This is PART 1 of Yonassan Gershom's FAQ on reincarnation and the Holocaust. It contains Frequently Asked Questions regarding his work with people who believe that they died in the Holocaust during World War II and have been reincarnated.
PART 2 discusses general issues of Jewish reincarnation beliefs about "karma," how they relate to Jewish mysticism and the Holocaust, who comes back as who, some thoughts on healing the karma of the Holocaust, forgiveness, etc.
Part 3 continues the discussion about karmic issues from Part 2, with answers to questions regarding the reactions of specific groups and individuals -- Jewish and non-Jewish -- to this work, some controversial Orthodox beliefs, the novel "Night of Broken Souls" by Monteleone, etc.
All answers in this FAQ are direct quotes by Yonassan Gershom and represent his current beliefs and opinions at the time of writing. This FAQ can be used as a news release: Copyright permission is hereby given to quote from it in reviews, articles, books, etc. (Journalists: Please read this FAQ before contacting Rabbi Gershom for an interview or reference question. Webmasters please do not copy to your own site -- link instead, to be sure your readers have access to the latest version.) This update replaces all previous versions of the FAQ.Rabbi
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Q-1: Do all Jews believe in reincarnation?
Q-2: Where can I read about reincarnation in Judaism?
Q-3: What kind of Jew are you, Rabbi Gershom?
Q-4: Does your work officially represent the Breslov position?
Q-6: But didn't you get your ideas from the Edgar Cayce material?
Q-7: What do you mean by "Jewish souls"?
Q-8:But isn't that limiting, to always come back as a Jew?
Q-9: But don't you say in your books that the Jews from the Holocaust returned as gentiles?
Q-10: But you clearly said that Jews were coming back as blonds!
Q-12: Can I convert to Judaism through you, Rabbi Gershom?
Q-14: Do you have a listserv for discussing your books and these types of cases?
Q-15: Can I meet with you personally for a private consultation?
Q-16: How can I support Rabbi Gershom's current reincarnation work?
1. genetic survival through
one's descendants;
2. Physical resurrection;
3. An immortal soul in heaven;
4. Reincarnation.
Some Jews also believe in a combination of these. For example, it is possible that one might spend some time in various levels of Heaven or Gehenna (purgatory) before reincarnating on earth again, with a final Resurrection in the Last Days. Generally speaking, coming back here through reincarnation is not the goal of most traditional Jews -- Rebbe Nachman of Breslov once suggested that this world we are living in now is really Gehenna! When you look around at the world, it certainly does seem like Hell sometimes.
There is a well-known Hasidic story, which took place in the 1800's during the time of Reb Schneur Zalman of Liady (the first Lubovitcher Rebbe), where a soul of one of his disciples was offered a choice between spending a half hour in Gehenna (purgatory) to atone for a sin, or reincarnating on earth again -- and he chose Gehenna to get it over with!
The bottom line is, that Judaism is not dogmatic about afterlife beliefs because they cannot be clearly proven. So there is a lot of freedom about what individuals can believe while still remaining true to Jewsih theology. Ironically, it is the more modernized groups such as Reform and Reconstructionism which are the most skeptical about the afterlife! On the other hand, many Orthodox and Hasidic Jews have no problems with believing in reincarnation (called gilgul ha-neshamot in Hebrew.)
Some non-Hasidic Orthodox Jews believe in reincarnation also. For example, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the first chief Ashkenazi rabbi of Palestine (died 1935) believed in reincarnation. So does Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, the well-known Talmud scholar. Many Sephardic Orthodox Jews also believe in it.
The following three books on Judaism and reincarnation were all written by Orthodox scholars and published in 1999:
Jewish Tales of Reincarnation by Rabbi Yonassan Gershom (A Hasidic storytelller). This is a collection of 70 teaching stories from both traditional and modern sources, with overviews about the themes in each section, notes for each story, bibliography, etc. (Easy reading, accessible to Jews and non-Jews alike.)
