Gilgul Neshamot

Gilgul Neshamot

1. Devorah – the gilgul of Tamar. Rabbi Chaim Vital taught in «Etz Chaim», may the memory of the righteous be a blessing, that the prophetess Devorah sat beneath a palm tree, and the secret of the palm is – «צדיק כתמריפרח» – (a righteous person is like a palm tree). «Tamar» has the gematria 640, equal to the gematria of «Shemesh» (sun) – the prophetess Devorah was to the Jewish people like the radiant sun. David HaMelech descended from Devorah’s soul-root because he sang as she did. “Devorah is the gilgul of Tamar, and her tikkun consists in the fact that Devorah must now be outside (unlike Tamar, who was in the place of prostitutes).” Devorah – the gilgul of Tzipporah Tzipporah, the wife of Moshe Rabbeinu, was also reincarnated as Devorah. When Am Yisrael sang to HaShem «Shirat ha-Yam», Tzipporah was not with them; she was in Midian. In the merit of circumcising her son, «ותקח צפרה צר ותכרת [את] ערלת בנה», Tzipporah, embodied in Devorah, merited the song «Shirat Devorah» through Ruach HaKodesh, and the words «בפרע פרעות» in Devorah’s song allude to the brit milah of Tzipporah and Moshe Rabbeinu’s son. (Ramo Mi-Pano, «Sefer Gilgulei Neshamot») in detail – 15 Tishrei – Yahrzeit of Deborah the Prophetess   2. Rabbi Eliezer ben Urkanos – the gilgul of Reuven. Reuven had no part in the sale of Yosef, and Rabbi Eliezer was not among the ten martyred sages. («Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer» 1) 3. Yael – came from the soul-root of Leah Imeinu. She was the wife of Chever ha-Keni. She gave Sisera milk, causing him to fall asleep, and then split open his head. As the Arizal showed, Sisera’s power lay in the brain and intellect (Daas). There is an allusion that Rabbi Akiva, Sisera’s descendant, was indicated when Sisera asked Yael: היש פה איש – “Is there a man here?” The gematria of יש פה = 395 = Rabbi Akiva. 4. Chever ha-Keni – the gilgul of Rahav (the wife of Yehoshua bin Nun) (see Yehoshua, 2), who was later reincarnated as Channah. Chever ha-Keni (the husband of Yael) was reincarnated from Rahav, the wife of Yehoshua bin Nun, into a non-Jewish native of Canaan. Rahav saved Pinchas and Calev and promised them that she and her entire family would convert to Judaism. Rahav and Chaver – רחב - חבר – contain the same letters. Yael was reincarnated as a man, Eli HaKohen (עלי is spelled like יעל), who was the Kohen Gadol and judged Israel for forty years in Shiloh, becoming the teacher of Shmuel HaNavi. Because Yael’s husband, Chaver ha-Keni, was reincarnated as a woman, Channah, the mother of Shmuel HaNavi, she was unable to have children. Yael was also reincarnated as Yehudit, who became an inseparable part of Chanukah. She was the daughter of Yochanan Kohen Gadol of the Hasmonean dynasty. Like Yael, Yehudit gave the commander of the Greek-Syrian army milk and wine and beheaded him. 5. Eli HaKohen was one of the descendants of Itamar, the son of Aharon HaKohen, and was the gilgul of Aharon HaKohen. He died in an unusual manner connected with Aharon HaKohen’s tikkun for the sin of the Golden Calf. When the Philistines captured the Aron HaKodesh, he died upon hearing the news, falling backward from his chair. (Arizal, «Shaar HaGilgulim» (הקדמה לו)) 6. The prophetess Channah – the gilgul of Chaver – could not conceive because she had reincarnated from a male soul-root, until Eli HaKohen (the gilgul of Yael) blessed her in Shiloh. 7. Elkanah, Channah’s husband, was the gilgul of Lemech, while Channah was the gilgul of Tzillah. Their destinies were likewise similar. Of Lemech’s two wives, Adah was “for children,” while Tzillah was “for her husband.” She drank a potion that made a woman infertile so that she would not lose her attractiveness. Her name hints at this: Tzillah means one who is in the shadow (tsel in Hebrew) of her husband. Perhaps this is why Scripture does not say that Elkanah took two wives, but simply that he had two wives—as though they had already been his in a previous incarnation. The Arizal presents an even deeper connection. Sarah, Channah, the Shunamite woman and the woman from Tzarfat were all the gilgulim of one soul. Sarah had a threefold blessing in her home, connected with three mitzvot: separating challah, lighting Shabbat candles and observing the laws of