Reincarnation in Judaism
Reincarnation is a spiritual phenomenon intended to give a person repeated opportunities to reach the higher purpose assigned to them. Sometimes, the challenges a person experiences in life, aspects of their personality, or circumstances in various areas of life are carryovers from previous lives, aimed at guiding the individual toward their spiritual destiny.
Reincarnation – Does Judaism affirm it happens in our world? And if so, what is the spiritual purpose of this process? Is remembering a previous life a blessing or a burden? What can an Indian child who recalls a past life teach us about it?
The term “reincarnation” has always carried an air of mystery and a giant question mark. Does this phenomenon actually occur in our world? What is the purpose of bringing a soul back for another lifetime? And do a person’s past lives influence the course of their current one?
Numerous reports from around the world come from concerned parents claiming their child insists they were once someone else. Typically, the child recounts specific details of a deceased person’s life-information they have no logical way of knowing. Upon investigation, these facts often turn out to be entirely accurate. Such phenomena offer a tangible illustration of the Jewish belief in the existence of reincarnation (Gilgul Neshamot).
The Spiritual Mission
Judaism explains that there is a profound purpose behind the spiritual process of returning a soul to this world. A soul originally resides in a celestial realm known as the “Chamber of Souls” until the moment it is destined to descend into a physical body. Before entering our world, the soul is reminded that its mission is to fulfill the will of its Creator-God. If it completes its task faithfully, it earns a reward of eternal spiritual bliss beyond human comprehension.
However, if a soul forgets its purpose and lives a life distant from the Divine, it must undergo various paths of “rectification” (Tikun) at the end of its days. One of these paths is reincarnation-essentially a “makeup exam” for the soul. In this “retake,” the soul must confront the same challenges it failed to overcome in its previous life. For example, if a person struggled with anger or greed and failed to achieve inner change, they may be reborn with those same tendencies to provide another opportunity to refine their character and become a better person.
Finding Your “Tikun”
The Vilna Gaon, one of the greatest Torah scholars in history, explains how we can identify the specific rectification we must focus on in our current life. While every Jew is required to observe all the commandments (Mitzvot), each individual has a unique focal point-much like a soldier who must follow all army regulations but also has a specific specialized role. The Vilna Gaon teaches that the particular commandment or character trait that we find most difficult is usually the very thing we failed to rectify in a past life.
Conversely, Rabbi Eliyahu HaKohen (author of Shevet Mussar) adds that if one feels a powerful, natural attraction to a specific Mitzvah, this too may be a sign that this is the soul’s primary mission in this incarnation, deserving of special focus.
Answers to Life’s Hardest Questions
Before a soul descends, its personality traits, appearance, talents, weaknesses, and life events are all pre-determined according to the rectification it needs to undergo. In other words, a soul does not start with a “blank slate”; it enters a precisely tailored life path.
For instance, a person who possessed great wealth in a past life but used it for negative purposes might, before returning, request to live in poverty. This is to ensure they aren’t tempted to fail in the same way again. Since we do not remember our lives before birth, we may complain about our “bad luck,” unaware that we ourselves requested these circumstances for our own spiritual growth.
This perspective provides answers to painful questions like: “Why was I destined for such poverty?” or “Why was I born with this physical ailment?” When the concept of reincarnation is factored in, even the most difficult tragedies-such as childhood illness or disabilities-are viewed through a different lens. According to the Talmud, “There is no suffering without transgression.” Since children are pure and have not yet sinned, Judaism explains that their challenges are often a “spiritual polishing” intended to purify the soul from deeds in previous lifetimes-much like a diamond is refined through grinding and polishing.
The Gift of Forgetting
Through hypnotic regression, individuals can sometimes recall details of past lives buried deep in their subconscious. Often, unexplained phobias are revealed to be rooted in past-life traumas.
While many wonder who they were or where they lived in a previous life, forgetting is actually a great gift. Memories of past lives could prevent a person from leading a balanced, healthy life. One might remain obsessively attached to a former family rather than building a new life in the present.
The Case of Shanti Devi
A famous example of this struggle is Shanti Devi, an Indian girl born in the 1920s. At the age of four, she began claiming she was actually a woman named Lugdi Bai from the village of Muttra. She provided intimate details about her “husband,” Kedar Nath Choubey, his physical appearance (including a wart on his left cheek), and the fact that she had died ten days after giving birth to her second son.
