S
stillsmallvoice
Guest
Hi all!
Well, seeing as how Jewish & Hasidic beliefs have been dragged in here, I thought that I would add the following, while resisting the temptation to respond to Ghosty (
) regarding texts, canons and the utterly irrelevant views of the Sadducee and Essene heretics (OK, I un-resisted a little!).
A rabbi whose Shabbat (what we call the Sabbath) lesson I used to go to in our old neighborhood referred to Ecclesiastes 12:7.
Being recycled could also be a blessing. God might, in His mercy, afford a soul that had some spiritual blot, another cycle in order to gain merit by being kindly, giving to charity, doing good deeds, etc. We believe that God wants more than anything that an errant soul repent of his/her evil ways and will afford that soul ample opportunity, whether in one cycle or in many, to do so.
But while Reincarnation is accepted in Judaism, it doesn’t get much emphasis. This is for two reasons. First, it is part of kabbalah (esoteric Jewish mysticism), which is, quite properly, the province of very few. Only the most pious, learned & saintly need delve into kabbalah. (That chain of “Kabbalah Centers” has as much to do with real kabbala as a Twinkie has to do with real pastry.) (See jewfaq.org/kabbalah.htm.) Second, it is not particularly relevant to an orthodox Jew’s everyday life. There are a zillion and one spiritual things that are far more relevant to my daily life as an orthodox Jew than idle speculation on what I may or may not have done in a previous cycle (the Hebrew word is “gilgul”). As an orthodox Jew, I need to study, and live according to, the Torah, and do good in the world, in the here-and-now, regardless of what I may or may not have done in a previous gilgul. I have obligations & responsibilities that bind me now, right here & it is on those that I have to concentrate.
The first letter in the Bible (in the original Hebrew), i.e. the first letter in the Book of Genesis, is a “bet” (which is actually the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet). It is shaped like a squared-off C, but opening to the left. (See jewfaq.org/alephbet.htm.) Thus, it is closed on three sides (top, bottom & right) and open on only one, left. Hebrew (like Arabic & Aramaic) reads from right-to-left, which means that left represents forward (while right represents backward). Our Sages say that the Torah begins with a “bet” because it is telling us that we should not concern ourselves with what is above (the “bet” is closed there), what is below (it’s closed there too), or what came before (closed again), rather we must look forward (the “bet” is open that way).
(cont.)
Well, seeing as how Jewish & Hasidic beliefs have been dragged in here, I thought that I would add the following, while resisting the temptation to respond to Ghosty (
) regarding texts, canons and the utterly irrelevant views of the Sadducee and Essene heretics (OK, I un-resisted a little!).A rabbi whose Shabbat (what we call the Sabbath) lesson I used to go to in our old neighborhood referred to Ecclesiastes 12:7.
He said that this verse is definitive. The spirit will return to God, it can be sooner (after relatively few cycles, maybe even one for very rare & exceptional individuals) or it can be later (after very many cycles), it all depends on us. We were discussing Deuteronomy 21:22-23. My rabbi said that the person who was thus executed needed the awful spiritual purgative/corrective of execution & being hung up afterwards to atone for what he had done & spare his soul from being pushed further away from returning to God and from terrible tribulations in the next world.
Being recycled could also be a blessing. God might, in His mercy, afford a soul that had some spiritual blot, another cycle in order to gain merit by being kindly, giving to charity, doing good deeds, etc. We believe that God wants more than anything that an errant soul repent of his/her evil ways and will afford that soul ample opportunity, whether in one cycle or in many, to do so.
But while Reincarnation is accepted in Judaism, it doesn’t get much emphasis. This is for two reasons. First, it is part of kabbalah (esoteric Jewish mysticism), which is, quite properly, the province of very few. Only the most pious, learned & saintly need delve into kabbalah. (That chain of “Kabbalah Centers” has as much to do with real kabbala as a Twinkie has to do with real pastry.) (See jewfaq.org/kabbalah.htm.) Second, it is not particularly relevant to an orthodox Jew’s everyday life. There are a zillion and one spiritual things that are far more relevant to my daily life as an orthodox Jew than idle speculation on what I may or may not have done in a previous cycle (the Hebrew word is “gilgul”). As an orthodox Jew, I need to study, and live according to, the Torah, and do good in the world, in the here-and-now, regardless of what I may or may not have done in a previous gilgul. I have obligations & responsibilities that bind me now, right here & it is on those that I have to concentrate.
The first letter in the Bible (in the original Hebrew), i.e. the first letter in the Book of Genesis, is a “bet” (which is actually the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet). It is shaped like a squared-off C, but opening to the left. (See jewfaq.org/alephbet.htm.) Thus, it is closed on three sides (top, bottom & right) and open on only one, left. Hebrew (like Arabic & Aramaic) reads from right-to-left, which means that left represents forward (while right represents backward). Our Sages say that the Torah begins with a “bet” because it is telling us that we should not concern ourselves with what is above (the “bet” is closed there), what is below (it’s closed there too), or what came before (closed again), rather we must look forward (the “bet” is open that way).
(cont.)
