Reincarnation (Gilgul) in Judaism: The Sources

You often hear that “Jews believe in reincarnation,” or on the contrary that “it is an idea foreign to Judaism.” Both statements are false, and the article that follows explains why. The idea does exist in the Jewish tradition, under the name gilgul (“rolling,” “cycle”) or gilgul neshamot (“cycle of souls”), but it belongs to Kabbalah, not to the written Torah or the Talmud, and great masters have fought against it. We will therefore distinguish halakha (the law that is practiced), the basic belief shared by all (the resurrection of the dead) and the mystical tradition, relying on the texts.

In short: the written Torah does not teach reincarnation, and the Talmud does not mention it; Maimonides does not count it among the thirteen principles of faith, and Rabbeinu Saadia Gaon expressly rejects it. It appears in the Middle Ages in Kabbalah (the Sefer HaBahir, then the Zohar), and becomes an elaborate doctrine in sixteenth-century Safed with the Ari and his disciple Rabbi Chaim Vital. It is accepted today in a large part of the traditional world, in particular Hasidic and Sephardic, but it is not a dogma: an observant Jew may not believe in it without ceasing to be a faithful Jew. What all currents share is belief in the immortality of the soul, in judgment after death and in the resurrection of the dead.

1. What the written Torah says about the soul and death

The account of the creation of man provides the framework for all of Jewish thought on the soul:

“The L-rd G-d formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (nishmat chaim), and man became a living being (nefesh chaya).”

(Bereshit [Genesis] 2:7) — וַיִּיצֶר יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהִים אֶת־הָאָדָם עָפָר מִן־הָאֲדָמָה וַיִּפַּח בְּאַפָּיו נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים וַיְהִי הָאָדָם לְנֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה

The body comes from the earth, the breath comes from G-d. Ecclesiastes says so at the end of his reflection on life: “The dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to G-d who gave it”:

“The dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit (ruach) returns to G-d who gave it.”

(Kohelet [Ecclesiastes] 12:7) — וְיָשֹׁב הֶעָפָר עַל־הָאָרֶץ כְּשֶׁהָיָה וְהָרוּחַ תָּשׁוּב אֶל־הָאֱלֹהִים אֲשֶׁר נְתָנָהּ

This verse describes a return to the source, not a new start in another body. The Writings also speak of Sheol, the abode of the dead, from which one does not come back up, according to Iyov (Job):

“As the cloud fades and goes away, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up; he returns no more to his house, nor does his place know him anymore.”

(Iyov 7:9-10) — כָּלָה עָנָן וַיֵּלַךְ כֵּן יוֹרֵד שְׁאוֹל לֹא יַעֲלֶה׃ לֹא־יָשׁוּב עוֹד לְבֵיתוֹ וְלֹא־יַכִּירֶנּוּ עוֹד מְקֹמוֹ

This verse must be read with caution: it is Iyov’s lament in his suffering, not a dogma; elsewhere, the Bible says that the L-rd “brings down to Sheol and brings up” (Shmuel I [I Samuel] 2:6), and the prophets announce an awakening of the dead: “Your dead shall live! (…) Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust” (Yeshayahu [Isaiah] 26:19); “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, others to shame” (Daniel 12:2). This hope is resurrection (techiyat hametim), not reincarnation: it is the same being, raised up, at the time G-d will choose.

Nowhere does the written Torah say that a soul can return in another body. The proponents of gilgul rely on verses that they read allusively (we will see them), but none of them states it.

2. Mishna and Talmud: judgment, the World to Come, resurrection

The Mishna opens the tenth chapter of Sanhedrin, the chapter of the “World to Come,” with a famous sentence:

“All Israel has a share in the World to Come (…). And these are those who have no share in the World to Come: one who says that the resurrection of the dead is not from the Torah, and that the Torah is not from Heaven, and the Epicurean.”

