Gilgulim - Reincarnation in Torah Sources Have we been here before

Gilgul in Halacha

(א) דיני ציצית בבית הקברות.
מותר לכנס בבית הקברות והוא לבוש ציצית והוא שלא יהא נגרר על הקברות אבל אם הוא נגרר על הקברות אסור משום לועג לרש.

Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chayim 23:1

Yosef Karo: 1488: Spain-Sfat

(1) It is permitted to enter a cemetery while wearing tzitzit as long as the fringes do not drag on the graves. But if the fringes drag on the graves it is forbidden as an example of "mocking the poor."

משנה ברורה כ״ג:ה׳

(ה) של קבר - ואפילו בקבר של קטן יש להחמיר משום לועג לרש דשמא נשמת אדם גדול הוא אבל בקבר אשה דבחייה ג"כ פטורה ליכא משום לועג לרש:

(Mishnah Berurah, Sha’ar HaTziyun 622:6 – (Rav Yisrael Meir Kagan, Poland 1838

כי האדם חושב כמה פעמים לייאש את עצמו שאין יכול לתקן בשום אופן ועל כן יתנהג תמיד באופן א', ואם יגזור עליו הקב"ה למות ימות. אבל טעות הוא, שסוף דבר יהיה... ויבא עוד פעם ופעמים לעולם הזה ... לתקן.

Mishnah Berurah 23:5

...

Gilgul in Kaballah

זוהר - פרשת משפטים [חלק ב, דף צד עמוד א]
פתח ר' שמעון ואמר "ואלה המשפטים אשר תשים לפניהם"... אלין אינון סדורין דגלגולא דינין דנשמתין דאתדנו כל חד וחד לקבל עונשיה:
דגל מחנה אפרים - פרשת משפטים
The Grandson of the Baal Shem Tov: 1748, Poland: Rabbi Moshe Chaim Ephraim of Sudikov
איתא בזוהר הקדוש אילין סדורין דגלגולא עיין שם. והוא תמוה לכאורה הא בפסוק מפרש ואזיל דיני ממונות? אך שמעתי בענין הדין שאחד דן את חבירו לבית דין ויודע בעצמו שבודאי הוא זכאי בדין והתורה מחייבתו, אל יקשה לו, הלא תורת אמת היא ודרכיה דרכי נועם, כי זהו אמיתות התורה ונועם דרכיה, כי בודאי מסתמא היה חייב בגלגול העבר לאיש הדן עמו וכעת חייבתו התורה לשלמו כדי לצאת ידי חובתו וחבירו שלוקח עתה המעות במרמה הוא עתיד ליתן את הדין וכאלה רבים בעניני דינים, וזה יש לומר שרימז בזוהר הקדוש ואלה המשפטים שהם דיני ממונות אף על פי שמן הנראה הם לפעמים נגד האמת, אך דהאמת הוא אילין סדורין דגולגלא והיינו הבורא הכל ובורא כל נשמות הוא היודע איך היה הגלגולים הקודמים בין איש לחבירו.
:Zohar I 186b
All souls are subject to reincarnation; and people do not know the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He! They do not know that they are brought before the tribunal both before they enter into this world and after they leave it; they are ignorant of the many reincarnations and secret works which they have to undergo, and of the number of naked souls, and how many naked spirits roam about in the other world without being able to enter within the veil of the King's Palace. Men do not know how the souls revolve like a stone that is thrown from a sling. But the time is at hand when these mysteries will be disclosed

דברים כ״ה:ה׳-ו׳

(ה) כִּֽי־יֵשְׁב֨וּ אַחִ֜ים יַחְדָּ֗ו וּמֵ֨ת אַחַ֤ד מֵהֶם֙ וּבֵ֣ן אֵֽין־ל֔וֹ לֹֽא־תִהְיֶ֧ה אֵֽשֶׁת־הַמֵּ֛ת הַח֖וּצָה לְאִ֣ישׁ זָ֑ר יְבָמָהּ֙ יָבֹ֣א עָלֶ֔יהָ וּלְקָחָ֥הּ ל֛וֹ לְאִשָּׁ֖ה וְיִבְּמָֽהּ׃ (ו) וְהָיָ֗ה הַבְּכוֹר֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר תֵּלֵ֔ד יָק֕וּם עַל־שֵׁ֥ם אָחִ֖יו הַמֵּ֑ת וְלֹֽא־יִמָּחֶ֥ה שְׁמ֖וֹ מִיִּשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

Deuteronomy 25:5-6

(5) When brothers dwell together and one of them dies and leaves no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married to a stranger, outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall unite with her: he shall take her as his wife and perform the levir’s duty. (6) The first son that she bears shall be accounted to the dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out in Israel.