Though her parents initially dismissed her claims as a child’s imagination, her persistence led to an investigation. It was discovered that a man named Kedar Nath did indeed live at the address she provided and had lost his wife, Lugdi, just one year before Shanti was born.
When Shanti eventually met Kedar Nath, she recognized him immediately despite attempts to trick her. She also recognized her “son,” bursting into tears and embracing him as her own. Later, a committee of 15 researchers-appointed by Mahatma Gandhi-accompanied her to Muttra. Shanti successfully navigated the village streets to her former home, recognized her “parents” from a crowd of 50 people, and even pointed out where Lugdi had hidden money.
Prominent researchers, including Dr. Ian Stevenson of the University of Virginia, studied the case and concluded that her memories were remarkably consistent with verified facts. However, Shanti’s life was defined by the pain of remembering. She felt a deep longing for her past family and had to undergo a long, internal struggle to “let go” and live her current life. She passed away in 1987, having never married or had children.
4. Reincarnation in Animals
At times, a human soul is forced to return to this world within the body of an animal, and in certain cases, even within plants or inanimate objects. Rabbi Chaim Vital, a prominent kabbalist in Safed and the foremost disciple of the holy Arizal, authored Sha’ar HaGilgulim (The Gate of Reincarnations) based on his teacher’s wisdom. In this work, he details the severe transgressions that might force a soul into such a difficult and agonizing path of rectification.
For example, a person who committed murder-shedding blood-might be reincarnated into water. Similarly, one who fed the Jewish people non-kosher meat (neveilot) might be reincarnated into the leaf of a tree that eventually falls to the ground and withers.
Rabbi Chaim Vital writes in his introduction that his teacher, the Arizal, possessed Divine Inspiration (Ruach HaKodesh) and could perceive who was reincarnated into inanimate objects, plants, or animals, and for which specific sins. He writes:
“Many times I walked through the fields with my teacher, of blessed memory, and he would say to me: ‘There is a man by this name, who was a righteous Torah scholar, but due to a certain sin he committed during his lifetime, he is now reincarnated within this stone, or this plant.’ My teacher had never met the man, yet when we would investigate the deceased individual, we found his words to be precise and true. There is no end to such accounts; a book could not contain them all.”
5. A Blessing that Rectifies the Soul
Before eating any food, one must recite a blessing (Birkat HaNehenin), and if a specific amount is consumed within a set timeframe according to Jewish law (Halacha), an after-blessing (Beracha Acharona) must also be said.
The holy Arizal, one of the greatest masters of Jewish mysticism, explains that one of the reasons we recite blessings over food-whether it comes from animals, plants, or even inanimate sources like water-is related to reincarnation. Since souls are sometimes reincarnated into the realms of the inanimate, the vegetable, or the animal, it is possible that the food being eaten contains a reincarnated soul. Through the blessing a person recites, they help rectify that soul, allowing it to reach its ultimate spiritual completion.
Rabbi Chaim Vital, the primary disciple of the Arizal, writes in his work Sha’ar HaMitzvot that if a person eats food containing a reincarnated soul without reciting a blessing, it causes great distress to that soul, as it was denied the opportunity to achieve its necessary rectification.
4. Reincarnation in Animals
At times, a human soul is forced to return to this world within the body of an animal, and in certain cases, even within plants or inanimate objects. Rabbi Chaim Vital, a prominent kabbalist in Safed and the foremost disciple of the holy Arizal, authored Sha’ar HaGilgulim (The Gate of Reincarnations) based on his teacher’s wisdom. In this work, he details the severe transgressions that might force a soul into such a difficult and agonizing path of rectification.
For example, a person who committed murder-shedding blood-might be reincarnated into water. Similarly, one who fed the Jewish people non-kosher meat (neveilot) might be reincarnated into the leaf of a tree that eventually falls to the ground and withers.
Rabbi Chaim Vital writes in his introduction that his teacher, the Arizal, possessed Divine Inspiration (Ruach HaKodesh) and could perceive who was reincarnated into inanimate objects, plants, or animals, and for which specific sins. He writes:
“Many times I walked through the fields with my teacher, of blessed memory, and he would say to me: ‘There is a man by this name, who was a righteous Torah scholar, but due to a certain sin he committed during his lifetime, he is now reincarnated within this stone, or this plant.’ My teacher had never met the man, yet when we would investigate the deceased individual, we found his words to be precise and true. There is no end to such accounts; a book could not contain them all.”