niddah. The Sages add that Sarah did not complete the tikkun of all these mitzvot, so three other righteous women came and completed what Sarah had begun. Channah rectified niddah, the Shunamite woman – candles, the woman of Tzarfat – challah. As another parallel among these women, the commentators note that all experienced miracles and difficulties in having children. Sarah gave birth at the age of ninety, Channah was childless for nineteen years, while the women of Shunem and Tzarfat experienced miracles through the resurrection of their sons. 8. Eliyahu HaNavi was the gilgul of Pinchas (Zohar, part 2, 190a). He was also a spark of the souls of Aharon’s sons, Nadav and Avihu. 9. Izevel – the gilgul of Kozbi – therefore she pursued and sought to kill Eliyahu (who was Pinchas, the one who killed her together with Zimri of the tribe of Shimon). Izevel was the gilgul of Korach’s wife, who incited Korach to rebel against Aharon as Kohen Gadol. (Ramo Mi-Pano, «Sefer Gilgulei Neshamot») Izevel achieved her tikkun as the wife of Turnus Rufus. In trying to disgrace the elderly Rabbi Akiva, she ultimately became his wife. 10. Zimri – the gilgul of Shechem. Shimon, who rescued Dinah, married her, and they had a son, Shaul ben ha-Kena'anit. Midrash Tanchuma on Pinchas says: “Zimri had three names: Zimri ben Salu, Shaul ben ha-Kena'anit, and Shlumi’el ben Tzurishaddai.” Shaul ben ha-Kena'anit, the son of Shimon and Dinah, was Zimri, the gilgul of Shechem ben Chamor. Shechem returned in the gilgul of Dinah and Shimon’s son. Later he was reincarnated again as Zimri, the leader of the tribe of Shimon. Dinah was reincarnated as the princess Kozbi bat Tzur, daughter of Balak, king of Moav. Zimri, the reincarnation of Shechem, had to rectify his former errors with Kozbi, who was Dinah’s reincarnation. Zimri was 250 years old and one of the seventy people who descended to Egypt with Yaakov Avinu. At 250 a person has no lust, but he acted in order to challenge Moshe Rabbeinu. He felt an immense connection with Kozbi, and herein lies a great secret. When Shechem son of Chamor was killed, his soul was brought before the Heavenly Court. He declared that he should not be punished because he had undergone circumcision. His case was deferred until the episode of Zimri. When Zimri’s soul, killed for immorality, ascended, the Court told him: You were the reincarnation of Shechem son of Chamor. Although you underwent circumcision during your lifetime, you were required to face the test of not taking a woman from another nation. Thus Shechem was struck by the sword twice. («Ahavat Chaim», Mishpatim) Shechem was later reincarnated as Rabbi Chananiah ben Teradion, a sage of the Mishnah era. This is why the rapist Shechem fell in love with Dinah and became attached to her: the spark of a righteous soul was drawn to the daughter of the Patriarchs. (Or HaChaim on «Ki Teitzei») Osnat descended from the union of Shechem ben Chamor and Dinah bat Yaakov. She married Yosef HaTzadik, and Ephraim was born from their union. Mashiach ben Yosef descended from this union. Pinchas, who was Eliyahu HaNavi, killed Zimri and Kozbi, but they had not yet completed their tikkun. Zimri was reincarnated as Rabbi Akiva, and Kozbi bat Tzur as the wife of Turnus Rufus. The wicked Turnus Rufus hated Rabbi Akiva. When his beautiful wife asked what troubled him, he replied: “Rabbi Akiva!” She said she would take care of it, because HaShem hates lust, and planned to seduce him just as Kozbi bat Tzur had seduced Zimri. She dressed provocatively and went to Rabbi Akiva. When he saw her, he spat, laughed and cried. Asked why, he said he spat because she came from a foul drop of semen; he cried because such beauty would one day lie beneath the earth; and he did not tell her why he laughed. Through ruach hakodesh, he knew that he would marry her. She insisted that he explain, and when he revealed the reason, she married him and gave him all her wealth. 11. The 24,000 people who died in the plague were reincarnations of 24,000 men from Shechem who had undergone circumcision. Although they circumcised themselves not l’shem shamayim, they had nevertheless performed the act and possessed merit, so they reincarnated again. They returned as the 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva, who died in the plague during the fifty days between Pesach and Shavuot because they did not treat one another with respect. Their deaths completed their tikkun. 