רמב'ן על בראשית לח:ח

(1194–1270)
אבל הענין סוד גדול מסודות התורה בתולדת האדם, ונכר הוא לעיני רואים אשר נתן להם השם עינים לראות ואזנים לשמוע... והמשכיל יבין.

איוב ל״ג:כ״ט-ל׳

(כט) הֶן־כָּל־אֵ֭לֶּה יִפְעַל־אֵ֑ל פַּעֲמַ֖יִם שָׁל֣וֹשׁ עִם־גָּֽבֶר׃ (ל) לְהָשִׁ֣יב נַ֭פְשׁוֹ מִנִּי־שָׁ֑חַת לֵ֝א֗וֹר בְּא֣וֹר הַֽחַיִּים׃

Job 33:29-30

(29) Truly, God does all these things Two or three times to a man, (30) To bring him back from the Pit, That he may bask in the light of life.

Sefer HaBahir (first century CE 195 R' Nechuniah Ben Hakaneh) –
Expiating the transgressions of previous lives
מפני מה צדיק וטוב לו צדיק ורע לו? מפני שהצדיק הזה כבר היה רשע לשעבר ועתה נענש ... משל למה"ד לאדם שנטע בגנו כרם ויקו לעשות ענבים ויעש באושים, ראה שלא הצליח נטעו גדרו ופרצו ונקה הגפנים מן הבאושים ונטעו עוד שנית ראה שלא הצליח גדרו נטעו אחר שנקה וראה שלא הצליח ועקרו ונטעו

Rabeinu Bachyeh: (Mid-14th century Spanish philosopher): Used the concept of reincarnation to explain why bad things happen to good people. He understood the 10 martyrs in the Roman persecution to be the 10 brothers who sold Joseph.

1. Vilna Gaon, Eliyahu Ben Shlomo Zalman Lithuania 1720: Even Shleimah 3:5:
Understanding why the righteous suffer
מי שהיה רשע בגלגול ראשון, הוא בחסרון כל ימיו, אע"פ שהוא עכשיו צדיק גמור, וזהו: "צדיק ורע לו", ועל זה אמרו "חיי, בני ומזוני לא בזכותא תליא מילתא אלא במזלא תליא מילתא". מ"ק כח.

Derech Hashem 2:3:10: (The Ramchal 1707-1744)
A single soul can be reincarnated a number of times in different bodies, and in this manner, it can rectify the damage done in previous incarnations. Similarly it can also achieve perfection that was not achieved in previous incarnations.
When an individual has a reincarnated soul, it is possible that he will be affected in a particular manner as a result of his deeds in a previous incarnation. The situation in which he is placed may follow from this, and this situation may bring with it the special responsibility given to him.

תניא - אגרת הקדש, אגרת כט (וע"ע באגרת ז') Alter Rebbe 1745 Russia
...אך מודעת זאת מה שכתב האריז"ל, שכל אדם מישראל צריך לבא בגלגולים רבים[1], עד שיקיים כל תרי"ג מצות התורה, במחשבה דיבור ומעשה להשלים לבושי נפשו ולתקנם, שלא יהא לבושא דחסרא כו' לבד מצוות התלויות במלך שהוא מוציא כל ישראל, כי הוא כוללת כולם.