(Mishna Sanhedrin 10:1) — כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל יֵשׁ לָהֶם חֵלֶק לָעוֹלָם הַבָּא (…) הָאוֹמֵר אֵין תְּחִיַּת הַמֵּתִים מִן הַתּוֹרָה, וְאֵין תּוֹרָה מִן הַשָּׁמָיִם, וְאֶפִּיקוֹרֶס

It is resurrection that is here an article of faith, not the return of souls. The Talmud develops the belief: the chapter “Chelek” of Sanhedrin (90b-92b) looks in the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings for proofs of the resurrection. It also teaches that the soul is judged together with the body, through a famous parable: the lame man and the blind man who together stole the fruit of an orchard, and whom the master judges together:

“The Holy One, blessed be He, takes the soul and throws it into the body, and judges them together.”

(Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 91b) — אַף הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מֵבִיא נְשָׁמָה וְזוֹרְקָהּ בַּגּוּף, וְדָן אוֹתָם כְּאֶחָד

Daily prayer bears the trace of this. In the morning, on waking, the Jew recites a blessing already reported in the Talmud:

“My G-d, the soul You have placed in me is pure. You formed it, You breathed it into me, You keep it within me, and You will take it from me, and You will restore it to me in the time to come.”

(Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 60b) — אֱלֹהַי, נְשָׁמָה שֶׁנָּתַתָּ בִּי טְהוֹרָה. אַתָּה יְצַרְתָּהּ בִּי, אַתָּה נְפַחְתָּהּ בִּי, וְאַתָּה מְשַׁמְּרָהּ בְּקִרְבִּי, וְאַתָּה עָתִיד לִיטְּלָהּ מִמֶּנִּי וּלְהַחֲזִירָהּ בִּי לְעָתִיד לָבֹא

The text says “You will restore it to me”: the same soul, the same “I.” This is the framework of Talmudic thought: one life, one judgment, one World to Come and one resurrection. The Talmud also describes a time of purification after death, Gehinnom, for which the Mishna says that the judgment of the wicked lasts twelve months (Mishna Eduyot 2:10); this is the reason why, according to the Rema, the mourner’s Kaddish is said for only eleven months, so as not to suggest that one’s parents were wicked (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 376:4). In this framework, purification takes place in the beyond, not through a return to earth.

A Talmudic word that causes confusion: “gilgul”

The word gilgul appears in the Talmud, but in another sense. At Ketubot 111a, the Sages ask how the righteous buried outside the Land of Israel will be resurrected. Rabbi Ila’a answers:

“Through gilgul (rolling).” Rabbi Abba Sala Raba objects: “Gilgul is a suffering for the righteous!” Abaye says: “Tunnels (mechilot) are made for them in the ground.”

(Babylonian Talmud, Ketubot 111a) — אָמַר רַבִּי אִילְעָא: עַל יְדֵי גִּלְגּוּל. מַתְקֵיף לַהּ רַבִּי אַבָּא סַלָּא רַבָּא: גִּלְגּוּל לְצַדִּיקִים צַעַר הוּא! אָמַר אַבָּיֵי: מְחִילּוֹת נַעֲשׂוֹת לָהֶם בַּקַּרְקַע

This concerns the bodies of the dead “rolling” beneath the earth to the Land of Israel at the time of the resurrection. It has nothing to do with the passage of a soul from one body to another. Later, the two uses of the word were brought together, but the text of the Talmud does not allow it.

Another passage often cited: “The Messiah son of David will not come until all the souls in the guf have been exhausted” (Niddah 13b; Avodah Zarah 5a; Yevamot 62a).

“The son of David will not come until all the souls of the guf have been exhausted.”

(Babylonian Talmud, Niddah 13b) — אֵין בֶּן דָּוִד בָּא עַד שֶׁיִּכְלוּ כׇּל הַנְּשָׁמוֹת שֶׁבַּגּוּף

The guf (literally “the body”) is understood, in the aggadic tradition, as the reserve where the souls that are to come into the world wait. The proof verse is Yeshayahu 57:16: “the souls that I have made.” The text speaks of souls that descend to earth one day, not of souls that return. The kabbalists linked it to the idea that the number of souls is limited (Rabbi Chaim Vital, Shaar HaGilgulim, introduction 17: “the totality of souls is six hundred thousand, and no more”). This is a mystical reading, which the Talmud does not state.

