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Reincarnation and Transmigration
of the Soul
This is part 3 of a series of selections from the Zohar. To return to the first article in this series: The Saba & Reincarnation of the Soul, click here.
The old man now begins to explain the harm his soul incurs
when a person acts wickedly, and why some children die in their infancy. [Note: This
is not necessarily true in every case; the intention is only to explain why in
some cases children die young.]
He began speaking again: "She [Sarah] said to Abraham,
'drive out this maidservant with her son [Hagar and Ishmael]'" (Gen.
21:10). The circle of disciples pointed out that Sarah wished thereby to remove
idolatry from the house; therefore, it is written, "Whatever Sarah will
tell you - listen to her" (ibid. v. 12).
Here it is written, "If a man will sell
his daughter as a maid servant" (Ex. 21:7) -- this refers to the soul as
it is reincarnated for its wrongful deeds in this world. "As a
maidservant" - this is the sitra achra. When the scales swing to
the negative side, and the soul is captured by the forces of evil, when the
time comes to extract it from there, it will certainly not "go out like
the going out of the [Canaanite] slaves" (Ex. 21:7).
Canaanite slaves (male or female) must be freed if they
permanently lose an eye, a tooth, or any, limb, in the course of their duties
(see Ex. 21:26-7, Rashi commentary). This rule, however, does not apply to a
Jewish maidservant or manservant. If they suffer the same type of loss, their
master must compensate them monetarily, but is not obligated to free them.  | | " If allowed to remain alive they will do evil and cause others to do evil as well..." | | |
Whose are all those oppressed souls? This is the secret -- they
are the souls of small children who are still feeding from their mother. The
Holy One, blessed be He, sees that if allowed to remain alive they will do evil
and cause others to do evil as well. So He gathers them in while they are
young, before their evil influence has a chance to spread. What does He do? He
allows them to fall prey to 'the maidservant,' Lilith the female counterpart of
Satan [ Nukva d'Kelipah]. As soon as one is delivered into her hands, she
rejoices in that child and imprisons him, removing him from the world while he
still suckles from his mother.
Now if you will ask,
what if some of those souls will do good in the world? Not so, for the
following verse states, "If she is displeasing in the eyes of her
master" (Ex. 21:8) - without doubt that person would have done evil in the
world had he been allowed to live. That soul is captured; another is not.
Regarding this it states, "I saw all the oppressions..." (Ecclesiastes
4:1). This is the meaning of, "If she is displeasing in the eyes of her
master..."But the verse continues: "If she is displeasing in the eyes
of her master who did not designate her." Note that above we translated
the verse as: "If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master, who
designated her for him[self]..."The word
lo (lamed- vav, "for himself") is used in the k'ri
(the pronounced) form of the verse, whereas lo (lamed-alef, "did not") is used in the
ketiv (written) form of the verse. Whenever there are a k'ri and
a ketiv form, both meanings are valid. If you will say that the captured
soul was designated for the sitra achra from the day of its creation,
this is not so, for the ketiv (the way the word is actually written in
the Torah) is lamed-alef, meaning "he did not designate her".
But now, because the scales have swung to the side of evil, the verse must now
be interpreted according to the k'ri -"who designated her for
him..." - for the sitra achra. But this was not the case from the
outset. | | " He will allow her to be born to the righteous of the other nations, or to a mamzer learned in Torah" | | |
"[Her master] must
assist in her redemption" - what is the meaning of "he must assist in
her redemption?" Although this is the literal translation of the words,
the ostensible meaning is that "he should allow her to be redeemed [by
someone else]". However, this is indeed meant literally, for it is the
Holy One, blessed be He who extricates her [the soul] while she still exudes a
pleasant scent. Before she begins to turn sour [literally, "before she
begins to become leavened" - symbolizing the yetzer hara] He raises her up on high, to His Supernal Academy. And
if you will say that since she was already captured by "the Other Side"
He will allow her to be born to the righteous of the other nations, or to a mamzer learned in Torah (as mentioned
above), the verse proves otherwise: "He does not have the right to sell
her to a stranger, because he has betrayed her" - since the soul has been
captured due to the imbalance in the scales and not because of any sin
associated with that particular soul. To go to the next article in this series, The Riddle of the Saba,click here.
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