procure and eat them/ So the lame strode the blind, procured and ate them.
The punishment of "the hollow of the sling" (kaf ha-kela) is here defined as reincarnation. Sefer HaIkkarim 4:33 explains it as follows:
A person who spends his whole life pursuing mitzvot and righteousness will find in the next world that all he knew in this life (i.e. the truth of Torah, the character gained from doing mitzvot) will be true, and now he will experience that truth as real. He describes it as a dream compared to reality. This world, we dream about truth, but...
...when he gets to the Spiritual Plane, if he had pure thoughts and intentions, he will enjoy the radiance of intellectual light, which will reach him in actual reality [rather than as just an idea], and this is called the splendor of the Shechinah.
If a person didn't do this, however, then they will desire the delights of the splendor of the Shechinah, because they are now able to appreciate and long for. Yet, it is too late. They try to climb up to the Shechinah, but are unable to because they never learned (the truths, as ideas in the material plane) and therefore don't know how. On the other hand, they will still long for the physical activities and pleasures they habituated themselves to, and will experience the unimaginable pain of not having a means to do that.
This is the Kaf HaKela. The person is simultaneously drawn upwards but can't go, and drawn downwards and can't go, like a sling or a yo-yo.
Shabbat152b With regard to the bodies of the righteous, which are likened to the royal garments that are well kept, it states: “He enters into peace, they rest on their beds each one that walks in his uprightness”.[23] And with regard to their souls, it states: “And the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord your God”.[24] And conversely, with regard to the bodies of the wicked, it states: “There is no peace, says the Lord, for the wicked”,[25] and with regard to their souls, it states: “And the souls of your enemies He shall sling out in the hollow of a sling”.[26] It was taught in a baraita that Rabbi Eliezer says: The souls of the righteous are stored beneath the Throne of Glory, as it is stated: “And the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life”.[27] And the souls of the wicked are continuously tied up, and one angel stands at one end of the world and another angel stands at the other end of the world and they sling the souls of the wicked back and forth to one another, as it is stated: “And the souls of your enemies He shall sling out in the hollow of a sling”.[28] Rabba said to Rav Naḥman: What happens to the souls of middling people, who are neither righteous nor wicked? Rav Naḥman said to him: It is good that you asked me this question, for even if I were dead I would not have been able to tell you that. As Shmuel said as follows: These and those, the souls of the wicked and of the middling people, are handed over to Duma, the angel in charge of spirits. But these, the souls of the middling people, have rest, and these, the souls of the wicked, do not have rest.
Gehinom is a short way of referring to the Valley of Hinnom - גֵּי הִנֹּם.[29] Gehinom, means crying.
Melachim bet (II Kings) 23:10 He also defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so that no one might consign their son or daughter to the fire of Molech.
Matityahu (Matthew) 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Gehenna).
Mordechai (Mark) 9:43 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell (Gehenna), into the fire that never shall be quenched:
Rosh Hashanah 17a But the heretics; and the informers; and the apostates, and those who denied the Torah; and those who denied the resurrection of the dead; and those who separated from the ways of the Jewish community; and those who cast their fear over the land of the living; and those who sinned and caused the masses to sin, for example, Jeroboam, son of Nebat, and his company; all of these people descend to Gehinnom and are judged there for generations and generations, as it is stated: “And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have rebelled against Me...”[30] Gehinnom will ultimately be terminated, but they will not be terminated...
Torah is teaching that there is no Gehinnom for the righteous because they will have multiple gilgulim in order to fix themselves in this world. The fire of Gehinnom does not singe the souls of the righteous and Torah scholars…. Therefore, they must be reincarnated into this world in order to scour them from whatever sins they may have done, for there is no one that has not committed some sin. Thus, for the righteous, reincarnation is the lighter purification process, after which they enter the World to Come directly.
Rosh HaShana l6b-17a Wicked people will be written and sealed for Gehinnom... Average people will descend to Gehinnom and they will cry out and ascend from there, as it is stated: “And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried; they shall call on My name, and I will answer them”.[31] And about them, Hannah said: “The Lord kills, and gives life; he brings down to the grave, and brings up”.[32] Beit Hillel say: [God is] “abundant in kindness”[33] tilting the scales in favor of kindness [to save people from Gehinnom], and about them David said: “I love the Lord, Who hears my voice and my supplications”.[34] And about them, David said the entire passage: “I was brought low and He saved me”.[35]
For the wicked, however, reincarnation entails more suffering, and only after finishing the reincarnation process can they proceed to Gehinom. There is Gehinnom[36] for the wicked because they did not fix themselves in this world, during their three reincarnations. The purpose of Gehinnom is to cleanse the sins that were not atoned for in this world.