Reincarnation and Judaism: The Journey of the Soul by Rabbi DovBer Pinson (A Lubovitcher Hasid.) An excellent theological presentation on how traditional Jewish teachers and texts have viewed reincarnation through the centuries, as well as a discussion of how reincarnation impacts all of us today. (Intermediate level, requires some knowledge of basic Judaism, history, and theology.)
The Jewish Concept of Reincarnation and Creation: Based on the Writings of Rabbi Chaim Vital, translated by Rabbi David M. Wexelman, founder and director of the Kabbalah Clinic in Jerusalem. This is a primary source text from the 16th century. Chaim Vital was the chief disciple of Rabbi Isaac Luria (the Holy Ari) and primarily responsible ofr preserving his teachings in writing. (Advanced level, requires a working knowledge of kabbalistic terminology and concepts from an Orthodox Jewish POV.)
For an in-depth Torah essay on the issues of sin, punishment, repentance, spiritual growth, the soul, afterlife, etc. see Defending Torah Secrets and Reincarnation by Rabbi Ariel bar Tzadok of Kosher Torah.com. NOTE: This document is in PDF format -- you'll need Acrobat Reader to read it. It also assumes you have a basic Torah background, i.e., that you are familiar with Jewish source texts and commentaries, Hebrew terminology, etc.)
Among the non-Orthodox, the Conservative and Reform denominations do not believe in it officially, but many individual members do. (The Reform movement recently published a very nice introductory book, What Happens After I Die?: Jewish Views of Life After Death, which includes a chapter on reincarnation.) Reconstructionist Judaism officially denies the existence of an afterlife, but many Reconstructionist individuals believe in reincarnation. Rabbi Zalman Schachter of the Jewish Renewal movement (formerly called B'nai Or) believes in reincarnation, as do many of his followers. You can read two reincarnation accounts by Rabbi Schachter on this website.
More books on Jewish reincarnation and afterlife teachings
Breslov is not hierarchical like some other Hasidic groups. We do not have a single leader or council of elders or other central authority to set policy -- we don't even have a membership list! So how could there be an "official Breslov stance" on this or anything else? The final authority in Breslov is always God's law as revealed through his Torah at Mt. Sinai (both Written and Oral.) . When Rebbe Nachman was asked by his Hasidim if there were any special rules for them to follow as his disciples, he said: Whatever is in the Shulchan Arukh (Code of Jewish Law.) As stated above in question Q-1, there is no conflict between Orthodox Judaism and belief in reincarnation. As for the rest, some Breslovers like what I do, and some don't -- as with anything else in this world.
Part of the problem is that the general public thinks (wrongly) that the "Old Testament": is the only holy book Jews have, and does not know that Hasidic Jews (and other groups as well) have these mystical teachings. So when they hear that I believe in reincarnation, they perceive my work as New Age when it is really firmly rooted in Hasidism (also spelled Chassidism).
Unfortunately, some people have misunderstood my openness to diversity as promoting occultism and/or mixing neo-pagan ideas with Judaism. This is not my intent at all. So in my second book, From Ashes to Healing I clarified my own theological position and clearly stated that I am a practicing Hasid. Although I admit to a certain fascination with Cayce as a psychic, his theology is far too Christian-oriented for me as a Jew. For this reason, I am not a member of the A.R.E., even though their press published my books. (For the same reason, I am also not an Anthropsophist, even though they published the Dutch and German translations.)
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My third reincarnation book, Jewish Tales of Reincanation," was published by Jason Aronson, Inc., which is a well-known Jewish press. The last chapter contains a few Holocaust reincarnation stories, and there was no objection from the publisher -- probably because my other two books paved the way for acceptance of this topic in the Jewish community. But at the same time, Jason Aronson has done very little, if anything, to promote this book outside the Jewish community -- were it not for my website, you would probably never know it existed. (sigh). So, there are pros and cons to both sides of this issue.