5. A Blessing that Rectifies the Soul
Before eating any food, one must recite a blessing (Birkat HaNehenin), and if a specific amount is consumed within a set timeframe according to Jewish law (Halacha), an after-blessing (Beracha Acharona) must also be said.
The holy Arizal, one of the greatest masters of Jewish mysticism, explains that one of the reasons we recite blessings over food-whether it comes from animals, plants, or even inanimate sources like water-is related to reincarnation. Since souls are sometimes reincarnated into the realms of the inanimate, the vegetable, or the animal, it is possible that the food being eaten contains a reincarnated soul. Through the blessing a person recites, they help rectify that soul, allowing it to reach its ultimate spiritual completion.
Rabbi Chaim Vital, the primary disciple of the Arizal, writes in his work Sha’ar HaMitzvot that if a person eats food containing a reincarnated soul without reciting a blessing, it causes great distress to that soul, as it was denied the opportunity to achieve its necessary rectification.
They are young, innocent, and share one striking commonality: they all claim to have been someone else entirely in a previous life, and they returned to tell the tale.
A recurring pattern emerges in these four stories: the child begins sharing memories of a past life with their parents, who initially dismiss the stories as childhood imagination. However, as the child persists, the parents are shocked to discover that the specific details provided are entirely accurate-information the children had no possible way of knowing.
The parents are often left in a state of shock as the reality sets in: reincarnation is a tangible phenomenon, and their child is living proof.
“I was once a woman who died in a hotel fire”
When two-year-old Luke Ruehlman began claiming he was the reincarnation of a woman named Pam, his mother, Erica, was stunned. She didn’t believe his stories about a woman from Chicago. Whenever Luke brought her up, Erica brushed it off and went about her day.
For months, she assumed Luke had simply invented an imaginary friend. But as she listened closer to his descriptions, she felt a chill. The details were far beyond the scope of a toddler’s mind. “When I finally asked him who Pam was, he said without hesitation that it was his name in his ‘old life,’ and that he had died in a hotel fire in Chicago.”
Erica had never spoken to Luke about Chicago, but she decided to research the information online. To her amazement, she found that a woman named Pam Robinson had indeed perished in a Chicago hotel fire in 1993.
“I used to be an actor, and my old house was much bigger”
The story of Ryan, a young boy from Oklahoma who claimed to be a former Hollywood actor, captivated the American media several years ago. Ryan would wake up screaming in the night, begging his mother, Cyndi, to take him to his “house with the yacht.”
Cyndi was at a loss until she decided to bring home books on Hollywood history from the local library. As they looked through the photos, Ryan stopped at a still from a 1932 film featuring an uncredited extra named Marty Martyn. He pointed at the man and shouted, “Mama, that’s me!”
The family sought the help of Dr. Jim Tucker, a renowned child psychiatrist specializing in past-life memories. Investigation revealed that Marty Martyn had eventually become a successful Hollywood agent. Ryan provided 55 distinct, accurate facts about Martyn’s life, including the street where he lived, his number of children, his siblings, and his five marriages.
Most remarkably, Ryan told Dr. Tucker he didn’t understand why God let him die at 61 only to be reborn as a baby. While Martyn’s death certificate listed his age as 59, Dr. Tucker uncovered old census records proving that Ryan was correct: Martyn had actually been 61 when he passed away.
“I was a pilot and I crashed into the sea”
James was only six when he began telling his parents he once flew a fighter plane “like the ones in the movies.” Since the age of two, he had shown an obsessive interest in planes, explaining technical details that no one in his family knew.
Then the nightmares started. Every night for months, James would wake up screaming, “Help! My plane is crashing! It’s on fire!”
His parents began a serious investigation into his claims. James knew specific details about World War II aircraft that were impossible for a child his age to know. He identified his ship as the Natoma, which they discovered was a real escort carrier (the USS Natoma Bay). They eventually identified a young pilot named James Huston, who had been killed in 1945 when his plane was hit by Japanese artillery over the Pacific.
The Druze Boy: “I want to see my son”
In another fascinating case, a young boy from a Druze village began claiming at the age of three that he was someone else. As he grew older, he eventually led his mother by the hand to a house in the village of Isfiya. There, he correctly identified the woman who had been his “wife,” his “children,” and various details of the life he had led there before his untimely death in his previous incarnation.