3. Maimonides: resurrection is a principle, reincarnation is not

The Rambam (Maimonides, 1138-1204) formulated the thirteen principles of faith in his commentary on Mishna Sanhedrin 10. The last is resurrection:

“The thirteenth principle: the resurrection of the dead.”

(Rambam, Commentary on the Mishna Sanhedrin 10:1) — היסוד שלשה עשר תחיית המתים

He says nothing of gilgul. In his code, he defines the World to Come in an even more spiritual way, as that of souls without bodies:

“In the World to Come there is neither body nor bodily form, but only the souls of the righteous, without a body, like the ministering angels.”

(Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Teshuva 8:2) — הָעוֹלָם הַבָּא אֵין בּוֹ גּוּף וּגְוִיָּה אֶלָּא נַפְשׁוֹת הַצַּדִּיקִים בִּלְבַד בְּלֹא גּוּף כְּמַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁרֵת

Commentators have discussed at length how to reconcile this passage with resurrection, and the Rambam later wrote a special treatise on resurrection (Maamar Techiyat Hametim) to clarify his position. In none of these texts does he mention the return of souls in successive bodies. According to the Encyclopaedia Judaica, Yehuda Halevi (author of the Kuzari) does not speak of it either.

4. Those who fought it

The most famous of the opponents is Rabbeinu Saadia Gaon (Babylonia, 882-942), who devotes a passage of his Book of Beliefs and Opinions to the subject (treatise VI, chapter 7 or 8 depending on the edition). There he refutes the “transmigration of souls” (tanasukh, from the Arabic name of the idea) with philosophical arguments and with Scripture, and declares, according to the Jewish Encyclopedia, that he would not take the trouble to show its foolishness if he did not fear the influence of those who believe in it on others. Following him, one cites Abraham ibn Daud (Emunah Ramah, I, 7) and Rabbi Yosef Albo, who sees in it a superstition foreign to the spirit of Judaism (Sefer HaIkkarim, IV, 29). In the modern era, Leone Modena (Venice, seventeenth century) attacked it in his polemical writings. And there is a historical dimension: according to the Encyclopaedia Judaica, the first to profess it in a Jewish setting were dissident sects, such as the Karaites in the eighth century: Anan ben David, the founder of this movement, is said to have defended it.

These disagreements show that reincarnation is not, in Judaism, a universal point of faith. One may believe in it or not, without ceasing to be faithful to the Torah.

Spiral stone staircase seen from below, rising toward a luminous opening in an ancient tower

5. Kabbalah: gilgul as a secret

At the sources: the Bahir and the Zohar

The oldest kabbalistic text to admit reincarnation as self-evident, without discussing it, is the Sefer HaBahir (late twelfth century), the “Book of Brightness.” It uses it to answer the question that has haunted the righteous since Iyov: why is there a righteous man who knows happiness and a righteous man who suffers?

“Why is there a righteous man who prospers, and a righteous man for whom all is bad? Because this righteous man was already wicked before, and is now being punished.”

(Sefer HaBahir 195) — מפני מה צדיק וטוב לו צדיק ורע לו, מפני שהצדיק הזה כבר היה רשע לשעבר ועתה נענש

The text continues with a parable: a man plants a vine, sees that it yields sour grapes, uproots it, replants it, uproots it again, and starts over, “up to a thousand generations.” The Holy One, blessed be He, says the Bahir, plants souls from generation to generation (Sefer HaBahir 195, which cites Tehilim [Psalms] 105:8: “the word He commanded for a thousand generations”). For the Bahir, the same soul is replanted until the fruit is good.