12. Rabbi Akiva was the gilgul and tikkun of Zimri. There is an allusion that Rabbi Akiva, Sisera’s descendant, was indicated when Sisera asked Yael: היש פה איש – “Is there a man here?” The gematria of יש פה= 395 = Rabbi Akiva. How did Rabbi Akiva die? His skin was scraped with iron combs. How did Shechem die? By the sword. How did Zimri die? By the spear. Rabbi Akiva’s final words were «Shema Yisrael». Zimri had caused a great chillul HaShem; when he was reincarnated as Rabbi Akiva, he rectified it by making a kiddush HaShem and saying “Shema Yisrael.” Who killed Zimri? Pinchas. Who was Pinchas? Eliyahu HaNavi. When Rabbi Akiva was very poor and married Rachel, the daughter of Kalba Savua, they used straw for a mattress. To help him advance in his tikkun, Eliyahu HaNavi came to him disguised as a poor man and asked for straw for his wife, who had just given birth. Who buried Rabbi Akiva? Eliyahu HaNavi. Remarkably, Eliyahu HaNavi cared for Rabbi Akiva from beginning to end. 13. The Ramchal – the gilgul of Rabbi Akiva Rabbi Akiva was an ordinary, uneducated man until the age of forty. When the Almighty showed Moshe Rabbeinu all the generations, he saw himself sitting in the eighth row of Rabbi Akiva’s classroom, but understood nothing. A student asked Rabbi Akiva a question, and he replied: «Halachah from Moshe Rabbeinu». Moshe Rabbeinu returned to the Kadosh Baruch Hu and asked: “Why did You choose me to give the holy Torah when there is a greater talmid chacham capable of teaching Torah?” The Kadosh Baruch Hu silenced Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu asked: “What reward will this tzadik receive?” HaShem showed him Rabbi Akiva’s execution and his final words: «Shema Yisrael». Moshe Rabbeinu asked the Kadosh Baruch Hu: “This is Torah, and this is its reward?” The L-rd answered him: שתוק! כך עלה במחשבה לפני — “Be silent! So it arose in My thought” – כך (this) has the gematria 40. Rabbi Akiva was illiterate for forty years. Who rectified and completed Rabbi Akiva? The Ramchal—Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto. The Ramchal lived for forty years. He is buried in Tiberias beside Rabbi Akiva. The final book he wrote contains the secret of «Kriat Shema». In it, the Ramchal writes that meditating on one’s willingness to die for kiddush HaShem, with proper kavanah, is counted as though one had actually done so. (Yeranen Yaakov, dreaming of Mashiach) 14. Moshe Rabbeinu was the gilgul of Adam’s third son, Shet, while Shet was the gilgul of Hevel. The “mem” in Moshe’s name represents Moshe, the “shin” represents Shet, and the “hei” represents Hevel. The book «Yalkut David» says that Moshe was the gilgul of Hevel, while Korach was the gilgul of Cain. It was precisely where Hevel had once been killed that the earth opened and swallowed Korach. 15. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and the Arizal were gilgulim of Moshe Rabbeinu. («Shaar HaGilgulim» (hakdamah 6)) 16. Yocheved was the gilgul of Chavah, Adam’s wife. Just as Adam separated from Chavah for 130 years before Shet was born, so Yocheved, the reincarnation of Chavah, did not give birth to Moshe Rabbeinu, the reincarnation of Shet, until she was 130. She is therefore first called a daughter, when Chavah’s soul was embodied in her, and immediately afterward a woman, showing Chavah’s presence in her soul. 17. Benayahu ben Yehoyada – the gilgul and tikkun of Eliezer, Avraham’s servant. (Ari HaKadosh) 18. Ben Ish Chai – the gilgul of Benayahu ben Yehoyada. When Ben Ish Chai visited the kever of Benayahu ben Yehoyada as a pilgrim, he experienced profound spiritual illumination and great Kabbalistic secrets were revealed to him. Concluding that he was the gilgul of Benayahu ben Yehoyada, he named all his books in his honor, including «Ben Ish Chai», «Ben Ish Chayil» and «Rav Pe’alim». 