The process of descent, and
subsequent elevation and ascent through rectification outlines a dynamic
concept of spiritual progress and evolution. The Jewish Virtual Library gives
the following description:
They maintain that transmigration occurs in
all forms of existence, from the Sefirot ("emanations") and the
angels to inorganic matter, and is called din benei ḥalof or sod ha-shelaḥ.
According to this, everything in the world is constantly changing form,
descending to the lowest form and ascending again to the highest. The
kabbalists of Safed accepted the doctrine of transmigration into all forms of
nature and, through them, this teaching became a widespread popular belief.
Dubrov gives details of the soul’s journey, which
parallels the above-described cosmic process at a microcosmic level:
The soul is eternal, a spark of the Divine,
or as the prophet Job calls it “a part of G‑d 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. It has already been explained that the purpose
of creation is to make an abode for the Divine 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 G‑d’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.
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 the previous chapter, the notion of purification through
Gehinom was introduced. (Dubrov)
Furthermore, Dubrov notes that:
Here 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 Mitzvah 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. (Dubrov)
The Baal Shem Tov
in his Instruction in Intercourse with God (Of the Holy Sparks and their
Redemption), considers that humans are participants in the scheme of cosmic
renewal:
"The Holy Sparks that fell when God
built and destroyed the worlds, man shall raise and purify upward from stone to
plant, from plant to animal, from animal to speaking being -- purify the Holy
Sparks that are imprisoned in the world of Shells . . . And who, with the good
strength of his spirit, is able to raise the Holy Spark from stone to plant, from
plant to animal, from animal to speaking being, leads it into freedom; and no
setting free of captives is greater than this. It is as when a king's son is
rescued from captivity and brought to his father." (Buber, 89)
(Instructions
on Intercourse with God, p. 188 in Hasidism and Modern Man by Martin
Buber.)
Psychological Aspect
The body-soul relation in this
process involves a complex explanation of the human constitution. Jacobs
outlines a basic dualistic concept:
Rabbi Schneur Zalman explains in the Tanya that every Jew is composite of two distinct souls. The first soul is
the Nefesh HaBehamit which animates the body. This soul
is complete with an infrastructure of soul powers ranging from pleasure and
will to intellect and emotions. Common to all the soul powers of the Nefesh
HaBehamit is that they all wish to fulfill the base needs, passions, and
desires of the body. Essentially the Nefesh HaBehamit is self-centered.From it
stems the negative character traits, such as anger, apathy, and arrogance.
The second soul is the Nefesh Elokit. This
soul is described by Job as “a part of G‑d,” and exists both before its descent into the body and after the ascent
from the body. The Nefesh Elokit in itself is not in need of rectification;
rather its descent into this world is to refine the base and the animalistic
nature of this material world. (Jacobs)
Brandwein explains the more complex
fivefold nature of the soul:
The Midrash states that the soul has five names:
Nefesh (soul of vitality),
Ruach (spirit),
Neshamah (breath of life),
Chaya (living one), and
Yechidah (singular one). (Brandwein)
He adds that:
According to the Zohar, the four higher
levels of the soul usually enter a person during his lifetime in Ibur: First, a
person receives nefesh when he or she is born; then, when they merit it, they
receive ruach; when they merit it, they receive neshamah; when they merit it,
they receive chayah. The higher the level, the rarer its occurrence. Very few
have ever merited to neshamah, let alone chayah. Nobody has ever received the
highest level, yechidah. Adam would have received it had he not sinned.
(Brandwein)
Moreover,
one can find a classic esoteric microsmic-macrocosmic correspondence in this
system. Dubrov notes that:
Kabbalah explains that these five
names of the soul correspond to the level of soul in each of the worlds. Nefesh
corresponds to the soul in the realm of Assiyah, Ruach in Yetzirah, Neshamah in
Beriah, and Chaya in Atzilut, while Yechidah represents the quintessential point of the soul (Etzem
HaNeshamah) which is rooted in the Or Ein Sof. Hassidism teaches that the Nefesh
resides in the blood, Ruach in the heart, Neshamah in the brain. Chayah and
Yechidah are transcendent of the body, not enclothing themselves in any
particular limb. The Kabbalists explain that through successive incarnations,
all levels of the soul are elevated. (Dubrov)
Ibbur Neshamot
Jacobs gives a succinct summary
of the basic types of reincarnation:
In the kabbalistic literature three types of
reincarnation are mentioned:
1. gilgul,
transmigration proper, in which a soul that had previously inhabited one body
is sent back to earth to inhabit another body.
2. ibbur,
“impregnation,” in which a soul descends from heaven in order to assist another
soul in the body.
3. dybbuk, a
generally late concept, in which a guilt‑laden soul pursued by devils enters a
human body in order to find rest and has to be exorcised. (Jacobs)
Brandwein gives the
following explanation for Ibbur Neshamot:
It involves receiving a new (higher) soul
sometime during one's lifetime. That is, a new soul comes into a person's heart
while he is still alive. The reason this is called Ibur, gestation or
pregnancy, is because this person becomes "pregnant" with this new
soul while he is still alive. This phenomenon is the deeper explanation behind
certain people going through drastic changes in their lives. They either
undergo a change of mind about certain things or change their lifestyle, and
thereby ascend to the next spiritual level. This is also included under the
general heading of gilgul-incarnation because they are now hosting a new soul
[or an aspect of their own soul or a higher soul of which they are a part] in
order to be a vehicle for that soul's rectification. This is what occurs when a
person is ready to advance in his soul evolution. This is why the soul has five
names, each higher than the other, nefesh, ruach, neshamah, chayah and
yechidah. (Brandwein)
Dybbuk
The Jewish Encyclopedia offers the following explanation of Dybbuk:
This belief assumes that there are souls
which are condemned to wander for a time in this world, where they are
tormented by evil spirits which watch and accompany them everywhere. To escape
their tormentors such souls sometimes take refuge in the bodies of living pious
men and women, over whom the evil spirits have no power. The person to whom
such a soul clings endures great suffering and loses his own individuality; he
acts as though he were quite another man, and loses all moral sense. He can be
cured only by a miracle-working rabbi ("ba'al shem") who is able to
cast out the soul from his body by exorcisms and amulets. The usual exorcism in
such cases consisted in the rabbi's reciting, in the presence of ten men (See Minyan), the 91st Psalm, and adjuring
the soul in the name of God to leave the body of the afflicted one. In case of
refusal on the part of the soul to yield to this simple injunction, the ban and
the blowing of the shofar are resorted to. In order that it may cause the least
possible amount of damage to the body, the soul is always directed to pass out
through the small toe. (Jewish Encyclopedia)
References
Yaakov Astor . (Reincarnation and Jewish
Tradition) Soul Searching,
Targum Press
Rabbi Avraham Brandwein (Gilgul Neshamot -
Reincarnation of Souls) (Transl. Avraham Sutton)
Martin Buber, Hasidism and Modern Man, 1958
Nissan Dovid Dubrov (The Soul and the Afterlife)
Rabbi Louis Jacobs (Is there a Jewish Afterlife?)
Jewish Encyclopedia (Gilgul Neshamoth)
Jewish Virtual Library (Gilgul)
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