The Zohar (thirteenth century) takes up the idea and connects it to the beginning of the parasha Mishpatim (“the laws”), whose title it reads as a program:

“‘Now these are the laws (mishpatim) that you shall set before them.’ These are the orders of the gilgul, the judgments of souls, so that each may be judged according to its punishment.”

(Zohar, Mishpatim, II, 94a) — אִלֵּין אִינּוּן סִדּוּרִין דְּגִלְגּוּלָא, דִּינִין דְּנִשְׁמָתִין, דְּאִתְדָּנוּ כָּל חַד וְחַד לָקֳבֵל עוֹנְשֵׁיהּ

The Jewish Encyclopedia also cites this formula of the Zohar (II, 99b): “all souls are subject to gilgul.” From this period on, the word gilgul becomes common in Hebrew literature; before that, according to the same source, the kabbalists of Gerona spoke rather of the “secret of ibbur” (literally “impregnation,” the impregnation by a soul).

The verses on which Kabbalah relies

No verse of the Torah says “the soul returns.” Yet the kabbalists see allusions in it, which can honestly be presented as such. The first is levirate marriage (yibbum): “The firstborn whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel” (Devarim [Deuteronomy] 25:6). The Ramban, in his commentary on Bereshit 38:8, rejects Rashi’s explanation (“the child will be called by the name of the deceased”) and declares that it is a “great secret, among the secrets of the Torah, concerning the generation of man” (sod gadol mi-sodot hatorah betoledet haadam). The Ramban does not develop this “secret.” Some kabbalists read in it an allusion to gilgul: this is an interpretation by readers, not a text that states it.

The second verse is that of Iyov:

“Behold, G-d does all these things twice, three times with a man, to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of life.”

(Iyov 33:29-30) — הֶן־כׇּל־אֵלֶּה יִפְעַל־אֵל פַּעֲמַיִם שָׁלוֹשׁ עִם־גָּבֶר׃ לְהָשִׁיב נַפְשׁוֹ מִנִּי־שָׁחַת לֵאוֹר בְּאוֹר הַחַיִּים

Rabbi Chaim Vital sees in it “the secret of gilgul,” limited to three “rollings” (Shaar HaGilgulim, introductions 4, 5 and 38). But this is not the plain meaning, in which Elihu speaks of how G-d calls man back to Himself by saving him from death. The literature on the subject sometimes also invokes Ecclesiastes (“A generation goes, and a generation comes,” Kohelet 1:4; “What has been is what will be,” 1:9); these are comparisons that the plain meaning of these verses does not call for.

The Ari and Rabbi Chaim Vital: a complete doctrine

The great synthesis is that of the Ari (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, Safed, 1534-1572), recorded by his disciple Rabbi Chaim Vital (1542-1620) in the Shaar HaGilgulim, the “Gate of Reincarnations.” Here are its main features:

The soul has several levels. The five names of the soul (nefesh, ruach, neshama, chaya, yechida), which the Midrash lists, are the levels of the human soul, which are formed gradually: at birth one receives the lowest (the nefesh), and the rest is earned through merit (Shaar HaGilgulim, introductions 1 and 2).
Gilgul has a purpose: tikkun. A soul that has not accomplished its task, or that has damaged what it received, returns to repair it. It is therefore not an endless cycle, but a path of repair (tikkun). Vital explains that a soul that sinned in a first life does not receive all its levels at once upon returning (introduction 4).
The number is limited. He mentions a maximum of three gilgulim, citing the verse of Iyov (introduction 4), while reporting that, according to the Tikkunei Zohar, a righteous person can “roll” up to a thousand generations.
Gilgul is not ibbur. Ibbur (“impregnation”) is the temporary coming, into a living person, of a spark of the soul of a deceased righteous person, when he performs the same mitzvah, to help him or to complete what was lacking (introductions 3 and 5). When it comes for its own benefit, this soul does not join the person before the age of thirteen years and one day, since that is when he becomes obligated in the mitzvot (introduction 5).
The roots of souls. Vital teaches that the totality of the souls of Israel is six hundred thousand, and that the Torah has six hundred thousand interpretations at each of its four levels (literal, allusive, homiletic, secret): each soul stems from an interpretation of the Torah (introduction 17).