Aron Moss’ explanation:
Jews do believe in a type of Hell, but not the one found in cartoons, Christian literature, and joke books. Hell is not a punishment in the conventional sense; it is, in fact, the expression of a great kindness. The Jewish mystics described a spiritual place called “Gehinnom”. This is usually translated as “Hell”, but a better translation would be “the Supernal Washing Machine”. Because that’s exactly how it works. The way our soul is cleansed in Gehinnom is similar to the way our clothes are cleansed in a washing machine.
Put yourself in your socks’ shoes, so to speak. If you were to be thrown into boiling hot water and flung around for half an hour, you might start to feel that someone doesn’t like you. However, the fact is that it is only after going through a wash cycle that the socks can be worn again.
We don’t put our socks in the washing machine to punish them. We put them through what seems like a rough and painful procedure only to make them clean and wearable again. The intense heat of the water loosens the dirt, and the force of being swirled around shakes it off completely. Far from hurting your socks, you are doing them a favor by putting them through this process.
So too with the soul. Every act we do in our lifetime leaves an imprint on our soul. The good we do brightens and elevates our soul, and every wrongdoing leaves a stain that needs to be cleansed. If, at the end of our life, we leave this world without fixing the wrongs we have done, our soul is unable to reach its place of rest on high. We must go through a cycle of deep cleansing. Our soul is flung around at an intense spiritual heat to rid it of any residue it may have gathered, and to prepare it for entry into Heaven.
Of course, this whole process can be avoided. If we truly regret the wrong we have done and make amends with the people we have hurt, we can leave this world with “clean socks”.
That’s why our Sages said, “Repent one day before you die.” And what should you do if you don’t know which day that will be? Repent today.
The Gemara give us some understanding of Gehinnom:
Berachot 57b Five things are a sixtieth part of something else: namely, fire, honey, Sabbath, sleep and a dream. Fire is one-sixtieth part of Gehinnom. Honey is one-sixtieth part of manna. Sabbath is one-sixtieth part of the world to come. Sleep is one-sixtieth part of death. A dream is one-sixtieth part of prophecy.
Jewish texts speak of seven levels to Gehinnom,[37] and the Zohar explains that Sheol is just one of the seven levels. The levels of Gehinnom are called, in order:
|
Pit |
בּוֹר |
|
Grave |
שָׁחַת |
|
Silence |
דּוּמָה |
|
Filthy Mud |
טִיט הַיָּוֵן |
|
Sheol |
שְׁאוֹל |
|
Shadow of Death |
צַלְמָוֶת |
|
Underworld |
אֶרֶץ תַּחְתִּית |
Sotah 10b And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept; and as he went, thus he said: O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son.[38] And the king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, O my son Absalom, O Absalom my son, my son.[39] Why is ‘my son’ repeated eight times? Seven to raise him from the seven divisions of Gehinnom; and as for the last, some say to unite his [severed] head to his body and others say to bring him into the World to Come.
Do the righteous go to heaven when they die?
Heaven is the abode of HaShem and people have no place in Heaven. Yeshua made this quite clear:
Yochanan (John) 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
So, if the righteous do NOT go to heaven for their final reward, where do they go?
Matitiyahu (Matthew) 5:5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Solomon provided us with the understanding of the final place of the righteous:
Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) 1:9 That which hath been is that which shall be, and that which hath been done is that which shall be done; and there is nothing new under the sun.
We can understand from Solomon’s words that just as Adam and Eve began their life in the Garden of Eden, walking with HaShem; so, too, will the end of the righteous be to dwell in the Garden of Eden, walking with HaShem.
God created the perfect place for sinless man. God called that place, “the Garden of Eden”.
The Tanakh[40] and the Nazarean Codicil[41] are replete with references to the fact that the righteous will dwell on earth forever. It does not contain any references to suggest that they will “inherit heaven”. Here are a few of those references:
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 60:20-21 Thy sun shall no more go down, Neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for HaShem shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. 21 Thy people also shall be all righteous, they shall inherit the land for ever; the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, wherein I glory.
Tehillim (Psalms) 37:28-29 For the HaShem loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones. They will be protected forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off; The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever.
II Tzefet (Peter) 3:1-17 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives As you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position.
The new earth is the home of righteousness.
Tehillim (Psalms) 115:1 Not to us, O HaShem, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness. Why do the nations say, "Where is their God?" Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell; They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them. O house of Israel, trust in the HaShem--he is their help and shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the HaShem--he is their help and shield. You who fear him, trust in the HaShem--he is their help and shield. The HaShem remembers us and will bless us: He will bless the house of Israel, he will bless the house of Aaron, He will bless those who fear the HaShem--small and great alike. May the HaShem make you increase, both you and your children. May you be blessed by the HaShem, the Maker of heaven and earth. The highest heavens belong to the HaShem, but the earth he has given to man. It is not the dead who praise the HaShem, those who go down to silence; It is we who extol the HaShem, both now and forevermore. Praise the HaShem.