Rabbi Eliyahu de Vidas, Reishit Chochmah, (16th Century Kaballah/Mussar) Sha’ar HaYirah # 13 − Reincarnation can help where Gehinnom cannot.
ובענין למה יצטרך גלגול לנשמה אחר שהיא ובענין נטהרת בגיהנם, תירץ מורי ע"ה כי הגלגול הוא לחסרון מצוה שלא השלים וצריך לחזור ולהשלים כראוי, ולזה מוכרח להתגלגל, כי אין גיהנם אלא טהרה לבד אבל לא להשלים חסרון.ם

שם הגדולי – מערכת גדולים, אות י', ר' יהודה ארי' ממודינא: ארי נוהם:
...וראיתי לכתוב דבר פרטי, כתב הרב הנזכר שהוא בתחלה לא היה מאמין בגלגול. ויקר מקרה ששכנתו ילדה בן וכמעט בתוך חדש ללידתו חלה הילד בחלאים קשים שונים ולסוף ששה חדשים ללידתו הגיע קצו והיה גוסס, ושכנתו קראה להרב הנזכר שיאמר פסוקים ודברי תורה בצאת נפשו כמנהג המורים באיטליא, והוא הלך וראה הילד מצטמק ורע והוא גוסס וקרא איזה מזמורים, והילד פתח עיניו ואמר שמע ישראל ד' אלקינו ד' אחד ויצאה נשמתו באחד והוא פלא. ומהיום ההוא והלאה האמין בגלגול כי עין בעין ראה ילד בן ששה חדשים חולה תדיר מצטמק ורע והוא אומר כגדול בבטוי שפתים פ' שמע כלו בקול רם.

[1] מאת ר' חיים יוסף דוד אזולאי זצ"ל, ה"חידא".

Other Great Rabbi's Who Speak About the Concept of Gilgul

Abarbanel (1437-1508 Portugal) "Rationalist", Alshich- (1508–1593, Safed) The Maharsha (1555-1631:Talmudic scholar) The Shlah Hakadosh (1555: Prague), Rav Yosef Albo (Sefer Ikarim), Rav Shlomo Alkabetz (Tzfat), Chayey Adam, Chasam Sofer, The Baal Shem Tov and virtually all Chassidic Rebbeim

Rabbi's Who Speak Against the concept of Reincarnation

1) Rav Saadiah Gaon (882-942-Egypt), 2) Rashba (Solomon son of Aderet: 1235–1310) Halachist and Talmudist, 3) Rav Hasdai Crescas (1340-1410 a Spanish Jewish Philosopher who Wrote Ohr Hashem.) In ma’amar 4, derash 7 argues against reincarnation noting that people don't remember their previous lives 4) Rav Yedayah Bedarshi (13th Century rabbi) rejects the concept of gilgul, as he felt many people would take a more laid-back approach, if they were to know of their previous lives. 5) Rav Yitzchak Albo, a Jewish philosopher who lived in Spain during the fifteenth century (Sefer HaIkkarim 4:29) argues that retiring to the body is pointless.

5a) Rabbeinu Avraham ben HaRambam was also in the anti Gilgul camp. 6) Leon de Modena argues: why can't G-d handle everything in one lifetime? And why is the notion of Gilgul is absent from Tanach and Chazal? 7) Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (19th century German Rabbi), in his commentary to Genesis 50:2

שו"ת מהרלב"ח - סימן ח (ר' לוי בן יעקב ן' חביב זצ"ל[1])
ובענין השאלה הג' ששאלת: אם אמונת הגלגול הוא דבר הכרחי להאמין בו הכל? גם אם מותר לדרוש בו ברבים? האמנם בדבר הזה הפרטי כבר ראיתי ובינותי בספרים ומצאתי כי חכמינו ז"ל אותם שהיו אחרי חתימת התלמוד ימים רבים נחלקו לשני כתות: הכת האחת כת החוקרים בעיקרי האמונות כפי שכלם לבד ומתעסקים בחכמות החצונות. ובלבם של אלה קשה להאמין האמונה הזאת יען כי כפי השכל יש עליה קושיות שלא השיג שכלם לישבם.
אמנם יש כת אחרת גדולה מאד מחכמי ישראל המאמינים, וכֻלם כתבו עליה כי היא אמונ' אמתית ועיקר מעיקרי התורה לתרץ קושית צדיק ורע לו. וכלנו אנחנו מחוייבים לשמוע דברי אלו האחרונים. ולהאמין האמונה הזאת בלי שום פקפוק וספק כלל.

