Reincarnation in Judaism: Gilgul and Jewish Thought

Shalom, reincarnation do Jews believe in it? Well some Jews do, the Jewish mystics did and I want to tell you what they believed, the Hebrew term for reincarnation is Gilgul Neshamot, now the Shama is the soul and the Gilgul is kind of a round turning. So the Jewish Mystics embrace this belief in reincarnation and they believe the soul has an independent life existing before and after the death of the body. Now many on Judaism believe that to that the soul had independent life but what they also believe is that soul continues to be reused that after it finishes long term in a body it eventually takes in another term. So in there belief can return again and again in different bodies and how it conducts itself in each reincarnation determines it is ascend or descend in the next visit.

They often use this to explain odd behavior in certain people for example if a person is behaving like an animal, they might conclude the person was carrying the soul of a beast. Now there are three separate terms in Jewish mysticism for types of reincarnation. The first is Gilgul, which occurs during pregnancy that is the kind of one you might expect, the next is called Ebur, which is impregnation, and it is when an old soul enters the body of a person anytime during his lifetime. The third form of Gilgul or the third form of this reincarnation is when evil soul enter the person. The invading souls called a Debuch clinging soul and to eradicate such a soul a Jewish Exorcism must be performed. Cabalistic literatures filled with stories of Exorcism and even describes the procedures with great detail. A very interesting notion, that main line Judaism did not believe this but of course the mystics did and some of the greatest sages in Jewish history in fact the author of the main code of Jewish law believed in reincarnation. But most main line Jewish Authorities did not. Gilgul, the idea of reincarnation.


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