Judaism and Reincarnation
The following link helps to frame the idea of reincarnation with respect to Judaism:
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/arti...a-jewish-idea/
Actually, that is the opinion of one (Conservative Western) Rabbi, and not with respect to the whole of Judaism. I completely disagree with his views. But, I also disagree with Jewish (and other religions's) "official" view of how reincarnation works.
It seems to me there is a difficulty if the Jewish individual conceives that this concept of "chosen" relates not only to the human/incarnate person but to his permanent/spiritual identity as well. (Sorry, words for this are hard to find.)
Your words are fine
I would just like to clarify. First, I want to clarify the word "Jewish". It can mean "a follower/practitioner of Judaism", or it could refer to the Jewish ethnicity, or both. The English language is so frustrating for me because it only has one word, "Jewish" to describe both the religion and the ethnicity. In Hebrew there are separate words to describe each.
Jews are "chosen people" (according to religion) NOT because we're "superior" (not at all!) but because we chose to accept Torah (translated as 'law' but it really means 'instructions') AND agreed (chose) to do all that He had said. (An agreed upon contract). G-d gave the Torah to the Jews (Israelites) because He was keeping the promise He had made to Avraham, Isaac and Jacob that He would make their descendants a nation. A nation needs a set of laws or there would be chaos. (Every nation has laws for citizens to obey).
Jews do not proselytize because there is no NEED for anyone to drop their beliefs and come to Judaism because all people (no matter what their beliefs/lack of beliefs) go to Olam Haba ("World To Come"/"Paradise"). And there is no belief in "hell" or "eternal damnation". Plus, most Jews are secular and not religious (I'm not religious).
Jewish tradition teaches that everyone descended from Adam and Chava (Eve) so that no one could say they were better than anyone else. In Hebrew "adam" means "man(kind)" and the word for "person" is "ben adam" (literally "son of man"). All people are equal.
No one I know goes around with the concept of "chosen", we're just Jewish (Yehudeem). (And I don't mean to sound rude and I sincerely apologise if it sounded that way! I just wanted to clarify, but not sure if I've chosen the right words or not).
He would then hold that a Jew is always reincarnated as a Jew. My friend, I think, would like to believe this, but experiences of contributors to this forum and many others indicate this isn't so.
Rabbi Yonassan Gershom wrote about this in his book:
"......because the idea of a "Jewish soul" flies in the face of current "new age" theology, many people on the speaking circuit have taken me to task for teaching it. In all fairness, I must point out that belief in an "ethnic soul" is not limited to Jews alone.
For example, the Druzes.....firmly believe that "a Druze will always be reborn a Druze." Because the Druzes also expect to be reborn immediately after death, their children often remember vivid, accurate details about the life just prior to this one.
In addition to the Druze, many other tribal cultures, including both Native American and African peoples, also believe in an "ethnic soul". The late James "Jimmie" Jackson, a well-respected Ojibwa medicine man from Minnesota, taught that American Indian souls can and should retain their tribal identity after death. In his work with Objibwa youth, he frequently stressed the importance of having an Indian name, in order to find one's relatives in the next world. At the moment of death, Jimmie explained, everyone follows a road with two sets of tracks, one made by moccasins and the other by shoes. At the place where these two trails fork, a spirit speaks Ojibwa to the soul and asks for its Indian name. If the soul cannot understand the language or remember the name, then it must follow the shoe tracks and go with the white people instead.
In contrast to this tribal perspective, Western metaphysics currently teaches that the soul has no permanent cultural identity, but is supposed to shed its ethnicity with the death of the body. The soul then goes "into the light" where it rests in a generic interlife, until it voluntarily chooses to return to earth in a new body. According to this model, the karmic bond among souls is not membership in a tribe, but rather, the interpersonal relationships among the souls themselves.
This theory has great appeal to students of metaphysics in the United States, where the majority of citizens come from a mixed heritage and are not strongly connected to any particular tribe or culture. In addition, many "new agers" now see the tribal belief in an "ethnic soul" as backwards and narrow-minded. However, with the recent rise in multicultural awareness, I believe we must now reexamine many basic assumptions about "universal" spirituality.
Concerning reincarnation, many North American Indians not only want to come back into the same tribe, they expect to be reborn within the same family lines. According to parapsychologist Antonia Mills of the University of Virginia, this belief is so common among Native Americans that it poses a serious problem for scientists who want to study Indian children with past-life memories. "It's very difficult in general," Mills said, "to be sure that the statement a child makes [about a past life] is not based on knowledge the child could learn from its parents or other relatives."
Be that as it may, both Jewish and Native American souls seem to prefer returning in the same genetic lines. And therein lies an interesting question. What happens when entire family trees----even whole tribes----are completely wiped off the face of the planet, so that no visible trace of their gene pool remains?