This system is not the reincarnation of the religions of India. Its aim is not “to attain a better status in the next life” or “to escape a cycle,” but to complete what the soul must accomplish in the Torah and the mitzvot, and to repair its faults. On the history and structure of this doctrine, read Gershom Scholem, “Gilgul: The Transmigration of Souls,” in On the Mystical Shape of the Godhead (Schocken, 1991).

Later readings

In the seventeenth century, the debate continues. Menasseh ben Israel (Amsterdam, 1652) published Nishmat Chaim, a book that defends the doctrine of transmigration, while other authors, such as Leone Modena, attack it. The great figures of Hasidism, the Baal Shem Tov, and of Lithuanian Judaism, the Vilna Gaon, are often cited among those who accepted it. In Hasidic communities, the belief is widespread today; in many Sephardic and Eastern communities, it is part of popular culture; in other circles, people stick to resurrection and the future life.

6. Why the righteous suffer: two answers

The question of the suffering of the righteous is the one that has fed the debate. The Talmud reports a famous version of it. Moshe asks G-d to make His ways known to him, and poses the question: why is there a happy righteous man and an unhappy righteous man, a happy wicked man and an unhappy wicked man (Berakhot 7a)? The Talmud first proposes an answer based on the merits of the fathers (the happy righteous man is the son of a righteous man, the unhappy righteous man is the son of a wicked man), then reports the more reserved opinion of Rabbi Meir:

“Rabbi Meir says: two [requests] were granted him, and one was not granted him, as it is said: ‘I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious’ (Shemot [Exodus] 33:19) — even if he is not deserving; ‘and I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy’ — even if he is not deserving.”

(Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 7a) — שְׁתַּיִם נָתְנוּ לוֹ וְאַחַת לֹא נָתְנוּ לוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״וְחַנֹּתִי אֶת אֲשֶׁר אָחוֹן״ — אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁאֵינוֹ הָגוּן, ״וְרִחַמְתִּי אֶת אֲשֶׁר אֲרַחֵם״ — אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁאֵינוֹ הָגוּן

According to Rabbi Meir, it is the request to know the ways in which the world is governed that was not granted: G-d did not reveal them to Moshe. Elsewhere, the Talmud speaks of “sufferings of love” (yissurin shel ahava), through which G-d chastises those He loves (Berakhot 5a, based on Mishlei [Proverbs] 3:12). These are two ways of saying that divine justice is not always legible. Kabbalah offers a third: if the righteous man suffers, it may be because of a previous life (Sefer HaBahir 195). Each of these answers has its strengths and its limits, and Judaism preserves them all, leaving each person to choose the one that helps him, without ever imposing it on someone who is suffering. Above all, one should refrain from telling a bereaved or sick person that his suffering “comes from a past life”: none of these sources authorizes it.

7. Halakha and practical life: what must one believe?

At the level of the law, here is what to keep in mind.

There is no obligation to believe in gilgul. It does not appear among Maimonides’ thirteen principles, nor in Mishna Sanhedrin 10:1. A Jew who does not believe in it does not lose his share in the World to Come; one who denies resurrection, according to the Mishna, on the other hand, does lose it.
Communities differ. Sephardim and Hasidim accept it more readily; Lithuanian and modern communities are often more reserved. Each follows the teachings of his rabbi.
No halakha depends on gilgul. Kaddish, mourning and prayers for the departed are fixed by rabbinic tradition (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 376) and do not rest on gilgul. Memories of a “past life,” hypnotic regressions and rites of “soul liberation” have no halakhic status: consult a rabbi before getting involved in them.
Prudence. In the books of Kabbalah, the doctrine concerns first of all moral and spiritual life: repairing, completing, correcting. It does not lend itself to curiosity or to accounts of “past lives.”

