Reincarnation is an esoteric belief within many streams of modern Judaism but is not an essential tenet of traditional Judaism. It is not mentioned in classical sources such as the
Hebrew Bible, the classical rabbinic works (
Mishnah and
Talmud), or
Maimonides'
13 principles of faith. Kabbalah, however, teaches a belief in
gilgul; hence, the belief is universal in
Hasidic Judaism, which regards the Kabbalah as sacred and authoritative. Among well-known rabbis who rejected the idea of reincarnation are
Saadia Gaon,
David Kimhi,
Hasdai Crescas,
Jedaiah ben Abraham Bedersi (early 14th century),
Joseph Albo,
Abraham ibn Daud, and
Leon of Modena. Among the
Geonim,
Hai ben Sherira argued with
Saadia Gaon in favour of
gilgulim. Rabbis who believed in the idea of reincarnation include, from Medieval times, the mystical leaders
Nahmanides and
Bahya ben Asher; from the 16th-century
Levi ibn Habib, and from the mystical school of
Safed,
Solomon Alkabetz,
Isaac Luria, and his exponent
Hayyim ben Joseph Vital; and from the 18th-century: the founder of
Hasidic Judaism, the
Baal Shem Tov, later Hasidic Masters, and the
Lithuanian Jewish Orthodox leader and Kabbalist the
Vilna Gaon; and - amongst others - from the 19th/20th-century:
Yosef Hayyim, author of the
Ben Ish Hai. The 16th century mystical renaissance in communal
Safed marked an important development in Kabbalistic thought, with a significant impact on mystical circles and Jewish spirituality. It was also the time when Kabbalah was most widely disseminated. In this context, Isaac Luria taught new explanations of the process of
gilgul and identification of the reincarnations of historic Jewish figures, which Hayyim ben Joseph Vital compiled in his
Shaar HaGilgulim.
Shaar haGilgulim lists possible reincarnations: "One who has sexual relations with an animal is reincarnated as a bat, one who has relations with a menstruant non-Jewish woman, one who commits adultery is reincarnated as a donkey, with his mother as a she-ass, with a man as a rabbit or hare".
Tzaddikim can reincarnate as a fish, because "fish do not have to be ritually slaughtered before being rectified via eating".
David Roskies in
The Shtetl Book mentions the following beliefs: "The soul of a tsadek becomes the soul of a fish. The soul of a butcher who eats
treyf meat becomes the soul of a black crow. The soul of a dishonest
khazn becomes the soul of a dog. Because his prayer was as pleasing to the Lord as a dog’s bark. The soul of an informer becomes that of parrot. Because he acted like a parrot: spoke the wrong things at the wrong time to the wrong people." According to
Shaar haGilgulim, a soul can even reincarnate in an inanimate object like a stone. Historian
Nathaniel Deutsch mentioned a widely reported anecdote as a modern example of the gilgul belief. In 2003, two fish cutters claimed to have encountered a talking carp at the New Square Fish Market in
Rockland County, New York. The incident occurred in a Hasidic community of about 7,000 members. "The story goes that a 20-pound carp about to be slaughtered and made into
gefilte fish for Sabbath dinner began speaking in Hebrew, shouting apocalyptic warnings and claiming to be the troubled soul of a revered community elder who recently died." ==See also==