Yonassan Gershom

Yonassan Gershom
Born	1947 Berkeley, California
Residence	Sandstone, Minnesota
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Minnesota State University, Mankato
Occupation	Rabbi and writer
Known for	Reincarnation research
Religion	Judaism
Spouse	Caryl Gershom

Yonassan Gershom is a Rabbi and writer who was ordained in the Jewish Renewal movement during the 1980s and is now a follower of Breslov Hasidism. He was associated with the early days of the B'nai Or movement, a forerunner of Jewish Renewal, in which he was ordained by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi in 1986, although he is not in agreement with the direction that the movement has taken in more recent years

Gershom lives on a farm in rural Minnesota, where he writes and conducts his ministry as a "cyber-rabbi" on the Internet. In 1997 he made a pilgrimage to the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov in Uman, Ukraine, a trip that has strongly influenced his later writings. Until this point, "he wasn't aware how much the rural experience shaped Hasidism. It gave him a deeper understanding of Hasidic stories and the Torah." He serves on the Advisory Board of the Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) and is active in the vegetarian and animal welfare movements.

Gershom is best known for having written several books on the topic of the Holocaust and reincarnation. Beyond the Ashes and From Ashes to Healing recount stories of people who claim to have died in the Holocaust and are now reincarnated, while Jewish Tales of Reincarnation deals with Jewish accounts of reincarnation, including a few from the Holocaust but mostly others from classical Jewish texts and oral tradition.

In his books on reincarnation, he discusses theories concerning whether Jews who died in the Holocaust did so as punishment for their sins in their previous lives. He argues that in the Jewish conception of evil and reincarnation (as opposed to the conception found in some other religions), suffering in this life is not necessarily punishment for wrong-doing in a previous life. Rather, he argues, undeserved suffering in this life can be purely due to the wrong-doing of the perpetrators and not some punishment for the victims. He does, however, argue that, according to the Jewish concept, wickedness can be accumulated over a succession of reincarnations. Thus, he argues, it is possible that the Nazis committed the Holocaust due to the evil they had accumulated through many lifetimes of persecuting and killing Jews throughout the preceding centuries. He speculates that Adolf Hitler might have been a reincarnation of the biblical Amalek.

Gershom has appeared on several TV programs in connection with his reincarnation work, including Sightings and Unexplained Mysteries. The Duluth, Minnesota PBS station, WDSE, also featured him on their Venture North news magazine show in connection with his philosophy on gardening and Jewish spirituality. He appears in the 2007 documentary film, A Sacred Duty: Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal the World, directed by Lionel Friedberg for the Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA).

Although he is best known for his books on reincarnation, Gershom is also a lifelong pacifist and peace activist, who has written many articles on Judaism and nonviolence, later collected into an anthology entitled Eight Candles of Consciousness. He was active in the peace movement in Minneapolis during the 1980s, and publicly protested against the policies of Meir Kahane. He is also a supporter of gay rights. He graduated from Mankato State University in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science degree in German language and Native American Studies.

Publications

On reincarnation:

• Beyond the Ashes: Cases of Reincarnation from the Holocaust, A.R.E. Press, 1992. (ISBN 0876042930)
• From Ashes to Healing: Mystical Encounters with the Holocaust, A.R.E. Press, 1996. (ISBN 0876043406)
• Jewish Tales of Reincarnation, Jason Aronson, Inc., 2000. (ISBN 0765760835)
• Are Holocaust Victims Returning?" ebook anthology of articles on reincarnation reprinted from various periodicals, 2007.

On other topics

• 49 Gates of Light: Kabbalistic Meditations for Counting the Omer, Crown Point Enterprises, Minneapolis, 1987, reprinted as 49 Gates of Light: a course in kabbalah, Lulu Press, Inc. 2010.
• "Shamanism in the Jewish Tradition," included in Nicholson, Shirley (ed.), Shamanism: An Expanded View of Reality, Quest Books, Wheaton, Illinois, 1996.
• "The Peace Stone" included in Seeing the Light: Personal Encounters with the Middle East and Islam, Curtis, Richard H. and McMahon, Janet (eds.), American Educational Trust, Washington DC, 1997.
• Eight Candles of Consciousness: Essays on Jewish Nonviolence, Lulu Press, Inc. Raleigh, NC, 2009. (ISBN 978-0-557-04922-6)
• Jewish Themes in Star Trek, Lulu Press, Inc. Raleigh, NC, 2009. (ISBN 978-0-557-04800-7)
• Two dialogues with him on animal rights issues in Judaism ("Raising Holy Sparks: Hasidic Thought and Vegetarianism" and "A Dialogue on Nature Deficit Disorder") are included in Who Stole My Religion?: Revitalizing Judaism and Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal Our Imperiled Planet by Richard H. Schwartz, Lulu Press, Inc. Raleigh, NC, 2011. (ISBN 978-1-105-33646-1)
• Work-in-progress: Notes from a Jewish Naturalist

External links

• His FAQ on Reincarnation and the Holocaust
• Multicultural Aspects of Reincarnation Studies by Yonassan Gershom. Text of a presentation at the National Institute for Discovery Science in 1997.
• What B'nai Or was like in the Old Days: A Memoir by Yonassan Gershom -- Personal account of his participation in Rabbi Zalman Schachter's B'nai Or movement in the 1970s and 1980s, and his later disenchantment.
• A Sacred Duty: Applying Jewish Values to Heal the World, homepage for this documentary film, which includes interview footage with Yonassan Gershom. You can also view the entire film on YouTube.
• Journey to Uman - his account of his pilgrimage to the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov with the Breslov Research Institute in 1997.
• Antisemitic Stereotypes in Alice Bailey's Writings, online essay about anti-Semitism in the philosophy of Alice Bailey, retrieved 8-22-07.
• "The Soul of Every Living Thing," a 5-minute video from the Shamayim v'Aretz Institute, featuring Yonassan Gershom speaking on nature and animals, viewable on YouTube