Jewish teachings, however, say that the Jews are a karmic soul group which is bound together by the covenant which God made with the Jewish people at Mt. Sinai. Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) teaches that all the souls of all the Jews who ever were or would be born -- incarnated at the time or not -- were present at Mt. Sinai when the Torah was given. This one-time cosmic event was for all eterninty, bonding these souls together as one body. This Covenant is -- in the words of the Torah -- l'dorotam l'vrit olam, "For all generations to be an eternal covenant."
As I explained in chapter 3 of my first book, Beyond the Ashes, in some contexts the Biblical phrase from generation to generation also means from incarnation to incarnation. Jewish mysticism teaches that we tend to come back in our own family lines. So, to be Jewish is a matter of both geneology and spirituality. Jewish souls chose to be born into Jewish families in order to remain connected to the sacred Covenant at Sinai. (Note: A convert to Judaism becomes grafted onto the family tree and returns as a Jew in future lives.)
Some Jewish groups, such as the Lubovitcher Hasidim, believe that "once a Jew always a Jew" and that Jewish souls always come back as Jews. This doctrine is according to an answer given by the sixth Lubovitcher Rebbe (Rabbi Joseph I. Schneerson, died 1950) in response to a question posed to him right after World War II.
However, there are other Jewish teachers and texts which suggest that, under certain unusual circumstances, Jewish souls do sometimes get exiled from their own people and come back as non-Jews or even as animals, plants, or stones. (See Sharei ha-Gilgulim and Sefer Ha-Pliyah.) My theory is that so many Jews were killed at once during the Holocaust, that there simply were not enough Jewish women on earth to give birth to all of them as Jews again. There also seem to be cases of people who suffered so much as Jews during the Holocaust, that they came back as non-Jews hoping to have a life of relative safety.
In his introduction to my book, From Ashes to Healing, Brad Steiger wrote:
"...While some souls may achieve spiritual evolution by participating in numerous cultural expressions, others may eveolve as steadily -- or even more directly -- by repeated incarnations in the same ethnic group. Interestingly, I have heard a number of Native American shamans express a similar sentiment, that the most powerful medicine practioners have incarnated primarily -- or exclusively -- in life experinces within the same tribal structure." (Intro., p. xiii)
The real problem is not that Jews come back as Jews, but that non-Jews think of Judaism as narrow and limited, so they don't see the Jewish path as something positive to come back to. When the same behavior -- returning for many incarnations in the same culture -- is seen as "spiritual" when Tibetans or Native Americans do it, but "limited" when Jews do it, then we are seeing a subtle form of prejudice at work. In reality, Jews who come back as Jews are no more limited than Tibetans who come back as Tibetans!
As for exposure to different cultures, Jews have lived all over the world throughout our 5000-year history. So we have been part of many different cultures while still remaining Jews. Diversity is not an either-or proposition. It is possible to be both firmly rooted in one's own culture or group and also be open to the rest of the world.
Ironically, during the nineteenth century, when nationalism was on the rise, it was this very universalism which the antisemites condemned, because they claimed that the Jews had no loyalty to any one country! Nowadays, when global consciousness is more popular, the Jews are accused of being narrow and limited and "not universal enough." In other words, whatever society does not like at any given time is often projected onto the Jews. People who make these type of accusations need to re-examine their stereotypes about Jews and Judaism.
A-8: Not exactly. Only some of the Jews returned as gentiles -- and those who did often feel lost from their people. The vast majority came back as Jews again! It is true that two-thirds of the stories mentioned in the first book (published 1992) were from non-Jews, but that figure is now completely obsolete. Since publication of that book, hundreds of Jews are also telling their Holocaust reincarnation stories. Nowadays I hear more Jewish stories than gentile ones.
