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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
61 of 62 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Author's reply to those who found the subtitle misleading,
By
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This review is from: Beyond the Ashes: Cases of Reincarnation from the Holocaust (Paperback)
To those here who found the subtitle "misleading" because (they felt) I
spent too much time on Jewish theology and not enough time on actual
case histories:First of all, I had to have permission to use people's stories, and very few were willing to give it, even if I changed their names. Back then, the subject of Holocaust reincarnations was taboo, and people were afraid that, if they were recognized in the book, they would be labeled as "crazy" or worse. So, although I had talked to about 250 people by the time the book was published, only a dozen or so were willing to have the details of their stories published -- and then only under pseudonyms. (My second book, "From Ashes to Healing," corrected this. After seeing the acceptance that the first book received, 15 people were now willing to tell their stories in public, all under their own names except for one mother whose child was still a minor.) Now about the theology parts: At the time "Beyond the Ashes" was published back in 1992, there was virtually NOTHING in print about Jewish reincarnation teachings, at least, not available English. Nor was there anything about cases from the Holocaust period, except for a hint here and there in certain Jewish publications. Not only that, but the "new age" interpretation of the Holocaust back then was that Jews in the camps were all nasty bad guys who had come back en masse to burn off their bad karma, and that Judaism was some sort of purgatory where folks could do that quickly. Needless to say, these theories were extremely offensive to Jews. Mostly they came from non-Jews, especially the writings of Alice Bailey, an esotericist who was also an antisemite. Other such theories came from certain sects of "new agers" who had carried over negative stereotypes about Jews from Christianity into their supposedly enlightened "new age consciousness." Even the former president of APRT (now IART), Hazel Denning, believed that the Holocaust victims were all former barbarians returned, and she publicly said so on radio and TV -- much to the horror of Jewish pastlife therapists. (The first time I spoke at an APRT conference, the Jewish therapists pulled me aside literally begged me to address this issue from the podium -- which I did.) Such theories were (and still are) repulsively antisemitic. They show a total lack of understanding about the beautiful path that Judaism can be, or about the subtle complexities of how karma actually works. So I felt it was my responsibility to do more than just tell "horror stories" about Holocaust pastlife memories and flashbacks. I would have been shirking my duty as a rabbi and a teacher if I had not tried to put these stories into some sort of larger context. Going "beyond the ashes" meant grappling with the bigger issues of the Holocaust, of the role of Jews in planetary healing, of the issues of diversity, tolerance, multiculturalism, world peace, etc. Otherwise the book would be nothing more than tabloid sensationalism, heaven forbid. Since the book was published over a decade ago, the "new age" has grown immensely in its understanding and appreciation of Jewish teachings -- in a large part because of this book, which has become a classic in the pastlife therapy field. A lot of general readers have also written and thanked me for opening up the world of Jewish spirituality. The theology parts may seem unnecessary now, but in its day, the book was a groundbreaking work. It has been responsible for a great deal of healing between Jews and non-Jews, and I am proud to have been the one to write it. Thank you for reading this. May you always walk the spiritual Path in beauty, joy, and peace. Rabbi Yonassan Gershom, author, "Beyond the Ashes"
40 of 42 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A classic and a must-read!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Beyond the Ashes: Cases of Reincarnation from the Holocaust (Paperback)
I originally bought this book more for the Jewish theology than the reincarnation cases as such. When it first came out back in 1992, it was the only book around that explained anything about Jewish reincarnation teachings in a way that didn't require three Ph.Ds. The Rabbi's open, personal style made me feel like he was teaching me as an equal, not talking down to me from some ivory tower somewhere. It was also the only book that offered a more sophisticated view of the Holocaust than the stupid "karmic payback" theories that were floating around back then (and now, too.) In my opinion, this book did more than any book I know of to make New Agers re-examine their negative Old Age attitudes about Jews and Judaism. It's a reincarnation classic and still a must-read. It sure changed my ideas about "Jewish karma" -- and my life, too.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good in spite of a somewhat misleading title,
By Anyechka (Rensselaer, NY United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Beyond the Ashes: Cases of Reincarnation from the Holocaust (Paperback)
This was a really interesting book, but based on the title, I was
expecting it to be more about the cases of people who had had previous
incarnations during the Shoah. There were maybe a dozen or so such
cases presented, even though the author has counseled a plethora of such
people. The cases he does present merely seem to serve as a backdrop
for a greater theme of reincarnation in Judaism, Jewish mysticism, and
popular misconceptions about the place of spirituality, reincarnation,
and New Age elements in Judaism, along with his own mystical beliefs and
experiences. It's not that it was badly-written, just that, based on
the title, the book would have been better-served focusing more on the
many individuals he counseled and the specifics of each of their cases,
instead of just using short synopses of about a dozen of their stories
as a backdrop for the abovementioned topics. I read the book because I
too believe I was there before and am interested in reincarnation
stories anyway; I didn't purchase it in the expectation of reading
mostly about Jewish mysticism (a great topic, but not one I was looking
for here) and other topics that didn't really relate that much to the
title.
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