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The Arizal states that we are here to accomplish the 613 mitzvots, until we do, we keep coming back..

from this can we assume that all our reincarnations since the time of our forefathers have been Jewish? And all goyim are goyim since forever as well?

Lilopinpin
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    How do explain coming back as an animal then? – user6591 Dec 18 '17 at 17:25
  • How do you know he states this? Does he state this is the only reason for reincarnation? – mevaqesh Dec 18 '17 at 17:50
  • I've heard of such an Arizal , would you mind quoting where it is? – TrustMeI'mARabbi Dec 18 '17 at 17:54
  • Not the source, but where I got the info http://www.chabad.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380599/jewish/Judaism-and-Reincarnation.htm – Lilopinpin Dec 18 '17 at 18:18
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    We know for sure that goyim can become Jews so the second part of the question cannot be true – mbloch Dec 18 '17 at 18:27
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    Regardless of whether or not those things are true, they certainly cannot be assumed solely on the basis of what you quote the Arizal as saying. He seems to be giving one scenario in which someone would 'keep coming back'. That doesn't mean it's the only scenario.... – Jay Dec 19 '17 at 04:19
  • in Zamir Cohen's book The Coming Revolution he talks about the past life regressions of Glenn Ford (not jewish?). Here is an article by him. Also it seems like he comes back as a probable non jew each time as well. https://www.hidabroot.com/article/177301/Past-life-Regression---Return-to-the-past-by-means-of-hypnosis – code613 Jan 17 '18 at 20:57
  • user6591 actually even when we reincarnate into an animal or a vegetation or a mineral it is only until we learn our lesson or that someone liberates us from that place – Lilopinpin Feb 18 '18 at 22:25
  • @user6591 when the Kabbalist speak of coming back as a pig (reincarnation), it is to be understood metaphorically. For example, the person has the behavior of a pig. People only come back as people. – Turk Hill Aug 12 '19 at 04:52
  • @Turk that's the type of statement that can do well to have a source. – user6591 Aug 12 '19 at 19:42
  • @user6591 A person remains a person, a cat a cat, a woman a woman, a man a man. As far reincarnation as a pig, it is to be understood metaphorically as in the characteristics like a pig appear in the person. As for my source see Rabbi Michael Laitman - Kabbalists blog. In any event, I do not believe in reincarnation and Moshe would reject the notion. It is not biblical. Though I enjoy Laitman’s blog. – Turk Hill Aug 12 '19 at 20:14
  • @Turk I didn't mean to imply you should. But a statement like that is bizarre. Once someone claims to believe in reincarnation, but then decides that part of what was said about it is metaphorical, why not just take the next logical step and say the entirety of the idea was only metaphorical. Taking that middle path seems like a cheesy compromise. Imagine, Sadya Gaon said one may not believe in reincarnation partly because they believe in people coming back as animals. Oh. Poor Sadya didn't realize that part was metaphorical. Arizal certainly said he saw people in animals. Not a metaphor. – user6591 Aug 12 '19 at 20:20
  • @user6591 Then your quarrel is not with me but with Micheal Laitman who’s teacher was Kabbalist Rav Baruch Shalom Ashlag (the Rabash), successor of the great Kabbalist Rav Yehuda Ashlag aka Baal HaSulam. – Turk Hill Aug 12 '19 at 20:47
  • Reincarnation does not exist. There is no proof and it has never existed. Thus, the only life you are Jewish is the here and now. – Turk Hill Dec 10 '19 at 00:05

2 Answers2

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As mentioned in this answer according to the Arizal, one of the reasons for the daily blessing of not being made a heathen is that

each night a person returns his soul to the creator and it[sic] possible that this soul be switched into another body or state of being. ...each day ... a person awakes to find himself in this particular configuration of body and soul

Source: eitz chayim, heichal adam kadmon, shaar alef, anaf heh. CF Likutei Halachos (R' Nathan Sternhartz) Yoreh Deah, Basar B'Chalav 4:1

The implication being that there is a possibility that a Jewish person could have his/her soul incarnate into a non-Jew.

For a more extensive treatment of this topic see these videos

rikitikitembo
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  • I thought the Nefesh stayed in our bodies while we sleep, keeping us alive. So that not the entirety of the soul goes back to the Creator each night. I'm sorry I don't have a source for this – Lilopinpin Dec 18 '17 at 18:43
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    I couldn't understand how you jumped into this conclusion. If by "non-Jew" you mean "non-Jewish body" I would understand, but switching the soul into non-Jew is impossible, as the soul stays Jewish all the time. – Al Berko Dec 19 '17 at 01:25
  • @AlBerko yes, I mean non-Jewish body, which I understood was what the OP meant in the question. – rikitikitembo Dec 19 '17 at 13:45
  • I would slightly rephrase your question, I was always puzzled by what we say "נשמה שנתת בי", meaning that I am my body, not my soul. So you should clarify what you mean by "Jewish" - Jewish soul or Jewish body - if the soul - it stays the same (Jewish) and changes bodies, if body - then it changes souls. – Al Berko Dec 24 '17 at 01:27
  • @Al berko why must you say it implies "I am my body" and not " I am my consciousness"? – Orion Aug 16 '18 at 04:22
  • @Orion 1. THere are soul and body. 2. נשמה שנתת בי - means literally the soul you put in me, so me is not the soul, therefore me is the body. That's my logic. – Al Berko Aug 16 '18 at 10:15
  • @Al berko So mind and body are one and the same to you? Also doesn't it translate as, the soul that you gave me? – Orion Aug 16 '18 at 14:41
  • @Orion No, I meant two distinctive parts: the soul and the body. So If you gave ME the Soul, so the Soul IS NOT ME, so what's left for ME TO BE? - the body. THat's the logic – Al Berko Aug 17 '18 at 09:53
  • @Al Berko You say that's not what you're doing but that's really what you are. If the mind and body are two seperate entity's then youre mind is the ME being given to. Since your saying there's only two things and the one being given to us the body your saying mind and body are one thing. – Orion Aug 17 '18 at 13:58
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@Lilopinpin. You said: "The Arizal states that we are here to accomplish the 613 mitzvots, until we do, we keep coming back."

How can one person perform all 613 when some are specific to men or to women or to farmers or to Kohanim? One person cannot accomplish ALL 613. Israel as a nation, collectively can, but not an individual.

Ephraim77
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  • This is reminiscent of this question: https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/133531/mitzva-dream-team-the-minimum-number-of-individuals-who-between-them-can-keep see the footnote. The general answer given is we are reincarnated as Cohen, Levi, male and female to achieve all this, although that's just a general answer – Rabbi Kaii Apr 13 '23 at 23:13