Juutalaisuus ja jälleensyntymä

http://scheinerman.net/judaism/ideas/afterlife.html

By the time Shesher ben Isaac of Saragossa (1131-1209 C.E.) lived, the notion of reincarnation (gilgul haneshamot, migration of souls) had become popular and many parts of the world. Some Jews, as well, were quite taken by this idea. The whole notion of resurrection clearly bothered Shesher ben Isaac, and perhaps he was responded to new ideas of reincarnation, as well, when he wrote in exasperation:

I ask this fool who maintains that the souls will return to the dead corpses and that they are destined to return to the soil of Israel: Into which body will the soul return? If it is to the body from which it has departed [then this will] already have returned to its elements thousands of years earlier... If, however, this soul is to return to another body which God will create, then it is another man who will be created in his own time and has not been dead.

While we are not certain how early the idea of reincarnation found its way into Jewish thinking, Anan ben David (8th c founder of Karaism) reportedly believed in reincarnation. By the 12th century of the Common Era, transmigration of the soul was assumed in Kabbalah. The Zohar, a seminal work of Kabbalah notes:

It is the path taken by man in this world that determines the path of the soul on her departure. Thus, if a man is drawn towards the Holy One, and is filled with longing towards [God] in this world, the soul is departing... is carried upward towards the higher realms by the impetus given her each day in this world. [Zohar, II, 99b]

At first glance, reincarnation solves a fundamental theodicy question: How and when do the evil, who appear to prosper in this world, get punished? The answer offered by reincarnation is that after death, a sinful soul is implanted in another body to give it an opportunity to atone for sins committed in a previous body. Conversely, suffering is a consequence of acts committed in a previous incarnation. These ideas are neither logical nor compatible, but they offered comfort to a great many people. They also answered some other questions: Why do some people act like animals? Because they have a soul which once abided in a beast. Why is a woman barren? Because her soul formally resided in a male. Why does a child die? To punish the soul, which previous resided in a sinner. Why do some people choose to convert to Judaism? Because their souls previous belonged to Jews. Transmigration , as the Kabbalah explains it, serves the purpose of punishing souls that were sinful and providing them with an opportunity to purify themselves. Righteous souls require 3 reincarnations, while wicked souls require as man as 1000 reincarnations. There are three types of reincarnation: (1) gilgul: during pregnancy; (2) ibbur: "old" soul temporarily enters body of another during its lifetime; (3) dybbuk: evil soul temporarily enters body causing mental illness must be removed by exorcism by a baal shem. Among those who believed in transmigration of the soul are: Rabbi Menassah ben Israel (1604-1657 C.E.) who claimed it was an infallible dogma of Judaism that no one would challenge (this is patent nonsense); Abraham bar Hiyya (Spain, first half of 12th century) taught this doctrine, saying if a person is ignorant but righteous, his soul returns once or twice more, until it obtains knowledge and wisdom; and Moses Teitelbaum (1759-1841) a Hungarian hasid who believed the soul returns to earth in another body to set right sins committed in a previous existence.

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