My reason for citing so many non-Jewish cases in the first book was because they are the most convincing to the skeptic in terms of trying to prove reincarnation. If a Jew says he was a Holocaust victim in another life, people are going to say, "Look, you must have heard about it from your family during childhood, then forgot about it, and now you think it is a past-life memory." Which would be possible in such cases. So although the cases of Jews returning as Jews may be more numerous, they are not easily examined in a scientific way, because there are too many other influencing factors.
On the other hand, when a non-Jew from the rural USA, who has never even met a Jew, nevertheless has accurate memories of rituals and customs of Eastern European Jews that are not well-known to the outside world, then the case is far more convincing. But these stories of Jewish souls in gentile bodies are only a small minority of the six million Jews who were killed. Many Jews have these memories also! But for some reason, the general public chooses to ignore the Jewish souls who came back as Jews again, and tends to focus on the more sensationalized cases of gentiles with Jewish memories.
When the first book came out, the National Examiner (an American tabloid) ran an article entitled "Holocaust victims being reincarnated in blonde bodies," (Oct. 18, 1989, p. 15). The more mainstream presses have also focused on the idea of Jews returning as blue-eyed blonds, which continues to perpetuate an inaccurate view of my theories.
In my second book, From Ashes to Healing, I devoted many pages to correcting this misperception, and continue to correct it whenever I am interviewed by the press. But at the same time, new books continue to appear which quote the old blue-eyed blond material. Which is one reason for this website, where I can post the most up-to-date info.
Those who came back as blonds (either as Jews or as gentiles) seem to have been Jews who died as small children and who wished that they had looked more like the German children so that they would not have been persecuted. We know from history that this would not have made any difference -- the Nazis killed the blond Jews also. But it is a common attitude among children everywhere that they want to fit in and be like their peers. So if a brunette child wished she were blond, maybe that desire carried over into the next life. From these reincarnation stories we can learn how damaging prejudice is, because it affects the self-esteem of the victims for many lives to come. (If you didn't read the two Zalman Schachter stories linked to Q-2 above, I recommend that you go there now.
Yes, the heart is very important, but Judaism has specific requirements for defining who is a Jew, and there are specific duties to being a Jew. A convert to Judaism is expected to take on the entire Jewish way of life, not just a set of personal beliefs.
To begin your exploration of Judaism, I highly recommend The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Judaism, which, of course, is not really for idiots! Written by Rabbi Blech of Yeshiva University (Orthodox), it uses the familiar "Idiot's" series format to explain the basics in very accessible language.
(NOTE: Please do not misinterpret this section of the FAQ -- I am not trying to win converts. This info is here because it's a Frequently Asked Question, not to try and convert anybody.)
By and large, we Jews discourage conversion -- not because we are exclusive, but because you do not need to be Jewish in order to serve God. Being a Jew is very difficult in this world, and not everyone is cut out for that type of lifelong commitment. So normally we encourage people to seek God through their own religion. However, conversion to Judaism is possible for the sincerely persistent seeker.
In the cases of people who believe they are reincarnated from the Holocaust, many do feel that they want to return to their people, and some have chosen to go all the way and convert. Others felt that conversion to Judaism would cause major disruptions in their lives -- such as eating only kosher food, not working on Friday nights or Saturdays, and possibly exposing their children to antisemitism. So they choose to remain a gentile in this life, but to learn about Judaism, with the focus on returning as a Jew again in the next life.
The Conversion to Judaism site may help you to explore some of the issues involved, if you do decide to consider conversion. Be aware, however, that this site is written by a Conservative Jew (that's a denomination, not a political stance!) with, in my opinion, a subtely negative attitude about Orthodox Judaism (my denomination). Although he is sincerely attempting to be "inclusive" of all types of Jews, he is, in my opinion, also pushing the non-Orthodox agenda. However, the site does explore some of the basic issues, dilemmas, and family/social problems which sometimes confront converts to Judaism. The site also includes addresses of rabbis of all denominations that you can contact for further info on conversion.
