Life of the Soul

Jewish Perspectives on Reincarnation from the Middle Ages to the Modern Period

Häftad, Engelska, 2025

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Offers a comprehensive and nuanced treatment on the topic of reincarnation in Judaism, covering a wide range of kabbalistic and philosophical sources.The Life of the Soul surveys the wide-ranging theories Jewish mystics have offered to the vexing question – what precisely transpires after we die? A common element in their theories is that human life is a part of a larger ecosystem of being which also includes plants, animals, and inanimate things, like rocks. They further maintained that the soul does not perish with the demise of the body, but is rather renewed and recycled into new forms of embodied existence in the lower world. Each essay highlights how reincarnation, also known as metempsychosis or the transmigration of souls, is not a marginalized concept but is instead central to understanding a variety of perplexing issues in Judaism, including catastrophic events in Jewish history, theodicy, the rationale for biblical commandments, the complex identity of biblical figures, and the issues of sin, punishment, and redemption. Just as the concept of reincarnation is inherently about boundary crossing, its investigation similarly bridges diverse epistemic fields and disciplines-religion, philosophy, psychology, history, ritual, gender, and cultural studies. Weaving together kabbalistic speculations and Jewish philosophical ideas drawn from distinct geographical regions and historical periods, this book is poised to serve as a point of departure for future comparative investigations on the life of the soul in Judaism and Eastern religious traditions.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2025-06-02
Mått152 x 229 x 29 mm
Vikt567 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor402
FörlagState University of New York Press
ISBN9798855800067

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Andrea Gondos is Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Religion at the University of Rochester. She is the author of Kabbalah in Print: The Study and Popularization of Jewish Mysticism in Early Modernity, also published by SUNY Press, and coeditor (with Daniel Maoz) of From Antiquity to the Postmodern World: Contemporary Jewish Studies in Canada. Leore Sachs-Shmueli is Lecturer in the Department of Jewish Philosophy at Bar Ilan University, Israel. She is the author of Taboo and Prohibitions in Castilian Kabbalah.

AcknowledgmentsIntroductionAndrea Gondos and Leore Sachs- ShmueliSection I. Medieval App roaches to Reincarnat ion1. The Secrets of Soul Impregnation (Ibbur) in Early Kabbalah and the Doctrine of ReincarnationMoshe Idel2. The Effaced Eagle- Man and Other Problems: Reincarnated Embodiment in Guf ha- ZoharEllen D. Haskell3. The Emergence of the Concept Gilgul: The Sefer ha- Bahir and the Ba'al ha- TikkunimPinchas Giller4. "And the Next Day Her Belly Is Between Her Teeth": Feminine Symbolization in R. Joseph Angelet's Doctrine of Gilgul and IbburRuth Kara- Ivanov KanielSection II. The Cosmic, Philosophical, and Temporal Dimensions of Reincarnat ion5. Lives and Afterlives: Reincarnation, Cosmic Cycles, and the Medieval Jewish PresentHartley Lachter6. R. Joseph ben Shalom Ashkenazi's Cosmic Theory of Reincarnation, Din Bnei HalofJonnie Schnytzer7. The Soul's Point of No Return: Jewish Philosophical Perspectives on ReincarnationJames A. DiamondSection III. Reincarnat ion, Psy chology, and Lurianic Kabbala h: From Safed to East ern Europe to Bag hdad8. Personal Identity and the Ontology of the Soul: Aspects of Reincarnation in Ḥayyim Vital's Shaʿar ha- GilgulimEitan P. Fishbane9. A Seething Cauldron of Infinite Soul- Sparks: Lurianizing Introjection/Psychoanalyzing GilgulNathaniel Berman10. Reincarnation (Gilgul) as Traversing Boundaries of Identity from Lurianic Kabbalah to Joel Teitelbaum of SatmarShaul Magid11. The Dead Who Yearn to Die: Spirit- Possession and Soul- Healing in the Accounts of R. Hillel Ba'al Shem of Eastern Europe and R. Yehudah Fetaya of BaghdadAndrea GondosSection IV. Has idic Teachings on Reincarnat ion: Between the Individual and the Community12. Devotion Reborn: Gilgul and the Life of Praxis in HasidismAriel Evan Mayse13. Reincarnation in Hasidic Literature: Hagiography, Social Justice, and HalakhahRoee Y. Goldschmidt14. The Bratslav Hasidic Approach to Reincarnation into Animals: Morality, Society, and Financial ConcernsLeore Sachs- ShmueliContributor BiographiesIndex

"The Life of the Soul is a rich and meticulously researched book that explores the development of Jewish conceptions related to reincarnation (gilgul neshamot) from medieval Kabbalah to Hassidic thought … The editors and contributors deserve praise for balancing scholarly rigor with accessibility, making this volume invaluable for academics and interested lay readers alike … The Life of the Soul is a landmark contribution and resource to the study of Jewish mysticism." — The Jerusalem Report"This volume offers the most comprehensive available treatment of Jewish views on reincarnation. It fills a significant gap in the field of Jewish mysticism, and the scholarship is top-notch." — Jonathan V. Dauber, Yeshiva University