19. Amram – the father of Moshe and Aharon – was the gilgul of Adam; (Kli Yakar) 20. Yosef – when freed from prison, he received the soul-incarnation of Chanoch ben Yered (who became the angel Metatron). This level of soul had been included in Adam but was not condemned with him for his sin. This lofty soul gave Yosef Adam’s beauty. That same night, the angel Gavriel appeared to Yosef and taught him the seventy languages. (Shaar HaGilgulim, hakdamah 31) Yosef’s soul returned as one of the Ten Martyrs in the person of Rabbi Yishmael HaGadol, in the incident that occurred after the destruction of the Second Temple. 21. Rabbi Yishmael Kohen Gadol was the reincarnation of Yosef; According to the Arizal, Yosef himself caused his brothers to sell him by publicizing his dreams of power and speaking lashon hara about them. Rabbi Yishmael was the reincarnation of Yosef HaTzadik. Just as Yosef possessed Adam’s beauty, so did Rabbi Yishmael. Rabbi Yishmael’s death atoned for Yosef’s sins. It was not the only reason for his death, but it was the principal one. (Arizal, Shaar HaGilgulim, hakdamah 34) 22. Terach (Avraham’s father) was the chief minister of King Nimrod and the chief idolater of Babylon. Avraham nevertheless succeeded in effecting the tikkun of his soul. Terach’s soul later appeared in Iyov and attained rectification: the letters of Iyov איוב form the word אביו (his father), the father of Avraham. Iyov’s suffering, although he was righteous and G-d-fearing, served as a tikkun for Terach’s sins. (Arizal, Shaar HaPesukim, Iyov, ch. 1) Terach’s wife, Amtalai, Avraham’s mother, was reincarnated as Iyov’s wife. Unlike her husband, who was prepared to accept any portion from the Almighty, she protested and blasphemed Heaven: “And his wife said to him: Do you still maintain your integrity? Curse G-d and die.” He replied: “You speak as one of the disgraceful women speaks. Shall we accept good from G-d and not accept evil?” (Iyov 2:9–10) The Talmud, in tractate Gittin (57), describes an episode from the time when the Greeks conquered Israel and sought to impose their culture on the Jews. They chose Channah and her seven sons for this purpose. Antiochus’s soldiers seized them in the street, brought them to the palace, and executed each one for remaining faithful to his belief. Amtalai, later Iyov’s wife and then Channah, asks her youngest son to tell Avraham, when he reaches Gan Eden, that he built only one altar—the Akeidah of Yitzchak—while she built seven. Now she proudly informs her first son, Avraham, that she is no longer willing to bow to idols. (Rama mi-Pano, «Sefer Gilgulei Neshamot») 23. In Korach was embodied the “soul-spark” of Cain. An allusion appears in Korach’s name at the beginning of this section: «קֹרַח בֶּן יִצְהָר – Korach, son of Yitzhar»—the first letters of the first and third words together with the last letter of the second form the name קין (Cain). («Kitvei Arizal», «Shaar HaPesukim», Bereishit, derush 4, cited in «Mi-Maamakim», Bamidbar, 42, p. 267) 24. Korach’s wife Ramo Mi-Pano, «Sefer Gilgulei Neshamot», writes that Korach’s wife was the gilgul of Queen Izevel, the wife of Achav. Michal, David’s wife, was the gilgul of On ben Pelet’s wife. Just as On’s wife saved him during Korach’s rebellion, Michal saved David. 24. Aharon HaKohen was Haran, Avraham Avinu’s brother, in a previous life. Haran (the same letters as Aharon’s name, without the aleph) had to rectify Adam’s idolatry, but failed. Chur ben Miriam sacrificed his life to stop the sin of the Golden Calf and rectify idolatry. Aharon mistakenly thought that Chur’s death had completed the tikkun for the Calf. (Shaar HaGilgulim) Aharon was later reincarnated as Yabetz HaShofet (another name for Otniel ben Kenaz), then as Tola ben Puah HaShofet, then as Shmuel HaNavi, then as Aviyah, the son of King Yerovam, afterward as Uriah HaKohen (who was killed by King Yehoyakim and thereby atoned for the death in the episode of the Golden Calf), and finally as Zechariah HaNavi. (Shaar HaGilgulim, hakdamah 33) 25. Chur (the son of Miriam) was the gilgul of Nachor, Avraham Avinu’s brother, and came from Nachor’s soul-root, which in turn came from the soul-root of Hevel, Adam’s son. The Hebrew name Chur consists of the letters חור, which appear in the name Nachor, נחור, another allusion to the origin of his soul. Chur’s death, which was meant to halt idolatry, was a tikkun for the sins of idolatry committed by Adam, Hevel and Nachor. The Ari says that Aharon HaKohen, who was the reincarnation of Haran (הרן), another brother of Avraham Avinu, was likewise