The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but, the earth belongs to man.
Luqas (Luke) 16:19-31 "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores And longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. "The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.' "But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.' "He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, For I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' "Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.' "'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.' "He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"
The angels carried Lazarus to Abraham's side. This still seems to be more of a description of the place rather than the name of the place.
Revelation 21:1-6 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.
God will dwell with men on earth.
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 65:13-25 Therefore this is what the Sovereign HaShem says: "My servants will eat, but you will go hungry; my servants will drink, but you will go thirsty; my servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame. My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts, but you will cry out from anguish of heart and wail in brokenness of spirit. You will leave your name to my chosen ones as a curse; the Sovereign HaShem will put you to death, but to his servants he will give another name. Whoever invokes a blessing in the land will do so by the God of truth; he who takes an oath in the land will swear by the God of truth. For the past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from my eyes. "Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. "Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed. They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their hands. They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the HaShem, they and their descendants with them. Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain," says the HaShem.
The Tanach has no concept of an eternal hell. Gehinnom is a place on earth. It is a valley outside of Jerusalem.
The idea of ‘eternal punishment’ does not square with how HaShem runs His world midda-kneged-midda, measure for measure.
Avot 4:22 ... And let not your impulse assure you that the grave is a place of refuge for you; for against your will were you formed, against your will were you born, against your will you live, against your will you will die, and against your will you will give an account and reckoning before the King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.
Abadon is a place where souls are sent to be extinguished. It is not a place of eternal torment.
Iyov (Job) 28:20-24 From where does wisdom come? And where is the source of understanding? It is hidden from the eyes of all living, concealed from the birds of the sky. Abadon and Death say, “We have heard of it.” Only God understands its way; He knows its source; for He sees to the ends of the earth, observes all that is beneath the skies.
Zohar I, 62b And there are two compartments close to each other that are called Sheol and Abadon. Whoever reaches Sheol is judged and punished there and is then raised to a different, but higher, compartment. This continues until he is released from there. But those who go down and reach Abadon are never raised from there again. That is why it is called Abadon, because they are lost [avid] forever.
Tehillim (Psalms) 88:11-13 Do You work wonders for the dead? Do the ghosts rise to praise You? Selah! Is Your kindness recounted in the grave, your faith in Abadon? Are Your wonders made known in the darkness, and Your righteousness in the land of oblivion?
So the punishment for the incorrigible might look like this:
1. Three reincarnations, followed by
2. A time in Gehinnom, followed by
3. Going to Abadon to be extinguished.
Mishle (Proverbs) 15:11 Sheol and Abadon are exposed to God, how much more so the hearts of men!
The reward for the righteous would be like:
1. Thousands of reincarnations with each lifetime an improvement on the previous lifetime. The goal is to perform all of the mitzvot.
2. A final resurrection, Techiyat HaMeitim, to enjoy your reward for a thousand years in Gan Eden.
Rambam’s Commentary on the Mishnah, Sanhedrin, Ch. 10 - You should know that masters of Torah have differences of opinion regarding the good that comes to a person when he does the commandments that God commanded us through Moshe, our teacher - peace be upon him - and regarding the bad that will find him if he transgresses them - very many disagreements according to the difference in their intellects. And the reasonings about them have become greatly confused to the point that you will almost not find anywhere a man for whom this matter is clear. And you will not find a definitive thing about it with any person, excepting with much confusion...
Rambam commentary on the Mishnah, Sanhedrin, Ch. 10 - And the fifth group - and they are many - join all of these matters together and say that that which is anticipated is that the Messiah will come and bring the dead back to life, and they will enter the Garden of Eden, and they will eat there and drink and be healthy all the days of the world.
Sanhedrin 98b Ulla says: Let the Messiah come, but let me not see him [as I fear the suffering that will precede his coming]. Likewise, Rabba says: Let the Messiah come, but let me not see him. Rav Yosef says: Let the Messiah come, and let me have the merit to even sit in the shadow of his donkey’s excrement!
Gog U’Magog is judgement day and will last 12 months. This will literally be hell on earth.
Rosh Hashanah l6b-l7a Beit Shammai taught: There will be three groups of people on the great Day of Judgment [at the End of Days]: One of wholly righteous people, one of wholly wicked people, and one of average people. The righteous will be written and sealed for life. The wicked will be written and sealed for Gehinnom, as it is stated: “And many who sleep in the dust of the earth shall rise to the life of the world, and others [will rise] to shame and abhorrence of the world”.[42] Average people will descend to Gehinnom and they will cry out and ascend from there, as it is stated: “And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried; they shall call on My name, and I will answer them”.[43] ... Beit Hillel say: [God is] “abundant in kindness”[44] tilting the scales in favor of kindness [to save people from Gehinnom]...