[1] 1483-1545. Important halachist who served as the chief rabbi of ירושלים in his time

The Dynamics of Reincarnation

The Arizal, in his introductory chapters to Sha’ar HaGilgulim, mentions several reasons for which a soul may be reincarnated. These include:
1. Repairing spiritual damage that was incurred through transgressions in a previous life
2. Achieving a level of perfection that was not achieved previously
3. One may be reincarnated for the purpose of helping others to reach spiritual perfection.

Arizal, Sha’ar HaGilgulim, Ch. 22 – The form of reincarnation fits the nature of the previous deeds.
אחר פטירת האדם, נפרעים ממנו על חטאתיו, קודם שיכניסוהו בגיהנם, בהרבה מציאיות של עונש, וכלם נקראים גלגולים. רוצה לומר, כי יתגלגל או בדומם, או בצמח, או בחי, או במדבר. וכמעט רוב בני האדם לא ימלטו מלהתגלגל בגלגולים אלה... ואמנם כפי
ערך חטא האדם, כך בחי' אופני גלגולו, אם בצומח, אם בב"ח וכו

Sefer Chareidim, 7:57 – Is the soul aware of its reincarnated state
ודע שאמרו המקובלים, שאף על פי כשמתגלגל אדם בצורת אדם, אינו יודע בגלגולו ראשון, מכל מקום כשמתגלגל בצורת בהמה חיה או עוף, הוא יודע בגלגולו הראשון, ומיצר ומצטער איך ירד משמים מצורת אדם לצורת בהמה.

מדבר קדמות - מערכת ג', אות י' (ר' חיים יוסף דוד אזולאי זצ"ל, ה"חידא")
גלגול. בכל גלגול נתקנין ניצוצות רבות ועולים במדרגתם הראויה להם, ושאר ניצוצות שעדיין לא נתקנו באים גלגול פעם אחרת. ובזה תבין לכל גלגול שאינם ממש הראשונים רק בחינת ניצוצות ממש.
אגרא דפרקא - רמז שא (ר' צבי אלימלך מדינוב זי"ע, ה"בני יששכר")
...והנה הגוף אשר על ידו נשלם מנין המצות הוא יהיה עיקר לזמן התחיה, ובו תהיה מדורת הנשמה לעתיד...

Jane Bosveld, Discover Magazine, June 2007, “Soul Search − Will Natural Science Pin Down Our Supernatural Essence?” − Evidence is building to support reincarnation.

At the Division of Perceptual Studies (University of Virginia), there are file cabinets bulging with case studies of people who think they … remember past lives: who they were, where they lived, what they looked like, what work they did, all sorts of details of a life.
Psychiatrist and physician Ian Stevenson, who founded DOPS, began gathering stories of past lives in 1960. He also made personal trips to verify and document the details, including reports of children with birthmarks corresponding to wounds the “previous personality” received and phobias related to the cause of death. Stevenson died early this year, but child psychiatrist Jim B. Tucker, author of Life Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of Children’s Memories of Previous Lives, is continuing his work. Tucker has helped build a database of 1,400 cases of possible reincarnation. At his office at DOPS, Tucker explains that with the stronger cases “kids tend to start talking about these memories at an earlier age. They talk about them with more emotion. They give a lot of details, including specific names about the previous life.”
Investigating reincarnation is an even thornier research problem than studying NDEs (near death experiences). Although almost every culture has stories of people whose souls returned after death, the evidence for that return consists mostly of recollections and anecdotes. Tucker does his best to examine as many of the memories in each case as possible. Sometimes he locates family members and consults local historians to confirm information. Nevertheless, Tucker says, “We would never say that we have proved that reincarnation occurs. I think we can only say that we’ve produced evidence for it.”