For life after death in the broad sense, see our article What Happens After Death According to Judaism?; for mourning, Mourning in Judaism; for Kabbalah itself, What Is Kabbalah and Who May Study It?.

What Rav Raphaël Benizri teaches

Rav Benizri has not devoted a lecture to reincarnation, but he speaks of it in passing in two lectures.

In his lecture on Pirkei Avot (part 2), on the Mishna “all Israel has a share in the World to Come” (Sanhedrin 10:1), the Rav recalls that, according to the Ari, “everyone ultimately has his share in the World to Come, but some reach it directly and others after many vicissitudes.” In the transcript, he says that one who has left Judaism “will go through gilgulim, metamorphoses,” until the day when the Israel he was is reborn; the summary of the lecture adds: “this too is the resurrection of the dead.” The Rav is speaking here of the history of Israel and of the return of those who have drifted away from it, more than of the reincarnation of an individual. See the lecture: Pirkei Avot: All Israel Has a Share in the World to Come.
In his lecture “The Source of Life” (Chayei Sarah), he distinguishes the present world (olam hazeh), the World to Come (olam haba) and the Garden of Eden; he presents the World to Come as that of the “memory of the universe,” capable of “putting lives back into circulation, which is what is called the resurrection of the dead,” and he teaches that “nothing is erased: a trace always remains (reshimu),” the fault not being wiped out but taken up again in the work of tikkun. See the lecture: Chayei Sarah: The Source of Life.

Common misconceptions about reincarnation in Judaism

“All Jews believe in reincarnation”

No. It is a kabbalistic doctrine, accepted by some currents and rejected by others, including great masters such as Saadia Gaon, Abraham ibn Daud or Rabbi Yosef Albo.

“Judaism never believed in reincarnation”

Nor is this true. Gilgul appears in the Zohar and in the writings of the Ari, and many communities live it as part of their tradition.

“It is the same thing as Indian karma”

There are surface resemblances (a soul returns), but the frameworks differ. In gilgul, the return is limited (in principle three times, according to the Ari), it serves to repair and to fulfill mitzvot, and it is followed by the World to Come and the resurrection. It is not part of an endless cycle of rebirths from which one seeks to be freed.

“The word gilgul in the Talmud proves reincarnation”

No. In the Talmud, the word designates the “rolling” of the bodies of the righteous underground (Ketubot 111a), not the passage of a soul into another body.

“Remembering one’s past lives is a Jewish practice”

No source of halakha teaches this. Kabbalah speaks of certain masters able to know the gilgulim, but this is an esoteric teaching, not a common practice.

Frequently asked questions about gilgul

What is gilgul?

It is the doctrine, developed by Kabbalah, that a soul may return to earth in another body to accomplish what it lacks or to repair what it has damaged (tikkun). The word means “rolling” or “cycle.”

Is reincarnation in the Torah?

No, not explicitly. The kabbalists read certain verses as allusions (Devarim 25:6; Iyov 33:29-30), but the plain meaning does not lead there.

Did Maimonides believe in reincarnation?

He does not mention it: it does not appear in his thirteen principles of faith, which on the other hand include the resurrection of the dead, and the World to Come, for him, is that of souls without bodies (Hilchot Teshuva 8:2).

What do we believe at death: resurrection or reincarnation?

The belief common to all currents is the resurrection of the dead, which is a principle of faith (Mishna Sanhedrin 10:1). Reincarnation is an additional belief, specific to Kabbalah.

Can a Jew not believe in gilgul?

Yes. No authority counts it among the mandatory principles, and great masters have rejected it. For any personal question, consult your rabbi.

What are ibbur and the dybbuk?

Ibbur is the temporary coming of a spark of the soul of a deceased righteous person into a living person, to help him (Shaar HaGilgulim, introductions 3 and 5). The dybbuk, a wandering soul said to attach itself to a living person, is a tale from popular and late kabbalistic tradition; we do not develop it here, since it belongs more to folklore than to halakha.

Does Judaism Believe in Reincarnation (Gilgul)?