Zohar II, 58b ... The Holy One, blessed be He, shall bring back to life those kings that distressed Israel and Jerusalem, “Adrianus” [Vespasian] and “Lupinus” [Titus], Nebuchadnezzar and Sancheriv, and all the other kings of the world that took part in the destruction of His House. Then He will provide them with a governing dominion as before, and the rest of the nations will gather with them. The Holy One, blessed be He, will take revenge on them openly for Jerusalem... This will happen in the time of Mashiach’s coming...
Machzor Vitry, 144 It once happened that Rabbi Akiva was walking in a cemetery and came across a naked man who was dark as coal and carrying a huge load of sticks on his head. Thinking that he was alive, Rabbi Akiva ran to him quickly and asked how he had gotten into the situation of needing to do such difficult work, and offering to go to any means necessary to redeem him. The man asked Rabbi Akiva not to impede him. Rabbi Akiva asked the man his story. "I'm actually dead," the man replied, "and every day they send me to cut down trees." "What was your job when you were alive?" Rabbi Akiva asked. "I was a tax collector," the man replied, "and I would favour the wealthy and oppress the poor …
Rama[45] in his gloss for Ashkenazim on Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 376:4 - In the Midrash it is found that one should recite Kaddish for a father. Therefore, it is customary to recite the last Kaddish [concluding the services] twelve months for a father and mother.
Daniel 12:2 And many who sleep in the dust of the earth shall rise life of the world, and others [will rise] to shame and abhorrence of the world.
Rabbenu Bechaye (1255-1340) on Leviticus 25:2 - According to Kabbalah, the words “And the earth shall rest a Sabbath to God” refer to the Earth as a whole and are an allusion to the seventh millennium of Sabbath rest, which is the “World to Come” [olam haba] after the Resurrection...
Daniel 4:13-14 Let his mind be altered from that of a man, and let him be given the mind of a beast, and let seven seasons pass over him. This sentence is decreed by the Watchers; this verdict is commanded by the Holy Ones so that all creatures may know that the Most High is sovereign over the realm of man, and He gives it to whom He wishes and He may set over it even the lowest of men.
Zohar III, 257b, Ra’aya Meiiemna So too HaShem, on which all existences depend, and He and all His existences testify about the Master of the Universe that He pre-existed all existences, that He is within every existence, and that He will be after all existences. And this is the secret that the beings testify about Him, that He is past (haya), present (hov’e), and future (ihyeh).
Mishnah, Uktzin 3:12 Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: In the world to come the Holy One, Blessed be He, will make each righteous person inherit three hundred and ten worlds, for it is written: “That I may cause those that love me to inherit yesh [310] and that I may fill their treasuries”.[46]
We have spoken at length about reincarnation, yet we still need to discuss the end-point for these gilgulim.
Reading the Tanach, one cannot find any mention of the reward for the righteous. Why?
If the Tanach were to describe a reward for the righteous; the righteous would be obligated to serve HaShem FOR THE REWARD – it would be a mitzva! HaShem does not desire that we serve Him in order to obtain a reward. His desire is that we serve Him because we love Him. To accomplish this goal, there is no mention of a future reward.
However, there is mention of a ‘reward’ in the here and now. For example:
Shemot (Exodus) 20:11 Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which HaShem thy God giveth thee.
The ‘reward’ is like an expense account given to a salesman. The idea is that you can stay at great locations, in great accommodations, eating great food, and enjoying life – as long as you bring home the deals. The ‘reward’ of “the good life” has nothing to do with your paycheck. The expense account is over and above any pay or commission that you earn from these deals. So it is with the ‘reward’ we receive in this world. The ‘reward’ is simply an expense account which enables us to do the will of HaShem. The ’reward’ is to enable us to perform HaShem’s will. This ‘reward’ has nothing to do with our actual reward which is waiting for us in the Olam HaBa. The reward in the Olam HaBa is like our paycheck; it is the reward for our labor. Our reward is over and above our ‘expense account’, the provisions that we need to carry out HaShem’s will.
Most fascinating is the study of soul migration, which is how a soul from a previous generation is reincarnated in a later generation into a specific set of circumstances which are tailored to engineer a rectification of a previous sin. Of the hundreds of examples, we shall quote one here which is documented in the book Shaarei Teshuvah (Gates of Repentance), written by Rabbi Dovber of Lubavitch, a foremost Kabbalist and Chassidic Rebbe. When we take a look at the period in history of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, we stand perplexed as to why that generation had the awesome task of deciding between apostasy and burning at the stake. Why was it at this particular junction of Jewish history, Jews had to endure such horrible torture and exile at the hands of the Inquisition?