Part B. Paranormal Behavior in Children
The cases of paranormal behavior involving children are the most telling signs of reincarnation. Unlike adults, children lack the cunning to fabricate elaborate lies and they also lack the inhibitions that would hinder an adult. As such, cases of children relating information about past lives have been at the core of scientific research into reincarnation. We give here just a couple of examples, but there are many, many more.
Reincarnation International, Vol. I, #2 – Indian boy recalls details of past life

Titu Singh was two-and-a-half-years-old when he began to tell his family of his other life in Agra, a city in northern India. His memories were quite specific: he said that he had been the owner of a radio, TV and video shop, his name was Suresh Verma, he had a wife named Uma and two children. He also said that he had been shot, then cremated, and his ashes had been thrown in the river. His parents didn’t take him seriously at first, but his behavior puzzled them – he often behaved as if he wasn’t part of their family. “Titu is just an ordinary child, but sometimes he says and does things that only adults do,” said his father. Repeatedly, Titu would tell his parents that he was homesick and wanted to go back to Agra. Once, he became so insistent about leaving, that he rolled his clothes into a bundle and threatened to leave home.
Titu’s older brother decided to travel to Agra to check out his young brother’s claims. He found a video shop called Suresh Radio, which was run by a widow named Uma whose husband had been shot, just as Titu had described. The brother approached Uma and explained how his little brother claimed to be her deceased husband. This information made Uma feel very odd. She decided to visit the Singh family the next day and see what truth there was in this young child’s report. When the Verma family arrived unannounced, Titu was outside washing at the tap and spotted them first. He recognized them immediately and shouted to his parents that his “other family” had come. They invited the visitors to sit on the veranda, and Titu asked Uma to sit near him – an odd way for a five-year-old in India to relate to a grown woman. He asked about the children, and then stunned the widow by recounting the details of a family outing to a fair in a neighboring village where Suresh had bought her sweets, information that only she could have known. Titu later described burying gold in a hole in the house.
It was then arranged that Titu be taken to Agra. When he and his entourage arrived, it had been arranged for Suresh’s two children to be playing among many other neighborhood children as a test for Titu. Titu recognized them immediately, singling them out from their playmates. Upon entering the video shop, Titu correctly identified changes made to the shop since Suresh’s death …
Titu told more details of the murder to an Agra court and was able to “convince the authorities that he was the reincarnation of the murder victim.” The outcome of the case was not given in this account, but a professor at Delhi University was quoted as saying, “Because of the police involvement, this is one of the very best documented cases of seeming reincarnation I have seen.”

Part C. Xenoglossy
Xenoglossy (from the Greek xenos, “foreign” and glossa, “tongue, language”) is the paranormal phenomenon in which a person is able to speak a language he could not have acquired by natural means. For example, a person who speaks German fluently, but who has never studied it, has never been to a German-speaking country, and has never associated with German speakers, would be said to exhibit xenoglossy. The existence of xenoglossy is not generally accepted by linguists and psychologists. However, Ian Stevenson documented several cases that he considered authentic.
1. Rabbi Yaakov Astor, quoting Dr. Brian Weiss, Soul Searching, p. 115 – Children speaking Aramaic.

It wasn’t my case, but a few years back parents of two-year-old twin boys noticed that the boys were speaking a rather sophisticated private language. They brought the twins to the Linguistics Department at Columbia University, where it was determined that the boys were speaking Aramaic to each other. Now, Aramaic is still spoken in a few remote villages in Syria, but basically as scientists and observers, as we all are, how do you explain that? Where is that coming from?

Part D. Physical Evidence of Reincarnation.
1. Indopedia, the Indological Knowledgebase: Reincarnation – Physical evidence of reincarnation.

Perhaps the most significant anecdotal evidence in this regard is the phenomenon of young children spontaneously sharing what appear to be memories of past lives, a phenomenon which has been reported even in cultures that do not hold to a belief in reincarnation. Upon investigating these claims, Stevenson and others have identified individuals who had died a few years before the child was born who seem to meet the descriptions the children provided. In the most compelling cases, autopsy photographs reveal that the deceased individuals have fatal injuries that correspond to the unusual marks or birth defects of the child; for example, marks on the chest and back of a child line up precisely with the bullet entry and exit wounds on the body of an individual who has been shot.