I have heard Native American shamans tell stories about "Indian souls" who were separated from their own people when smallpox epidemics wiped out the entire tribe. With no trace of the tribal gene pool left, these souls went elsewhere to reincarnate, but retained their Indian identities. During the 1960s, this was a common explanation for the sudden interest in native cultures by white middle-class hippies. On more than one occasion, I was told by native shamans that these "white Indians" were the souls of warriors who had died in the previous century.
Interestingly, a high percentage of these "white Indians" also claim to have a genetic ancestor who married an Indian---a common occurrence on the American frontier. Similarly, in cases where Jews have come back as Gentiles, they often discover a "forgotten" Jewish ancestor on the family tree.
From an empirical standpoint---provided we accept the evidence of past life regression---numerous examples can be found to support both the "ethnic soul" and the "universalist" theories. On the one hand, the same soul has apparently served as the Dalai Lama, head of Tibetan Buddhism, for fourteen incarnations. That soul, in turn, is accompanied by a cluster of other souls, who serve him as Tibetan monks. On the other hand, Westerners frequently claim a long list of lives in a smorgasbord of cultures. Apparently some souls travel from culture to culture for a "general education" while others remain in one tradition to become specialized.
In addition, because "like attracts like" on the spiritual path, there is probably a strong tendancy for souls with similar agendas to seek each other out from one lifetime to the next. When Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Khasidism, "saw" the past lives of his closest disciples, those lives were always Jewish. I believe this was because, like the monks who serve the Dalai Lama, the souls who surrounded the Baal Shem Tov had been working together as Jews for many incarnations.
In contrast, the Edgar Cayce readings contain many stories of clients who wandered from culture to culture in their previous lives. I find myself asking: Was there something about Cayce himself which attracted such souls to him? Or was it simply because America is a land where eclecticism is highly encouraged?
In Edgar Cayce's day, the "melting pot" model of America was in vogue, and "multiculturalism", as we know it today, simply did not exist. Immigrants were expected to Americanize their names, give up their native languages, and throw the ethnic identities overboard as they entered New York Harbor. This attitude of "Americanization", combined with the widespread Christian belief that "in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek", probably attracted souls who saw such assimilation as the golden path to freedom. In turn, the preponderance of these types of cases in the Cayce readings has caused many people to assume that they are representative of all populations and cultures.
Nowadays, however, serious problems can arise when the two worldviews-----cultural diversity and assimilation---collide on the spiritual path. Secular past-life therapists frequently tell me that, if a Jewish soul opts for a life as a non-Jew, then this is a "positive learning experience" that will bring about a "more universal" perspective. In some cases that may well be true. But to define all souls as "limited" if they choose to specialize in one path is utterly ludicrous. By that definition, the Dalai Lama would be among the most "narrow" and "limited" of all, since he has spent his previous thirteen lives----if not all of his other incarnations too----in the isolated mountains of Tibet! Clearly, a spiritual smorgasbord is not necessary to become an enlightened being.
Secular research on reincarnation, such as that of Dr. Ian Stevenson at the University of Virginia, seems to suggest that we are not drawn to the "opposite" of what we once were, but to that which is familiar from the previous life.
Past-life therapist Barbara Lane has found similar patterns in her work with American Civil War reenactors. In her new book, 'Echos from the Battlefield' (A.R.E. Press, 1996), she analyzes twelve cases of individuals who had an incarnation in the Civil War period (1860s) and are still attracted to the history, clothing, and lifestyles of that era. All of her clients regularly participate in "living history" reenactment battles and other events, and they repeatedly stated that they felt more comfortable wearing Civil War clothing. Most had spent a great deal of time and money to duplicate uniforms and other garb, as well as the paraphernalia necessary to reenact the battles. For these people, "living history" events are much more than theatre. They are opportunities to step back into the lost world of a previous life.
In conclusion, I feel we must be very careful not to project "white middle-class values" onto our understanding of reincarnation. Belief in rebirth has only recently returned to the Western world, while among many tribal and village societies, including (eastern) Jews, it was never lost. It may well be that these traditional cultures have preserved levels of understanding about cycles of rebirth that have been lost to Western metaphysics. Rather than dismiss one interpretation or the other as "wrong" we should view them all as essential parts of a richly woven tapestry."
('From Ashes to Healing' 1996)
I personally have identified a previous life as a Jew, though I'm not Jewish in this life. Interestingly, years before that past life became apparent to me I was sympathetic to Orthodox Judaism and felt the sensibility and practical benefits of its teachings and practices.
That sounds very interesting. Do you remember when/where that life was?