Rabbi Dovber writes the following:
In the times of the first Temple, they served G‑d and did not cast from themselves the yoke of heaven, except in certain idolatrous practices for which they had tremendous desire, so much so that there were only left 7,000 people that had not succumbed to Baal worship in the days of Ahab. All the Kings who served these idols were great men, and they were tainted with this heinous sin of idolatry. All these generations, who were most elevated souls, did not receive their rectification and elevation until the times of the philosophers in the time of Rashi and the Rambam until the time of the Arizal, which was from the year 4856 (1096) in the days of Rashi until the expulsion of Jews from Portugal in the year 5252 (1492), and until the time of the Arizal in 5333 (1573). The Arizal explicitly stated that in his time, the period of destruction that had swept the Jewish world for the last nearly 500 years had ended. All those who had sacrificed their lives in sanctification of G‑d’s name in their thousands, and tens of thousands in each generation, all of them were souls of the first Temple. Their sin was that they had previously served idols and had nourished the Klipot and therefore their rectification was to give up their lives in sanctification of G‑d’s name with simple faith which transcended any logic or philosophy.
Imagine a soul that entered the heavenly realms in the days of the first Temple that had been tainted by the grave sin of idolatry. The soul would greatly anticipate and appreciate an opportunity to descend once again to rectify its mistake. Any momentary pain involved, including the murderous moment of being burned alive is worth it to gain eternal elevation. Hence the soul descended to a body in a later generation for rectification.
Although the body of the Spanish Jew could not comprehend why he was being hauled through this torture, what was happening was essentially a kindness for it was the key to eternal elevation. In fact, the Kabbalists point out that the Hebrew word for “reincarnation”—Gilgul—has the same “numerical value” (gematria) as the word Chessed—“kindness.” Such presentations however have their limitations.
* * *
Arizal, Shaar HaGilgulim (“Gate of Reincarnations”), Ch. 29 - And the two aspects, the good and the bad of the soul, that were within Abel, were alluded to in his name. The good part of it was the letter Hei of Abel (ban) and it went to Seth [and then to Moses]... and the bad part of the soul of Abel were the letters Beit-Lamed (ban), and this is the secret of “and they do not know [bal yeda’um] the laws”,[47] the two letters alluding to klipot, and these two letters went to [Lavan and to] Bilaam (nvba), who had the same two letters in his name.
The great Talmudic sage Hillel was a reincarnation of the biblical figure Aaron.
* * *
Weekly Haftorah by Rebbetzin Chana Bracha Siegelbaum ד“בס
1 Melachim 18:46-19:21
According to the Zohar, Eliyahu was a reincarnation of Pinchas (Zohar, part 2, 190a). They both were zealous on G-d's behalf, in spite of the dangers involved. Therefore, they were both rewarded that the Angel of Death had no power over them. The evil queen Izevel, nevertheless, was trying very hard to kill Eliyahu. Her hatred of him stemmed from his confrontation with her priests of idol-worship on Mount Carmel, which led to their execution. “Then Izevel sent a messenger to Eliyahu, saying, …by about this time tomorrow, I will make your nefesh (soul) as the nefesh of one of them” (1 Melachim 19:2).
Arizal explains that the souls of Aharon’s sons, Nadav and Avihu were impregnated within the soul of Eliyahu in order to reach their tikun (rectification). Their original sin was not just offering a strange fire, but moreover staring brazenly at the Shechina (Divine Indwelling Presence) during the giving of the Torah through eating and drinking (See Rashi, Shemot 24:11). Their souls were rectified when the entire people fell on their faces, as Hashem’s fire descended on Mount Carmel to consume the sacrifice of those who followed Hashem. Their sin was atoned when they did not gaze at the fire that came down from heaven, as they were falling on their faces on the ground. After their souls were rectified, they no longer needed to be impregnated in Eliyahu’s soul, so they left him.
