Resurrection and Reincarnation: Two Central Jewish Teachings and Their Meaning for Today
The resurrection of the dead has been a core Jewish teaching at least since Talmudic times; reincarnation for more than seven centuries. Talmudic sages denounced as heretics those who denied bodily resurrection. One of the most well-known Jewish prayers, the “Modeh Ani,” even entails a vision of a nightly death and daily resurrection! The kabbalists came to make gilgulei neshamot (reincarnation, more accurately rendered as “Revolutions of the Souls”) central to their vision of human existence. Such “Soul-Revolutions” include not only rebirth, but also the entry of spirit-guides into our souls in the course of our lifetime – also called “ibbur,” or “soul-pregnancy.” Nevertheless, in modern times, particularly among Westernized Jews, these fascinating teachings have been radically downplayed, even suppressed. We will study these teachings primarily from Kabbalistic sources – and we will ask: how does a vision of human existence as cyclical, as undergoing death and rebirth, either perpetually or at the end of days, change our conception of our own lives? How does it change our relationship to our ancestors, to Jewish history, even to the history of humanity? How does it change our experience of awakening each morning? What might we envision when we bless “the One who Resurrects the Dead” three times daily in our liturgy? What kind of radical change in our self-understanding would embrace of gilgul, the “Revolutions of the Souls,” entail? Can we engage consciously with spirit-guides who are “impregnated” within us? No background needed, except an open mind.
