Life after life

Old Jewish mysticism spurs new discussion about reincarnation

ANNE RACKHAM
Associate Editor

"Those who are studying (Kabbalah) are learning about (reincarnation). The ones who are searching are reacting extremely happily," commented Rabbi Michael Shapiro, who teaches spirituality classes in the Valley under the name of his own organization - the Jewish Center for Spiritual Growth. "Some have had some feeling for it inside themselves, and they've had to look elsewhere (to learn about reincarnation). ... They enjoy the idea that the religion familiar to them accommodates their mystical belief."

With a growing number of Jews and gentiles studying Kabbalah, and even the "X-Files" television show including an episode based on Jewish mysticism, information on the traditional Jewish belief in reincarnation is popping up in a variety of places, even on the World Wide Web. There, Internet surfers can find papers and articles on the subject, including an article by a rabbi written for the magazine "Hinduism Today" and a chatty item from the London Jewish Chronicle about a discussion of reincarnation at a Jewish singles' group.

Migration of souls
"There is a greater interest in Jewish mysticism than ever before. People (no longer) look at you as a kook if you study it. The fact that (reincarnation) is in there makes reincarnation more palatable," said Professor Joel Gereboff, chair of the Religious Studies Department at Arizona State University. "More Jews believe in reincarnation than a number of years ago, but not huge numbers. It's caught on more, the same as Jewish meditation has caught on more.

"Certain people (in classes he's taught) have said, 'I like the idea (of reincarnation). Is that a Jewish idea? ... Good.' "

The Hebrew word for reincarnation, gilgul, or migration of souls, comes from a verb meaning "turning in a circle." Local rabbis said that according to the kabbalistic teachings about gilgul, "divine" human souls exist with God until they enter a body at birth. Each soul then lives a series of lives, with the ultimate goal of observing 613 laws that God gave the Jewish people. (Some kabbalists believe that human souls may temporarily inhabit the bodies of animals, and even inanimate objects, but generally only to account for one sin in a prior life or to observe one last law.) Then, after the Messiah redeems the world and all the Earth is living in peace, there will be "resurrection of the dead," and each human soul will be reunited with a physical, yet transfigured body.

Most Jewish thinking on the subject of reincarnation is found in kabbalistic literature, although it also is mentioned in some other writings, including the Prayer Before Retiring in a commonly used siddur, prayer book. The prayer pledges forgiveness of all those who have committed wrongs against the person "in this incarnation and others," pointed out Rabbi Zalman Levertov of the Chabad-Lubavitch Center in Paradise Valley.

"All Orthodox Jews believe in reincarnation," he proclaimed, although he admitted they may not all know about the belief, since it is not mentioned in Jewish liturgy.

"Do we dwell on it? Not necessarily," he continued. "You don't know what happened in the past (lives), so you do the best you can (in the current one)."

Rabbi Harris Cooperman of Orthodox Beth Joseph Congregation in Phoenix concurred that reincarnation is "a belief that we have, but it's not a main thing in daily life. ... It's not something that's considered a biggie."

But, of course, not all Jews agree on that either.

Brian L. Weiss, a Jewish psychiatrist who visited Phoenix recently, has written best-selling books about the advantages of "past-life regression" therapy, in which people are hypnotized to recall their souls' past lives so they can identify issues causing them problems in their current lives.

"If a person is stuck, it is good to recognize why, so you can get past it," commented Shapiro. "In theory, past-life regression is good. Whether it's accurate is another matter.

"I don't think (belief in reincarnation) is critical (unless) you're striving to understand the whole picture in a detailed way. The situations, the things you need to have, will come into your life. If you needed (to know about past lives), you would be inspired to learn, or someone would teach you."

Punishment and rewards
However, experts agreed that a belief in reincarnation can be comforting to Jews because the belief is used to explain a lot of the bad things that happen in the world, and why God "allows" them to happen. For example, kabbalists would say that a person who suffers generally is being punished for actions in a previous life, a woman could be childless because her body was inhabited by a "male" soul, or a person could be a victim of a crime he perpetrated on someone else in a past life.

In addition, according to Chassidic tradition, if people live exemplary lives, their children may be reincarnated with the souls of great people, noted Rabbi Albert Plotkin, rabbi emeritus at Reform congregation Temple Beth Israel in Phoenix, who has taught classes in Kabbalah at the Franciscan Renewal Center, a Catholic retreat/education/liturgical facility in Paradise Valley.

Plotkin, who does not personally believe in reincarnation, noted that the Chassidic belief has even altered some Jews' notions about Messianic theology. For example, some members of Lubavitch congregations believe that their late Rebbe Menachem Schneerson of New York City, who died in June of 1994, was the Messiah, and that when his soul is reincarnated, he will redeem the world.

Levertov, who is convinced that the Messiah will redeem the world in his lifetime and that "all people will worship God together," said it is possible that the Messiah will be the reincarnation of someone who has lived on Earth before, perhaps multiple times, but that the world was not yet ready to live in peace when he came in the past.

"In every generation, there's a Messiah, if we're ready. We haven't been ready before," said Levertov.