Izevel, King Achav’s wife was a great witch. Through her witchcraft she knew that the holy souls of Nadav and Avihu had departed from Eliyahu. Therefore, she understood that his everlasting protection from the Angel of Death no longer applied, since he originally received this covenant of eternal life and peace for the sake of Nadav and Avihu, who originally were part of his soul in his incarnation as Pinchas. Therefore, when she told him “I will make your nefesh (soul) as the nefesh of one of them,” she was hinting that Eliyahu’s soul would become like one of the souls of Nadav and Avihu which were burned up through the fire of the incense. Since Eliyahu felt that his gift of eternity was lost from him, he feared and ran away to Mount Chorev. This explains why it states, “When he saw that, he arose and went for his nefesh (life)” (1 Melachim, 19:3). Now he only had his own single soul (without the protective souls of Nadav and Avihu). He was, therefore, afraid of Izevel, (Arizal, the Gate of Reincarnation, Introduction 32). We can learn from this to be super careful not to trust all kinds of spiritual healers, charlatans and astrologers. A person may know many secrets and even perform wonders, but if he is not connected with kedusha (holiness), his power emanates from the other side: the evil forces of witchcraft and black magic. Only a G-d fearing person can be trusted to be a pure channel for Hashem’s holiness. Unfortunately, many so-called “Kabbalists” and “spiritual healers” are not necessarily trustworthy. If they charge an exorbitant fee, it is a sure indication that they are motivated by selfish desires rather than being a pure conduit for holiness.
The Rama of Pa’ano explains an additional reason why Izevel was so hot in her pursuit and desire to kill Eliyahu. Izevel’s ingrained hatred for Eliyahu stemmed from her earlier incarnation as Kozbi the Midyanite woman whom Pinchas killed while engaged in intercourse with Zimri, the prince of the Tribe of Shimon. She was, therefore, hungry to take revenge on Eliyahu for having killed her when she was Kozbi during his incarnation as Pinchas. As, a person’s soul consists of many parts it can be reincarnated into different people simultaneously. Izevel, was also, the reincarnation of the wife of Korach, who instigated Korach to rebel against Hashem’s appointment of Aharon as his chosen Kohen (The Rama of Pa’ano, The Book of Soul Reincarnations, Ot 1). Since she had never repented her previous sin, Izevel was placed in a situation from which it was even harder to repent. As King Achav’s wife she now had the opportunity to either enact a very great rectification, or to sin in an even greater capacity, by turning the King of Israel against the prophets of G-d. The Ramchal points out that the numerical value of Achav is twelve corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel. He could actually have been the Mashiach son of Yosef, and the king of all twelve tribes, had he not been led astray by his evil wife. We learn from this how deep into the mud a person can sink when not taking the opportunity to repent. In the end, however, even the evil Izevel became rectified as the wife of Turnus Rufus who converted and married Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva was actually the reincarnation and rectification of Zimri, when he didn’t sin with Turnus Rufus’s wife who came to his doorstep to tempt him, but only married her after she had converted. The soul- reincarnations of Izevel teach us that no matter how low a person falls, eventually, Hashem will help us all repent and reach our ultimate perfection.
In the Nazarean Codicil we have a very obvious example of a past and future gilgul of Elijah the prophet.
One of the descendants of Aaron is Pinchas, the grandson of Aaron (through his son Elazar). For his heroic efforts, as described in Bamidbar (Numbers) chapter 25, HaShem blessed him with an eternal priesthood. Pinchas is mentioned as the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) in the book of Joshua (who was the first of the Biblical Judges). According to the Sages, he remained in this role until the times of Yiftach, one of the last Judges. This would mean he served as the High Priest for several hundred years! The Sages suggest that when God promised him an “eternal priesthood”, He literally meant it.
Due to the scandal that concluded the story of Yiftach in Shoftim (Judges) 11-12), the commentaries state that Pinchas resigned as the High Priest. He then disappears from the narrative, only to reappear again a couple of centuries down the road. This time, he comes back as Eliyahu HaNavi, Elijah the prophet, as the Sages state: Pinchas ze Eliyahu, “Pinchas is Eliyahu”. The Arizal[48] explains that Eliyahu was the reincarnation of Pinchas.
Ultimately, it is prophesized that Eliyahu will return in physical form once more at the End of Days to herald the coming of Mashiach, as it says:
Malachi 3:23-24 Keep in remembrance the teaching of Moses, My servant-the laws and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel. 24 Lo, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord
In the Nazarean Codicil we encounter another gilgul of Eliyah:
Matityahu (Matthew) 11:7-15 And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? 8 But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. 9 But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. 10 For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. 14 And if ye will receive it, this is Elijah, which was for to come. 15 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
In the above passage we find Yeshua calling John the Baptist – Elijah! John the Baptist was a gilgul of Eliyahu. What makes this so profound is the verses from Malachi that we referenced earlier:
Malachi 3:23-24 Keep in remembrance the teaching of Moses, My servant-the laws and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel. 24 Lo, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
Malachi is coming to teach us to expect Eliyahu in the future - before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
The idea of reincarnation comes up again later in Matthew:
Matityahu (Matthew) 16:13-16 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. 15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
The people are pointing to Yeshua and saying that He is a gilgul of Elijah, or Jeremiah, or John the Baptist, or one of the prophets. Thus the idea of reincarnation is quite apparent in the Nazaren Codicil.