required to sacrifice himself to stop the sin of the Golden Calf, for the idolatry of his previous life. Aharon erred in thinking that Chur’s death was sufficient. (Shaar HaGilgulim, pp. 95 and 114) 26. Tzipporah and Batyah The Sages say (Sanhedrin) that Korach’s associates accused Moshe of adultery. If so, why did Moshe fall on his face instead of answering the accusation? After all, silence is like an admission. The accusation was expressed through hints, so Moshe did not argue or defend himself: “You have assumed all authority over us, but you are unworthy of it because you married a married woman,” they told him. It is known that Tzipporah and Batyah were reincarnations of the twin sisters of Hevel, whom Cain killed out of jealousy. When the angels accused man before the Almighty—“What is man that You should remember him, and the son of man that You should take note of him?”—G-d replied that had they lived on earth, it was uncertain that they could have overcome the evil inclination. The angels asked: “Test us, L-rd.” Immediately they descended to earth and saw Hevel’s twin sisters (“the sons of the great ones saw the daughters of man, that they were beautiful”). The evil inclination overcame them, and they decided to take the women for themselves. But the women said: “What will happen if we conceive from you, while you return to Heaven and disappear? First teach us to pronounce the Name of the Almighty, so that we too may ascend after you.” The angels revealed the Name of the Almighty to them, and the women immediately rose to Heaven and hid beneath the Throne of Glory. The sisters remained there until Yitro and Pharaoh entered the world. When the time came, the Almighty made one of them Pharaoh’s daughter, Batyah, who raised Moshe, and the other Yitro’s daughter, Tzipporah, who became Moshe’s wife. Korach and his companions claimed that after Hevel’s death, Cain should have married his brother’s widow or released her through chalitzah. Until he did one or the other, the widow was forbidden to other men like a married woman. Moshe replied: “Had I been guilty of this, I would not have merited receiving the Torah, nor would G-d have granted me a special radiance. Moreover, Cain could not marry his brother’s widow, because he himself had killed him.” (Ahavat Chaim, Bamidbar) 27. Bilam – the gilgul of Lavan – Naval (the letters are the same), and he in turn was the reincarnation of the negative aspect of Hevel’s soul. The Ari HaKadosh («Likutei Torah») says that Lavan’s soul first appeared in a new incarnation as Bilam and then as Naval. The book «Zikukin de-Nura» compares them: just as Lavan wanted to poison Eliezer, Avraham’s servant, Naval wanted to poison ten messengers of King David. 28. Naval The Ari HaKadosh writes in «Shaar HaPesukim» that after Naval’s death, his soul passed into Barzilai of Gilad and was rectified in him. Naval refused to give food to David’s men, whereas Barzilai provided food for David and his troops. 28. Hevel The positive aspect of Hevel’s soul was reincarnated in Noach and later in Moshe Rabbeinu. Bilam and Moshe were two aspects of one soul: both were gilgulim of Hevel, but Moshe Rabbeinu represented the positive aspect and Bilam the negative. Bilam was eleven years older than Moshe Rabbeinu—the number separating kedushah (holiness) from tumah (impurity). 28. The soul of Yaakov Avinu came from Hevel, Adam’s son, while the soul of his brother Esav came from Cain, Hevel’s twin brother. At birth, Yaakov held Esav’s heel, thereby separating the good part of Cain within Esav. Yaakov passed this positive aspect of Cain to Yissachar. (Shaar HaGilgulim, Hakdamah 38) 29. The soul of Yissachar was later embodied in Rabbi Akiva, one of the Ten Martyrs, to atone for the sale of Yosef, in which Yissachar participated. Before being embodied in Rabbi Akiva, Yissachar was embodied in the famous Tanna, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai. (Kitvei Ari, Shaar HaPesukim, Parashat Vayeitzei) 30. The soul-level of Shmuel HaNavi derives from Cain, Adam’s son. Shmuel also attained an ibbur, receiving the souls of Nadav and Avihu, the sons of Aharon HaKohen. (Shaar HaGilgulim, Hakdamah 32) Shmuel’s soul later returned as Aviyah, the son of King Yerovam. (Shaar HaGilgulim, Hakdamah 33). In more