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Entry of Soul's Levels
What if one does not completely rectify his Nefesh in the first incarnation?
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Entry of Soul's Levels

"Gate of Reincarnations": Chapter Two, Section 1

Entry of Nefesh, Ruach & Neshama throughout Life

When a person is born, his Nefesh enters him. If he is adequately rectified through his actions, his Ruach will enter him at the end of his thirteenth year when he becomes a "completed person." His Neshama will enter him only when he completes his twentieth year, as it says in the Zohar (Mishpatim 94b).

This is talking about the ideal situation during a person's first gilgul, as we will soon see.

However, if he does not completely rectify his Ruach, then the Neshama will not enter him and he will remain with only his Nefesh and Ruach. Likewise, if he doesn't completely rectify his Nefesh, then he will remain with only his Nefesh, lacking both his Ruach and Neshama. The Ruach and Neshama will remain in a place known to The Holy One, Blessed is He, and there a place will be prepared for each one.

In other words, until a person is able to receive all parts of his soul, the parts he has yet to receive remain hidden away by G-d until the person is ready for them.

He will have to die and return in order to receive the Ruach

Now, if a person does not completely rectify his Nefesh the first time and dies, then his Nefesh will have to reincarnate, perhaps even many times, until it is sufficiently rectified. However, since he only achieved tikun through a gilgul, even after complete rectification is achieved his Ruach will not enter [unless there is a pressing need, as will be explained, G-d willing].

Had it been his first gilgul, then he could have received his Ruach while still alive in his original body. This is not the case if the rectification of the Nefesh is completed during subsequent gilgulim.

He will have to die and return in order to receive the Ruach. Furthermore, once the Ruach is sufficiently rectified, then he will also have to reincarnate before receiving a Neshama, as was the case with the Ruach.

After he finally rectifies his Nefesh and dies, in the next reincarnation he will return with a Nefesh and a Ruach. Once the Ruach is rectified as well, then he will die and come back in another gilgul with a Nefesh, Ruach, and Neshama.

If the Ruach is not sufficiently rectified, then the Nefesh and the Ruach will have to come back again, perhaps many times, until the Ruach is rectified. Once rectification is achieved, then the person will die and his Nefesh and Ruach will come back with the proper Neshama until all three are rectified. Once this is done, there is no need for any further gilgulim. When his Neshama is completed, he has become a "complete person."

[Commentary by Shabtai Teicher.]


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From the teachings of Rabbi Yitzchak Luria   More articles...  |   RSS Listing of Newest Articles by this Author
Rabbi Yitzchak Luria […Ashkenazi ben Shlomo] (5294-5332 = 1534-1572 c.e.); Yahrtzeit (anniversary of death): 5th of Av. Buried in the Old Cemetery of Tzfat. Commonly known as the Ari, an acronym standing for Elohi Rabbi Yitzchak, the
G-dly Rabbi Isaac. No other master or sage ever had this extra letter Aleph, standing for Elohi [G-dly], prefaced to his name. This was a sign of what his contemporaries thought of him. Later generations, fearful that this appellation might be misunderstood, said that this Aleph stood for Ashkenazi, indicating that his family had originated in Germany, as indeed it had. But the original meaning is the correct one, and to this day among Kabbalists, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria is only referred to as Rabbenu HaAri, HaAri HaKadosh [the holy Ari] or Arizal [the Ari of blessed memory].
Yitzchok bar Chaim is the pseudonym of the translator, an American-born Jerusalem scholar who has studied and taught Kabbala for many years. He may be contacted through: webmaster@kabbalaonline.org. He translated the Ari's work, "Shaar HaGilgulim;" his translation into English (but with much less extensive commentary than offered here). Information about his translation in book form may be obtained through www.thirtysevenbooks.com
Rabbi Chaim Vital c. 5303-5380 (c. 1543-1620 CE), major disciple of R. Isaac (Yitzchak) Luria, and responsible for publication of most of his works.
Shabtai Teicher, a descendant of the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, the Rebbe Maharash, was born in Brooklyn in 1946 and settled in Jerusalem in 1970. He studied for over 7 years with one of the outstanding and renowned kabbalists of our generation, Rabbi Mordechai Attieh, and has also studied deeply in various other fields of Jewish scholarship. He is a specialist in Lurianic Kabbala, edited and annotated the first eleven chapters of our English rendition of "Shaar HaGilgulim," and completed his manuscripts for "Zohar: Old Man in the Sea," in both Hebrew and English, shortly before his unfortunate passing in November 2009.

 



 


Gate of Reincarnations
Asiya Differs (1:6)
To Be Like Moses (1:7)
Help from Heaven (1:8)
Asiya Is Only One Sefira (1:9)
Gilgulim and Righteous (1:10)
The Nefesh of the Ger (1:11)
Ibur-Yenika-Mochin (ch:1)
Entry of Soul's Levels (2:1)
Levels of Rectification (2:2)
Receiving an Ibur (2:3)
Ibur of Righteous Souls (2:4)
Why Ibur of Righteous (2:5)
Soul Combination (2:6)
Yibum -- A Special Case (2:7)
Ibur While Alive (3:1)
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