Been There, Done That
by Rabbi Pinchas Winston
“I, your father in law Yitro, am coming to you . . .” (Shemos 18:6)
HISTORY IS CONVOLUTED, something we can appreciate more today. A lot of it has been straightforward, but a lot of it has not. Sometimes, though, events can be demystified somewhat on a different, or rather, a deeper level of understanding.
Yitro is a good example of this. He is famous as Moshe Rabbeinu’s father-in-law, a merit he earned, we are told, by rejecting every form of idol worship in his time. Like Avraham Avinu before him, he seems to have been a truth seeker, the reward for which was to find THE Truth Itself.
The story behind the story? It’s more complicated. It is also built upon a pre-existing relationship between Yitro and his famous son-in-law going back in time all the way to the beginning of history. Yitro alludes to this when he says:
Shemot (Exodus) 18:6 I, your father in law Yitro, am coming to you . . .
According to the Arizal, the first letters of the three Hebrew words for, “your father-in-law, Yitro”—Aleph-Ches-Yud—spell “ahchee,” which means “my brother.” On a Pshat level, Yitro referred to Moshe as his son-in-law. On a Sod level, he called him his brother. This is why:
Since the Nefesh of Kayin is one to which the impurity of the snake greatly latches on, and the evil within it overcomes its good, [the Nefesh of Kayin] reincarnated into the Egyptian . . . Moshe, who was [the reincarnation of] Hevel, wanted to rectify him by killing him using the “Ineffable Name,” i.e., the 42-letter Name [of God], to separate out the evil out from within him and bring it to the level of good and holiness. On the day that [Moshe] killed the Egyptian, it entered Yitro . . . and he converted.[49]
Though Moshe Rabbeinu and Yitro were son-in-law and father-in-law in their current lifetime, they had been Kayin and Hevel in a previous one. Thus, when Yitro, previously Kayin, brought Moshe, previously Hevel, into his family, he atoned for his murder of his brother back at the beginning of history.
Furthermore, explains the Arizal, Tzipporah, Yitro’s daughter and Moshe’s wife, was part of the atonement process. The Midrash says that Kayin’s jealousy of Hevel stemmed from the fact that Hevel was born with two twin sisters, while he had only been born with one. Since at that time sisters became their brother’s wives, Hevel had two wives while Kayin only had one. This made Kayin jealous enough to murder his brother.
Apparently, the Arizal reveals, Tzipporah was the reincarnation of Hevel’s second twin sister. When Yitro gave her to Moshe Rabbeinu as a wife, this was really Kayin giving her back to Hevel. Quite bizarre, given that there is nary a hint of any of this anywhere in the story.
It does show how multi-layered history is. It reveals how ancient forces can drive modern day events and people. It illustrates how current events may only be modern day versions of older and far more significant ones.
Does it really make a difference to know such hidden information about people and history? No doubt knowing past reincarnations does fill in some important blanks in history, but aren’t they blanks we had already learned to live with?
Sometimes, but not always. Sometimes the blanks being filled are current, and the missing information provides important insight into events of the day. They frame current history in a far more relevant manner, and may even allow for life-saving preparations. This example is from the Zohar on last week’s parsha:
Rebi Abba said in the name of Rav Yeisa Elder: “This is what Rebi Shimon said: ‘In the future, The Holy One, Blessed is He, will revive all the kings who caused suffering to the Jewish people and Jerusalem: Landrionis, Lelupinos, Nevuchadnetzar, Sancheriv, and the rest of the kings that destroyed His House. They will rule as before, and they will gather other nations with them. In the future, The Holy One, Blessed is He, will pay them back in a revealed manner around Jerusalem . . .’.”[50]
Ancient kings, modern times. The future being referred to is the Messianic time, OUR time. The souls are from the past, but they will be brought back thousands of years later for a return engagement at the end of history. It will be payback time for past destructions and anti-Semitism, but in a modern setting.
Putting that interesting Kabbalistic detail about history aside, we can open our newspapers and read about current events. The big topic: Israel and the so-called Two-State Solution.
Twenty-five years ago most people, including many Arab countries, did not care much about the Palestinians, even if they did not like the Jews. The world had other more pressing issues to deal with at the time. Life was a lot calmer in those days, and many Westerners were mostly intent on climbing the social ladder and improving their material level of comfort.
The UN was more in the background back then. But, made up of many representatives from Muslim or anti-Semitic countries, resolution after resolution was put forward to sanction what they called the “Zionist State.” The only reason why it did not got much publicity then was because the resolutions kept getting shot down by the few friends Israel had in “high places” in the UN.
