A Taste of Reincarnation
We were on the way to Uman. The Ukrainian Police arrived on the tarmac with dogs. Little Shlomy cried frantically: “Abba, they’re taking us to the cattle cars!”
We had just arrived at the airport in Odessa by bus from Uman after having spent Rosh Hashanah at the grave site of our holy teacher and spiritual guide, Rebbe Nachman of Breslev, of saintly and blessed memory. The Ukrainians – both in Kiev and Odessa airports – have a custom of cordoning off the Rosh Hashanah pilgrims to some designated spot outside the terminal until the very last moment when we have to go through security, check-in, passport control, and flight boarding.
This past Rosh Hashanah, I saw something new in Odessa that I hadn’t seen previously in Kiev. Our group of about four busloads of Chassidim was surrounded by a rope cordon with armed guards and dogs. Despite my special-forces background and combat experience, I had a queasy feeling of nausea and dizziness. I never felt like this, even in my worst-case war memory. Back then, we were running, doing, fighting, firing our weapons; the Adrenalin was flowing. Here, I felt like I was flashing back to some round-up operation, as if we were about to be loaded on the cattle cars and taken away.
“Is it only me?” I thought.
All of a sudden, eleven year-old Shlomy from Jerusalem started crying hysterically. He clutched his father’s pants leg with all his might and started screaming, “Abba, they’re going to take us to the trains…those terrible trains!”
Wait a second – could Shlomy be flashing back? His parents are devout Breslever Chassidim with no television or DVD at home. Furthermore, they’re Jews of Iranian descent that had nothing to do with surviving the European Holocaust of World War II. Subsequently, I learned that Shlomy’s loved to read stories about tzaddikim, but he never read any books about the Holocaust. How did he associate the guards, the dogs, and the cordoned-off area to trains and deportation to the gas chambers?
By Hashem’s grace, I had some sesame candy in my flight bag. I took some and went over to my friend Ron – Shlomy’s father – to help him calm Shlomy down. Sure enough, Shlomy had the same sweaty forehead that I did. He didn’t want the candy, because he had the same nauseous feeling that I did too. But, he was glad to drink a cup of cola that a third friend of ours poured for him. The cool carbonated liquid eased his stomach and quenched his fear-parched throat.
I could literally taste the reincarnation, the experience of a former life not that long ago. So could Shlomy – I’m sure of it.
People often ask me if reincarnation is a tenet in Judaism. The answer is a very definite yes. Not only is Jewish esoteric literature full of this concept, especially the Zohar and the Gate of Reincarnation (Shaar HaGilgulim) in the writings of the Ariza’l, but Jewish ethics literature mentions it as well. For example, one who slanders others with a wagging tongue is known to reincarnate as an animal with a wagging tongue, namely a dog. Also, one who sells unkosher meat as kosher is known to reincarnate as an unkosher animal.
Rabbi Chaim ben Attar, the famed and holy “Or Hachaim” who was one of the Judaism’s most magnificent scholars of Torah and Kabbalah, writes in his elaboration of Torah (Breishit 1:26) an explanation of reincarnation as a soul correction, based on a concept brought forth in the Zohar (see Shmot, 94), as follows:
A soul that has left this world with an uncorrected transgression – in other words, the person failed to make teshuva for that particular misdeed even though he could be a very pious and upright individual – must attain a soul correction.
The Or Hachaim explains that if the transgression is minor, the person could be reincarnated as a fish. He will then attain his soul correction when someone eats him in holiness, especially during a Shabbat or other mitzvah-oriented meal. For that reason, many people are careful to eat their Shabbat fish with holy intent, for it is known that the souls of tzaddikim reincarnate in the fish.
The Or Hachaim continues and explains that if a person makes a more severe transgression, could be reincarnated as a kosher fowl that requires “half” slaughter, in other words, that either trachea or esophagus must be ritually cut. If the transgression is even worse, the offender could be reincarnated as a kosher animal that requires “full” slaughter, when both trachea and esophagus must be cut. Transgressions of a progressively more serious nature lead to reincarnations of the lower orders of creation, whose soul corrections are longer and more tedious.
Our sages teach us that a good measure is 500 times stronger than an equivalent bad measure (see Rashi on Shemot 34:7). If a reincarnation for transgression leads to a soul correction, than a reincarnation for a mitzvah leads to a reward that’s worth 500 soul corrections. This is a basic law of Jewish spirituality.
