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| Pâ•qidꞋ Yi•rᵊmᵊyâhꞋu |
Name withheld by request, Belgium; 2001.06.06 – It seems Jews believe in reincarnation? Do all Jews believe that? Do you?
As usual, we follow Orthodox Ha•lâkh•âhꞋ, which, historically, rejects this Gnostic concept that mutated to Christian, then Islamic, doctrine.
The correct term for this is âÌÄìÀâÌåÌì, the verbal noun derived from âÌÄìÀâÌÅì. Beside “reincarnation,” English counterparts include “transmigration” and “metempsychosis.”
Unaware that Qa•bâl•âhꞋ dates back only to the 12th C.E., many modern Jews wrongly assume that this is a concept native to Qa•bâl•âhꞋ. However, as the Encyclopedia Judaica, inter alia, documents:
”There is no definite proof of the existence of the doctrine of âÌÄìÀâÌåÌì in Judaism during the Second Temple period. In the Ta•lᵊmudꞋ there is no reference to it (although, by means of allegoric interpretations, later authorities found allusions to and hints of transmigration in the statements of talmudic rabbis)… In the post-talmudic period Anan b. David, the founder of Karaism [i.e. the Karaites], upheld this doctrine… The doctrine of transmigration was prevalent from the second century onward among some Gnostic sects and especially among Manicheans and was maintained in several circles in the Christian Church…
”Some Jews, following the Islamic sect of the Mu`tazila and attracted by its philosophic principles, accepted the doctrine of transmigration. The major medieval Jewish philosophers rejected this doctrine…
”In contrast with the conspicuous opposition of Jewish philosophy, metempsychosis is taken for granted in the Qa•bâl•âhꞋ from its first literary expression in the Sefer ha-Bahir (published in late 12th century)… After the Bahir the doctrine of âÌÄìÀâÌåÌì developed in several directions and became one of the major doctrines of the [Qa•bâl•âhꞋ].” 
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