Divine Ecology: Reincarnation Reincarnation Is Jewish
DIVINE ECOLOGY: REINCARNATION
REINCARNATION IS JEWISH
When the soul stands before the heavenly courts, angels carrying wagonloads of Mitzvot and transgressions, come before the tribunal to argue for and against the soul of the deceased.
In actuality the angels, we are taught, are the spiritual energies that we generated by virtue of our mitvzot or the transgressions. The positive energies struggle with the negative energies to determine whether our soul is ready to go straight to Paradise or does it have to endure the painful “liberating” process of Gehinnom, to cleans the soul and allow it to enter Paradise at a later time.
In Kabbalah we are taught that in addition to the “traditional” forms of soul “rehabilitation” there is one more method: This is called Gilgul, literally rolling (recycling?), or reincarnation.
Reincarnation – unlike the afterlife, heaven, hell, Moshiach and the Messianic Era, Resurrection of the dead – is not mentioned explicitly in the Bible or the Talmud, the two most authoritative texts of the Jewish religion. The glaring omission has led some great Jewish leaders, such as Rabbi Sa’adia Gaon, to conclude that it is not a Jewish belief. Only after the Zohar – authored by the second century’s Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai – was publicized in the thirteenth century, where the concept of Gilgul receives considerable attention, did the belief in gilgul become part of mainstream Judaism.
This does not mean that Judaism changed its view or adopted some other religious view, but that this belief had its time for its popularization.
Just as Kabbalah in general was a discipline that was confined to a limited number of initiates, while some of the greatest Talmudic sages, were unaware of its secrets, similarly, the knowledge of gilgul was confined to a select few. The majority of sages and of people in general, had no reason to know about gilgul.
In the words of King Solomon: “For everything there is a time. There is a time for… and a time for…” The Midrash applies this verse to the manner in which the Torah in general was revealed to this world. Even though the Torah was around from before the time of creation, nevertheless, G-d waited 26 generations before revealing the Torah to the world at Sinai.
Similarly, there was a time when the Talmud was written, when Maimonides introduced his novel ideas and when each and every worthy scholar introduces his innovative insights of Torah. And while all these teachings had to have been given over at Sinai, they were all hidden until the worthy student came along at the right time in the right place to reveal them. And once this knowledge’s time has come to be revealed, it becomes the property of all of Israel.
What is true for Kabbalah in general is true of gilgul in particular. From the time the Zohar had been popularized, gilgul became accepted as a basic belief in Judaism. All scholars of all backgrounds, Chassidim, non-Chassidim such as the Gaon of Vilna, Ashkenazic or Sephardic Torah scholars all discus and accet the belief in gilgul and have interpreted Biblical verses to accommodate this belief.
The question that we will discuss now is not whether reincarnation is a Jewish belief, for that is a foregone conclusion, but what is its function and purpose?
From the book Safe Kabbalah, Part Three: Journeys of the Soul by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