recent history, Rabbi Shmuel Shmelke of Nikolsburg (1726–1778), a disciple of the Maggid of Mezhritch, was considered to possess a spark of the soul of Shmuel the Prophet. The Passover Haggadah contains the words: “Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah said: ‘Although I appear to be seventy years old.’” At the time Rabbi Elazar was only eighteen. How could he say this? Chazal explain that Rabbi Elazar was the gilgul of Shmuel HaNavi, who lived for 52 years. Adding his eighteen years to 52 gives seventy. Channah prayed for a son—“ben”—and the gematria of “ben” is 52. («Passover Haggadah») 31. Rabbi Chaim Vital – the Ari revealed that Rabbi Chaim Vital’s soul was of an exceptionally lofty level, from the same soul-root as Rabbi Akiva and King Chizkiyahu. His father, Rabbi Yosef Vital, and his son, Rabbi Shmuel Vital, were sparks of the soul of the great Tanna Rabbi Meir Baal HaNes. 32. Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk was the gilgul in this world of the soul of the prophet Achiyah (Achiyahu) of Shiloh – Achiyah HaShiloni. The Baal Shem Tov studied with this prophet for more than ten years; he would come to him from the Upper World to study together. For this reason Rabbi Elimelech did not study under the Baal Shem Tov: a teacher, the soul that gives, cannot learn from his student. Providence therefore arranged that they should not meet. (Admor of Rachmastrivka) 33. The wife of On ben Pelet passed through many generations into the gilgul of Michal, daughter of King Shaul. Because On’s wife saved her husband’s life by explaining in time that he could not rule, it was decreed in Heaven that her soul would descend in the body of a king’s daughter and a king’s wife. Just as she had once saved her husband during the dispute with Korach, so, as Michal, she saved her husband David from her father, King Shaul. (Ramo Mi-Pano, «Sefer Gilgulei Neshamot») 34. The Tanna Rabbi Matya ben Charash was the gilgul of Palti ben Laish, to whom King Shaul gave his daughter Michal, David’s wife, because Shaul mistakenly believed that her marriage to David was invalid. Palti placed a sword between them in the bed and did not touch her. Nevertheless, he should not have kept her and should have told King Shaul that he did not wish to marry her because of her doubtful status. Although Palti did not touch Michal, he nevertheless derived some pleasure from seeing what did not belong to him, since she sat and lay beside him. He therefore needed a tikkun and was reincarnated as Rabbi Matya ben Charash. When Satan attempted to seduce him, he resisted and would not even look at the beautiful woman. Both Rabbi Matya ben Charash and Palti ben Laish were sparks of the soul of the righteous Yosef, son of Yaakov Avinu. («Ahavat Chaim» on Shemot) 35. Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair. Commentators on the Zohar HaKadosh, based on Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair’s words—“Master of the Universe, You have performed an unprecedented act for me”—conclude that Rabbi Pinchas’s soul was the gilgul of Avraham Avinu’s soul, while Rabbi Pinchas’s donkey was the gilgul of the soul of Yishmael, Avraham’s son. (Zohar 3, 200b–202b) 36. Rav Ada bar Matna – Otniel ben Kenaz Rama mi-Pano, a student of the Arizal, writes in «Gilgul Neshamot» that Rav Ada bar Matna was the gilgul of Otniel ben Kenaz, and his wife was Otniel’s wife, Achsah, the daughter of Calev ben Yefuneh. The Book of Yehoshua relates how Calev ben Yefuneh, leader of the tribe of Yehudah, declared: “Whoever conquers the city of Kiryat Sefer will receive my daughter Achsah.” When Otniel ben Kenaz, Calev ben Yefuneh’s maternal half-brother, succeeded, he married Achsah as promised. Achsah asked her husband to let her request a field from her father, explaining that the land she had received had no water sources. Otniel agreed, and Calev gave her land on a mountain slope with springs above and below. The Talmud says that Achsah told her father that she had received a husband who possessed nothing but Torah, while she wished to be materially secure. Her father replied: “Since your husband is a great Torah scholar, he need not concern himself with earning a livelihood.” Clearly Otniel was completely immersed in Torah and uninterested in worldly