In Which Body Will a Reincarnated Soul Return?

OUR SAINTLY TEACHER'S EXPLANATION IS THE MOST SUCCINCT AND CLEAR EXPLANATION ANNOTATED THAT I HAVE YET SEEN


In Which Body Will a Reincarnated Soul Return?




By Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, The Lubavitcher Rebbe

By the Grace of G‑d

2nd of Tammuz, 5716 [June 11, 1956]

Brooklyn, N.Y.



Blessing and Greeting:



I received your letter in which you ask the question "if a soul has come back to earth several times to complete its duty here, when Messiah comes in which form will the soul come back?"



I was pleased to note from your letter that you are taking an interest in your studies and follow the instructions of Torah as you are taught in the Yeshivah in New Haven.



As for your question, it was already asked a very long time ago by one of our great teachers of the Talmud, Rabbi Hizkiah, as mentioned in the holy book "Zohar" (Part 1, page 131a). The answer given there by another great teacher of the Mishnah, Rabbi Jose, is that the soul will come back to life in the body in which it has accomplished Torah and Mitzvoth during her lifetime on this earth, and that a body which did not practice Torah and Mitzvoth on earth will not come back to life. This answer must be considered in the light of a further explanation by the great Rabbi Isaac Luria, who lived about 400 years ago, and is known as Ari (the "Lion"). (About his life and work you may have read in the "Talks and Tales.") The saintly Ari explained that it is almost impossible for a Jew not to fulfill at least some Mitzvoth. Therefore, in accordance with the answer in Zohar, almost all bodies will come back to life. The question then is in which body will the soul return if it had been in more than one body. The answer, strange as it may seem at first glance, is that it will return in all bodies it had inhabited. To understand how this is possible, let us remember that the souls of mankind started from two people, Adam and Eve. Their souls included all the souls of the future generations, in a way a single seed includes in it future generations of trees, fruits, and seeds. In the same way the souls of parents are not just two souls, but they can split up into soul sparks, each of which is in turn a complete soul. Therefore, when a Jew performs a Mitzvah, the body takes part in it and it is no longer "dry wood" that rots away, but it will come back to life with a soul which is a Divine spark, and which was included in the original soul. Thus at the Time of Resurrection (after Messiah will come) all "parts" of a "general" soul will each have a separate body, just as parents will come back to life with all their children.



If you find the above a little difficult to understand, you can ask your teacher to explain to you more fully, or leave the question until you grow older. But you may be sure that no good deed, no Mitzvah, not even a single minute spent in the study of the Torah, is ever lost.



With blessing,

By [signed by the Rebbe's secretary]

A Haven in Time

http://www.chabad.org/holidays/JewishNewYear/template_cdo/aid/56887/jewish/A-Haven-in-Time.htm


A Haven in Time






Based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

Courtesy of MeaningfulLife.com



On several occasions (in Exodus 21, Numbers 35 and Deuteronomy 19) the Torah discusses the establishment of "Cities of Refuge" in the Holy Land. The purpose of these cities was to shelter the "inadvertent murderer"--someone who killed another person unintentionally. The city of refuge protected this person from the vengeance of his victim's relatives, and his exile there atoned for his sin.



Every law in Torah has a deeper, soul-related meaning. The chassidic masters explain that any transgression against the will of G‑d is a subtle form of "inadvertent murder": "murder" because one has violated the essence and raison d'être of one's own life, and "inadvertent" because man is inherently and intrinsically good, and all evil deeds result only from a lapse of awareness of one's own true will. In the words of our sages, "A person does not sin unless a spirit of insanity has entered into him."



There are cities of refuge in space, and there is a city of refuge in time. And while the spatial cities of refuge await the coming of Moshiach and the restoration of Torah law in the Holy Land to be reinstated, the haven in time which G‑d has established is there for us at all times, under all conditions.



This haven in time is the month of Elul -- the last month of the Jewish year and the month which leads to the "Days of Awe" that commence the new year. This is alluded to in one of the verses which discuss the law of the cities of refuge -- "And for one who did not lie in wait [to kill premeditatedly], but G-d has caused it to happen to him, I shall establish for you a place to which he can flee" (Exodus 21:13). Master Kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria points out that the first letters of the central words in this verse, enah le'yado vesamti l'cha, spell the word "Elul."



The twenty-nine days of Elul offer an isle in time, a sanctum for introspection and self-assessment, for atonement and rehabilitation. It is a place to which we might flee from our subjugation to the struggles and entanglements of material life to audit our spiritual accounts and restore the sovereignty of our true will over our lives. It is a month in which to resolve that, henceforth, no accidental iniquity will mar the quintessential goodness of our soul.