The winds of change began to blow back in 1991, after the Persian Gulf War. They did not pick up significant speed, however, until President Obama’s time in office. All of a sudden, Israel’s most valued friend at the UN became less so, and the UN became emboldened in its anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian approach to Middle-East politics.
Obama and the UN have not looked back since. One of his last acts before leaving office was to abstain from an anti-Israel resolution for the first time in American history since the founding of the State. Many believe it was Obama and Kerry who pushed the UN from behind the scenes.
Many also believe that Obama, et al, will continue to push the UN to push Israel towards the two-state solution, even after leaving office. And, as the nations GATHER under the banner of the UN AGAINST ISRAEL, one might wonder if it is even possible to put aside that interesting Kabbalistic detail about history. On the contrary, it seems as if OUR period is becoming that interesting Kabbalistic detail about history.
If so, we may not be watching only a gathering of modern leaders and enemies ganging up against the Jewish state. We may be watching a gathering of Biblical enemies in the bodies of modern leaders ganging up against the Jewish state. Clearly this would transform current events into something bigger than any headline can address.
It would also beg the question: Historical payback time may be at hand. Are we ready?
· Zohar I:94a, I:150, I:186b, 3:215a; especially Parshat Mishpatim
· Targum Onkelos, Deuteronomy 33:6
· Ramban, Sha’ar HaGemul
· Chaim Vital, Sha’ar HaGilgulim, Introduction 2,5,8
· Sefer Chassidim 41
· Arizal, Sefer HaGilgulim, 84
· Menashe ben Israel, Nismat Chaim, section 4, ch. 14 and 21
"It's found in another place: It's spelled / it says עשי״ו [Esav], because he was reincarnated into ישוע [Yeshua]. [I think he's trying to point out the the letters in both names are the same, only rearranged.]
* * *
This study was written by
Rabbi Dr. Hillel ben David (Greg Killian).
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[1] Mitzvot = commands
[2] Gilgulim the plural of gilgul. Gilgul comes from the Hebrew root meaning “to spin”.
[3] Devarim (Deuteronomy) 33:6
[4] Ramban 1195-1270
[5] Iyov (Job) 33:29
[6] Amos 2:6
[7] Shemot (Exodus) 34:7]
[8] Arizal (Rabbi Yitzhak Luria, 1534-1572) Sha’ar haGilgulim (“Gate of Reincarnations”), Ch. 4
[9] Shemot (Exodus) 34:6-7 and Yehezchel (Ezekiel) 18:20
[10] Arizal (Rabbi Yitzhak Luria, 1534-1572) Sha’ar haGilgulim (“Gate of Reincarnations”), Ch. 4
[11] Shmuel alef (I Samuel) 25:37
[12] Zohar II, 94a
[13] by Rabbi Yirmiyahu Ullman
[14] Shemot (Exodus) 20:6
[15] Arizal, Sha’ar haGilqulim (“Gate of Reincarnations”), Ch. 16
[16] Arizal, Sha’ar haGilgulim (“Gate of Reincarnations”), Ch. 22
[17] Arizal, Sha’ar haGilgulim (“Gate of Reincarnations”), Ch. 4
[18] Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 66:23
[19] Ibid.
[20] See Shaar HaGilgulim, Ch. 22; Zohar II, 99b.
[21] Arizal, Sha’ar haGilgulim (“Gate of Reincarnations”)? Ch. 22
[22] Shmuel alef (I Samuel) 25:29
[23] Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 57:2
[24] Shmuel alef (I Samuel) 25:29
[25] Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 57:21
[26] Shmuel alef (I Samuel) 25:29
[27] Shmuel alef (I Samuel) 25:29
[28] Shmuel alef (I Samuel) 25:29
[29] Yehoshua (Joshua) 18:16
[30] Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 66:24
[31] Zechariah 13:9
[32] Shmuel alef (I Samuel) 2:6
[33] Shemot (Exodus) 34:6
[34] Tehillim (Psalms) 116:1
[35] Tehillim (Psalms) 116:6
[36] Aka Valley of Hinnom
[37] Sotah 10b
[38] Shmuel bet (II Samuel) 19:1
[39] Shmuel bet (II Samuel) 19:5
[40] Tanakh is an acronym for Torah (Law), Neviim (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings), and is how Jews refer to the so called Old Testament.
[41] The Nazarean Codicil is how we will refer to the so called New Testament which is neither new, nor a testament.
[42] Daniel 12:2
[43] Zechariah 13:9
[44] Shemot (Exodus) 34:6
[45] Rabbi Moshe Isserles, 1530-1572
[46] Mishle (Proverbs) 8:21
[47] Tehillim (Psalms) 147:20
[48] Sha’ar HaGilgulim, 33, 2b
[49] Sha’ar HaGilgulim, Introduction 36
[50] Zohar, Beshallach 58b