Spirituality & Religious StudiesGilgul
Also known as Gilgul neshamot or Gilgulei HaNeshamot. The plural is Gilgulim.
This is a concept of reincarnation (or transmigration of souls) in Kabbalistic esoteric mysticism.
In Hebrew, the word gilgul means “cycle” or “wheel,” & neshamot is the plural word for “souls.”
Souls are seen to cycle through lives or incarnations, being attached to different human bodies over time. Which body they associate with depends on their particular task in the physical world, the spiritual levels of the bodies of predecessors, & so on.
The concept relates to the wider processes of history in Kabbalah, involving cosmic Tikkun (Messianic rectification) & the historical dynamic of ascending Lights & descending Vessels from generation to generation.
The esoteric explanations of gilgul were articulated in Jewish mysticism by Isaac Luria in the 16th century. As part of the metaphysical purpose of Creation.
Reincarnation is an esoteric belief within many streams of modern Judaism. But it isn’t an essential tenet of traditional Judaism. It’s not mentioned in classical sources such as the Hebrew Bible, the classical rabbinic works (Mishnah & Talmud), or Maimonides’ 13 principles of faith. The belief is universal in Hasidic Judaism, which regards the Kabbalah as sacred & authoritative.
The 16th-century mystical renaissance in communal Safed marked an important development in Kabbalistic thought, with a significant impact on mystical circles & Jewish spirituality. It was also the time when Kabbalah was most widely disseminated. In this context, Isaac Luria taught new explanations of the reincarnations of historical Jewish figures, which Hayyim ben Joseph Vital compiled in his Shaar HaGilgulim.
So the Shaar HaGilgulim lists possible reincarnations: One who had spicy naked adult time with an animal is reincarnated as a bat. One who has spicy adult time with a menstruating Gentile woman, 1 who commits adultery, is reincarnated as a donkey, with his mom as a female donkey, with the man as a rabbit/hare. A soul can even reincarnate in an inanimate object like a stone.
Tzaddikim can be reincarnated as a fish. Because fish don’t have to be ritually slaughtered before being restored via eating. Tzaddikim/tzadik is a title in Judaism given to people considered righteous, like biblical figures & later spiritual masters.
The Shtetl Book (David Roskies) mentions these beliefs: Souls of a tsaddik become the souls of fish. The souls of butchers who eat treyf (or non-kosher) meat become the soul of a black cow. The souls of dishonest khazn (or a Jewish cantor) become the soul of a dog because their prayer was pleasing to God as a dog’s bark. The soul of an informer/narc/rat becomes a parrot because they acted like a parrot, speaking the wrong things at the wrong time to the wrong people.
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