Now, you may be lifting a brow. Reincarnation for a mitzvah, how can that be?
The Gemara teaches us no one can come near the lofty portals of a Jewish martyr that was killed in the sanctification of Hashem’s name, in other words, simply because he was a Jew (see Bava Batra 10b).
Let’s go a step further: imagine that a martyr from the Holocaust arrives at his Heavenly residence of eternal bliss, but he can’t enjoy it because he never developed an appreciation for Torah, prayer, and singing Hashem’s praise. There’s nothing else on the Heavenly activity list to do. So, in order for our martyr to appreciate his reward of Gan Eden, he’s given another reincarnation to develop his acumen in and appreciation for Torah learning and personal prayer. During his former life, he was forcibly surrounded by police and dogs because he was a Jew. But now, he “tastes” his reincarnation and experiences the same trauma while performing a very lofty mitzvah, namely, adhering to his Rebbe’s directive and coming to his Rebbe in Uman for Rosh Hashanah.
My beloved rabbi and teacher Rav Shalom Arush shlit’a told me that the mitzvah of “emunat chachamim” – listing to Rebbe Nachman and coming to Uman despite the expense and hardship – is enough to have a person signed and sealed for another wonderful year of life for him and for his family.
At the end of this 120-year go-round, the martyr from the previous reincarnation who is now a loyal Uman-going Chassid in this reincarnation will undoubtedly have the privilege of basking in Divine light alongside the monumental tzaddikim, and particularly Rebbe Nachman of Breslev, may his holy memory protect us always, amen.
Reincarnation? We can’t know for sure, but sometimes we certainly get the taste of it…
12/31/2014
Reincarnation
Recently a friend of mine sent me a "invite" via Facebook to listen to information by a Rabbi Mizrachi. I typed his name into the search engine and a YouTube video came up. It so happened to be about reincarnation. Since I had been curious about the subject of reincarnation, I listened to the video which was about 2 hours long. About 55 minutes into the video, I became nauseated and dizzy and had to stop watching the video. Upon leaving the computer, I began to have a panic attack. The video upset me so much that I had a very "fitful" night trying to sleep. Because of the affect that the video had on me I did a search the next morning to find out what Rabbi Arush believed about reincarnation. When I did the search an article by you came up "A Taste of Reincarnation". While reading your article, I became dizzy and nauseated again and had another panic attack. At this point I don't know what to make of my reaction. Can you give me any other information or insight into why I would have this response?
12/31/2014
Recently a friend of mine sent me a "invite" via Facebook to listen to information by a Rabbi Mizrachi. I typed his name into the search engine and a YouTube video came up. It so happened to be about reincarnation. Since I had been curious about the subject of reincarnation, I listened to the video which was about 2 hours long. About 55 minutes into the video, I became nauseated and dizzy and had to stop watching the video. Upon leaving the computer, I began to have a panic attack. The video upset me so much that I had a very "fitful" night trying to sleep. Because of the affect that the video had on me I did a search the next morning to find out what Rabbi Arush believed about reincarnation. When I did the search an article by you came up "A Taste of Reincarnation". While reading your article, I became dizzy and nauseated again and had another panic attack. At this point I don't know what to make of my reaction. Can you give me any other information or insight into why I would have this response?
6/12/2013
White Buses I had a dream. In it I was around 10 years old or younger. Me and a group of people we're being led out of a wooden barracks. There was no walk way and it was muddy from melted snow. The sky was clear and blue. It seemed to be morning. As we walked out I could see the long row of barracks to my right and the ragged shoes of the people with me as we trudged through the wet mud. I was seeing this from the vantage point of small person, a child. We we're led to a white bus. We all got on the bus and everyone took their seats. There was no seat left so I sat on the floor by the exit door. I sat cross legged and could see the thick mud caked on my shoes. The seats towered over me again giving me the impression I was a child. When I sat on the floor I was overcome by emotion. It was as if I had been struggling to maintain my composure and couldn't any longer. I put my head in my hands and began to sob. The emotion was so strong I woke up crying and wept in my bed as if I'd been on that bus. I recognized the barracks in my dream but was clueless about the white buses. Where did these white buses come from. Were they symbolic of something? I went to the Internet and put White buses and Holocaust in the search engine not knowing what to expect. When I clicked on the link the same image in my dream was on the screen in front of me. It was the same bus. I write all this because I am a Ger. Was this me in another life? Is this chutzpah to ask this question?
Editor's response: That certainly sounds like you in a former life.