Gilgul (גלגול) — Reincarnation / Transmigration

Core definition

Gilgul is the transmigration of the soul: "The gilgul's matter: man's soul is reincarnated, Elokim save us, in the animal's body — drawn by force in all the animal's coarse, material, turbid matters" [15966/maamar_019 :: §163–165]. The soul may likewise be reincarnated in the inanimate or the vegetative [19800/maamar_016 :: §360]. In all cases it is "a great pain to the soul" [19800/maamar_016 :: §116].

How the Rebbeim develop it

The pain of forced concealment. Why is gilgul so painful? "The pain is from this: that the soul is forced not to be revealed" [19800/maamar_016 :: §118]. The explanation is from chomer and tzurah: every being has its matter and its form, and "man's body [is] for man's soul, the ox's for the ox's" — hence the mismatch of a human soul in an animal body is anguish. The soul is "ki chelek Havayah amo" — a portion of Havayah's name (yud = Chochmah's essential bitul; heh = comprehension of Divinity; vav-heh = middos and speech); forced into a vessel that cannot express it, it suffers [31621/maamar_010 :: §175, Summary p. נז–נט].

No revelation, no self-release. The defining feature of gilgul: "the reincarnated soul has no revelation from it at all" — though found and clothed in the animal's body, nothing is revealed, nothing innovated in the animal's body. "Therefore the soul has no power to leave by itself — must be fixed first and raised from there" [15966/maamar_019 :: §167–168]. The same rule governs the nitzotzos (sparks) that fall into kelipas nogah by havla'ah: "the nitzotz has no way to rise by itself — must be fixed first, refined, raised" [15966/maamar_019 :: Summary].

Gilgul vs. the soul's ordinary exile. The maamarim use gilgul as the extreme case of a general structure: the Nefesh haElokis's enclothing in the Nefesh habehamis is also "in galus and shivyah's way" — but there it is "in revelation at least in its hislabshus," and therefore the Nefesh haElokis "has power to effect in the Nefesh habehamis: to refine, purify, fix it." In this it differs from gilgul, where "the reincarnated soul has no revelation at all" [15966/maamar_019 :: §179–180, Summary].

Gilgul as tikkun. Gilgul is not only punishment but rectification. The classic instance: "those who descended to Mitzrayim were gilgulim from dor haflagah, who built the city and the tower" — and the bondage in "chomer u'l'veinim" (mortar and bricks) fixes "v't'hi lahem hal'veinah l'aven" (their brick-making): l'veinim (man's handiwork) repaired through the very labor [31640/maamar_014 :: §902, Summary p. קז]. Moshe's question "lamah hare'ota" is thus answered: the Flood and haflagah were true din, but Mitzrayim's bondage was "ani Havayah" — not din but chesed/rachamim — the gilgulim's tikkun [31640/maamar_014 :: Summary p. קז].

Key distinctions

Gilgul vs. hislabshus in the animal soul. Both are exile; but the Nefesh haElokis in the Nefesh habehamis retains revelation and can refine its garment, while the gilgul-soul has no revelation and cannot free itself [15966/maamar_019 :: §179–180].

Gilgul vs. ibbur. (The corpus's gilgul-discussions center on punitive/rectificatory transmigration; ibbur — the impregnation of an additional soul — is a distinct category in the Kabbalah sefarim and is not developed in these maamarim.)

Punishment and mercy. The gilgul's pain is real — "this is the punishment of the reincarnation" — yet its inner purpose is tikkun: the Mitzrayim bondage, harsh as it was, was chesed/rachamim for the dor haflagah souls [19800/maamar_016 :: §366; 31640/maamar_014 :: Summary p. קז].

Related concepts

Sources