pleasures. Rashi writes that Otniel did not agree to give her the field, so she fell before him in supplication; he could not withstand her plea and allowed her to ask her father for land. Rav Ada bar Matna, the gilgul of Otniel, would answer his wife’s question, “How will I feed the children?” when he left for the yeshivah: “Has the grass in the meadow by the pond run out?” He meant that just as the Creator provides food for sheep, so He would provide for them if they devoted themselves to Him. For their tikkun, the Almighty sent them the trial of poverty. (commentary on «Tomer Devorah» by Rav Benzion Melamed) 37. Rivkah Rivkah was the gilgul of Chavah. Her son Yaakov was the gilgul of Adam. Rivkah had to rectify Chavah’s error. In the first case, Chavah led Adam astray by persuading him to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the Etz HaDaat, which the Almighty had forbidden. In the second, Rivkah, Chavah’s reincarnation, rectified her error by urging Yaakov to act so that righteous Yaakov would cleverly “take” the firstborn blessing from his father Yitzchak rather than from his wicked twin brother Esav. Yaakov’s soul later passed to Mordechai. Queen Esther, too, was the gilgul of Chavah. Adam and Chavah were the true halves of one whole. 38. Elisheva The soul of Elisheva, wife of Aharon HaKohen—the noblest and most distinguished of all Jewish women—was later embodied in Kimchit, about whom the Talmud relates. Her husband Aharon was the Kohen Gadol, her brother-in-law was Moshe Rabbeinu, her brother was Nachshon, who was the first to enter the Yam Suf, her four sons served in the Temple, and her grandson Pinchas was zealous for G-d. Kimchit, the mother of seven sons, merited that all of them become Kohanim Gedolim through her righteousness. Asked how she merited such a blessing, she humbly replied that she always covered her hair: “Even the walls of my house never saw my hair.” Another gilgul of Elisheva was Bat-Sheva, the wife of David HaMelech. (Kitvei Ari, Shaar HaPesukim, Shmuel II) 39. Abba Chilkiyah He was the reincarnation of Manoach, Shimshon’s father, whom the Sages called ignorant because he followed his wife and accepted her advice. In his reincarnation as Abba Chilkiyah, he proved that he had valid reasons for this conduct. One example is when Abba Chilkiyah followed his wife into the house in order to keep her away from two students whom he did not know and therefore could not trust. Abba Chilkiyah’s wife was the reincarnation of Hatzlelponi, Manoach’s wife. In this life, too, her prayers were answered before those of her husband, just as the angel had first appeared to Hatzlelponi rather than to Manoach. 40. Eliezer ben Urkanos – Rabbi Eliezer HaGadol He was the gilgul of the soul of Reuven, the firstborn of Yaakov Avinu. Through his maternal line he descended from the family of Moshe Rabbeinu. (Seder HaDorot) 41. Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah – a sage of the yeshivah in Yavneh, Nasi and Dayan. He was an embodiment of Ezra’s soul, and the soul’s subsequent incarnation was the outstanding Torah commentator Avraham ibn Ezra. (Seder HaDorot) 42. Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch of Zhidachov Rabbi Yitzchak-Aizik of Komarno wrote that his teacher’s soul was part of the soul of the great Kabbalist and student of the Arizal, Rabbi Chaim Vital, “which in turn is close to the soul of Rabbi Akiva.” Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch told his brother Rabbi Moshe Tzvi-Hirsch that, in previous incarnations, his soul had belonged to one of the Kohanim Gedolim of the Second Temple period—Rabbi Yishmael. Other Kabbalists maintained that the soul of the sage Yanuka, the child mentioned in the «Zohar HaKadosh», lived within Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch, for everyone called Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch “Sar Zohar” (the prince of the Zohar). 43. Ruth The mekubalim teach that the name Ruth is an abbreviation of רחל ותמר – Rachel ve-Tamar. Ruth was also a spark of the soul of Lot’s daughter, the mother of Moav. She came to rectify the sin of Moav’s daughter with her father through her pure relationship with Boaz. 44. Tamar The Sages say that Tamar—the mother of Peretz and Zerach—was the gilgul of Ruth.