For a good how-to-convert book, try Becoming a Jew by Rabbi Maurice Lamm. In this book, which has been called the definitive text for converting to Judaism, Rabbi Lamm does an excellent job of balancing the commitment to halachah (Jewish law) with sensitivity to the feelings and experiences of people seeking to become Jews. I also recommend Embracing the Covenant: Converts to Judaism talk about Why and How, which is an excellent anthology of over 50 personal essays by people from all kinds of backgrounds who have converted to Judaism. You can find more recommendations in the Basic Judaism section of my online bookstore.
So these stories do NOT minimize the Holocaust. They demonstrate how very deeply the Jewish people were wounded by the tortures in the camps, and how this pain carried down from one incarnation to the next, and how it will take many lifetimes to set it right again. Such a deep, deep tragedy! It adds yet another layer to the enormity of the Holocaust, because it means that this was not just a historical event in one century only, but also an event that is engraved on the souls of the Jewish people for many incarnation to come. So from these stories, we can all learn something about how destructive prejudice and abuse are on the human soul and psyche.
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If you just need to talk about your past-life story with someone besides me, you might want to try the Yahoo group, where you can meet other people with similar experiences. I occasionally participate in this forum, and it is accessible by e-mail or in the Web.
In From Ashes to Healing, first published in 1996, I stated that I was retiring from reincarnation counseling. That was my sincere intent at the time, but it has proven to be virtually impossible. Even though I am now on social Security and do not have a regular therapy practice, people from all over the world continue to write or e-mail me for help. Therapists, academics, and researchers continue to contact me as an expert in this unusual and very specialized field. Reporters call me for the Jewish perspective on reincarnation. Like Leonard Nimoy who ended up being forever Spock, I seem to have acquired the role of "Holocaust reincarnation rabbi" for life, even though I have now moved on to other projects (Such as my 2009 book on Jewish Themes in Star Trek. Hence the reference to Nimoy and Spock here. Also watch for my upcoming anthology, Eight Candles of Consciousness: Essays on Jewish Nonviolence, due out in June 2009 on my Lulu.com homepage. )
As I have explained elsewhere, I never had a paying position for the reincarnation work. People will pay hundreds of dollars to see a therapist, but somehow they expect a rabbi to do it all for free. And although the books have helped many people to find healing and peace of mind -- praise God for that! -- they have not been bestsellers, and generate very little in the way of royalties. The books have brought me fame but, alas, no fortune. Even keeping this website online comes out of my own pocket. So....
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That, in turn, keeps this FAQ and other resources on the Net for free.
Second, you can check out my Lulu.com Homepage, where you will find my recent self-published works, as well as anthology reprints of some of my earlier works. All are available as downloads or print books.
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Fourth, you can send a physical gift via Amazon instead of money. Check out my Wish List on Amazon.com through the link on my About Me page. Since this is our family wish list, some items are not reincarnation-related, but all would be most welcome! Also, if you have your own book you would like me to consider reviewing, got to my Want me to review your book? page and have your publisher send me a copy.
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No, I do not make referrals. However, You might check with the Association for Past-Life Research and Therapies, Inc. (APRT) for a referral. However, be sure to say that I referred you, or they may want to send you back to me -- and I'm retired. Also tell them you do not want to be referred to Hazel Denning or any of her students because I consider their blame-the-victim approach to issues of "Holocaust karma" to be detrimental. Ask for somebody who is familiar with my books and who respects my theology and does not claim, as Hazel Denning does, that every Jew who died in the Holocaust was an abuser in another life. Not! Please continue on to Part 2 of this FAQ for further discussion of these and other karmic issues, which you should definitely read before seeking a pastlife therapist.
And please be aware that I am no longer collecting stories for books. The biggest mistake I ever made in my life was to say I had counseled people "for free" in return for their story. That was true Over 25 years ago (the first story in Beyond the Ashes was collected in 1981) but it is not true now. There will be no more books by me on this topic, and I am no longer keeping track of new cases.
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