Rabbi Mordechai Becher, Ohr Somayach’s Ask the Rabbi, issue #245 − Reincarnation may explain why some people have only minimal interaction with this world.

I’ve heard that the famous “Chazon Ish,” Rabbi Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz, stood up for people with Down syndrome and the like. If this is true, I understand it as follows:
Each person is given faculties. These faculties allow him to reach his potential. The greater gifts and faculties a person is given, the more he is obligated to achieve. A person is created far away from a goal but given the tools to get there. A person born with very limited faculties obviously has a much smaller goal to achieve. So, in essence, the person of limited capabilities is created closer to his state of personal perfection.
Such a person may even be a reincarnation of a great tzadik or tzadeket (righteous person) who achieved near perfection the first time around, but needs to come back to this world to be able to achieve perfection. Such a person is worthy of respect.

Based on Rabbi Jonathan Feldman's Shiur:

What is the soul?

Our sages teach us that the soul is a “Chelek Elokah Mealav”- a part of G-d from above. Our soul has a divine base which is a part of G-d.
How do we divide G-d into to parts?

The soul itself is also partly inside of us. What we are seeing is only the tip of the ice-berg. Most of the soul is above us-beyond us.
The entirety of humanity is mapped out by the Kabbalists. Adam Harishon was the composite of mankind. Two people can be soul brothers or sisters which means they come from the same part of the body. People who come from the same root soul relate to each other very well. They’ll get along with each other very well. They’ll be very worried about the other person rectifying themselves. Because the other person’s Tikun will affect his perfection process.
The Baal Shem Tov (18th century founder of Chassidut) says that in proportion with the amount you believe in Divine Providence, G-d will guide you and will lead you towards your Tikun. And a big part of your tikun has to do with the people you meet.
2)Everyone is a puppet sent to you by G-d to guide you towards your tikun.
There was a big rabbi in Jerusalem named Rav Usher, and people would line up by his house all day long, and teach people about the puppet show. We will have a different orientation towards people-theres no need to blame others for making your life miserable-they are there to bring me to my enlightenment.
3) We come into this world with unfinished business. With a partially rectified world. All of life is moving towards perfection. What we already perfected won’t need to be deal with, but we have to deal with certain issues. So if you struggle with anger-maybe that’s your tikun.
Parent-Child relationships is a key part of our tikun. On the night of conception, that night is extremely crucial in shaping our destiny.
A child receives a Levush-a metaphysical garment bonding child and parent. That’s what bond a children to parents even beyond death. This connection can’t be disconnected. The firstborn brother has more of a connection then the other brothers. That’s why they are meant to be respected more.
Between a man and a woman
Husband and wife will be from the same soul family. The wife is meant to be a helpmate who goes against you. If they merit they’ll help each other, if they don’t then it’ll be bad. The man and woman’s bond is not cut-baring divorce-even after death.
Elevating the soul of the deceased is done mainly by perpetuating one of the traits of the deceased.
A rebbi and his close student also can have deep soul connections. For every soul family there’s a rebbi. Sometimes this bond can be stronger then with family members.
A soul mate relationship are basically two halves of the same person-that’s a very intense relationship.
Ibbur is where another soul joins in to your soul. I can be giving charity and I can arouse within me that this other
12) "After the soul has left the body and the body remains without breath, it is forbidden to keep it unburied (Moed Katon, 28a; Baba Kama, 82b). For a dead body which is left unburied for twenty-four hours causes a weakness in the limbs of the Chariot and prevents God's design from being fulfilled; for perhaps God decreed that he should undergo reincarnation at once on the day that he died, which would be better for him, but as long as the body is not buried the soul cannot go into the presence of the Holy One nor be transferred into another body. For a soul cannot enter a second body till the first is buried?" Zohar III 88b  19. Tikunnei Zohar 70 (133a)
“You’re born with a Nefesh, you go from level to level. Each proponent of the soul is broken into another 5 levels, If you get to a certain level, you have to go back as a Gilgul to get to higher levels. Sometimes parts of your soul comes down and some parts stay up. Sometimes a part of your soul can be with one person, and a part with another part. Each neshama we have is a part of the longer whole. If you fix yourself you’re fixing everyone.”