Reincarnation in Judaism
Like other religion’s definition of reincarnation, Judaism looks at reincarnation as the soul perfecting itself. Kabbalah teaches us that our souls will return to the world in many incarnations until complete spiritual transformation is met. However, reincarnation, or gilgulim, in Judaism differs from other religion’s views in that it does not consider our lives on earth as “predestined.”
Known as Gilgulei Ha Neshamot, reincarnation in Judaism teaches that we have a freedom of choice which takes the idea of reincarnation from a place of fatalism to a place of personal responsibility. According to Judaism, reincarnation is not “predestined” and “everything happens for a reason,” but that you are responsible for completing your own spiritual journey and fulfilling the 613 mitzvots (commandments) demanded of you.
(A listing of these 613 mitzvots taken from the Torah can be seen here. List — The613Mitzvots.com As you can see, they are quite extensive.)
The Jewish tradition that there are 613 mitzvots in the Torah was first recorded in the third century with Rabbi Simlai mentioning it in the Talmud Makkot 23b.
These 613 mitzvots include positive commands to perform and act (mitzvot aseh) and negative mitzvots to abstain from certain acts (mitzvot lo taaseh). Interestingly, the negative mitzvots number 365 coinciding with the number of days in the solar year, and the positive mitzvots number 248, which is a number ascribed to the bones and main organs in the human body.
Moshe ben Maimon was a scholar of Scripture in the 12th century. Commonly known as Maimonides, or the “the Rambam”, he was the first to document the mitzvots given in the Torah. If you do not complete the 613 mitzvots, according to Jewish law you will return to earth again and again until these obligations are met.
Many Jews are surprised to learn, or might even deny, that reincarnation exists, but it is an integral part of Jewish belief that there is a “revolving” of souls through a succession of lives or gilgulim. The teaching and belief of gilgulim has been an integral part of Jewish belief and is firmly rooted in the Torah.
Gilgulim is a type of punishment a person goes through before they can reincarnate. When a person dies, he is punished for all his sins before entering Purgatory. You can be punished into domaim (mineral), tzomai’och (vegetation), chai (inanimate), or midabair (another person). An interesting facet of gilgulim is that you can be reincarnated into a living person for a short period of time, what is now called Reincarnation into Same Body by the New Age community for a short period of time to finish your 613 mitzvots. According to Jewish law, everyone must undergo these gilgulim before ascending into a higher vibrational level and will be required to reincarnate into one of the manners mentioned above.
Even though Judaism does not see reincarnation as predestined since you are responsible through your own free will, that does not mean that events in your life will not lead you to places and encounters that will facilitate the 613 mitzvot. But again, it is your free will as to whether you perform them or not. The Divine will provide the opportunity. What you do with those opportunities is your choice.
To ensure that you maintain your ability to exercise complete freedom of choice, the Divine does not allow you conscious knowledge of previous incarnations. Therefore, we do not remember past lives.
We are all given a specific amount of time when we come into the world to complete our spiritual work with specific tasks to perform. Everyone has different tasks, and no one’s journey is identical. According to Kabbalah, we are all given enough time to complete our spiritual transformation in one lifetime, but we also do not have time to waste.
Unfortunately, due to human nature, we do not always use our time wisely. Life gets in the way of our meeting our spiritual obligations. As time passes, we may achieve part of our transformation, or perhaps none at all. But even though we are provided enough time, most people do not depart this life completing the spiritual tasks we are assigned. Thus, we will return to this world in many incarnations until we achieve this complete spiritual transformation.
This is a short explanation of gilgulim and reincarnation in Judaism. If you are interested, I strongly suggest checking out https://kabbalah.com/ for more information and guidance.
