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Additional Blemishes
Reincarnation and tikun
Intermediate Intermediate

Additional Blemishes

"Gate of Reincarnations": Chapter Three, Section 3

Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam, committed their own sin in addition to that of their father and thus caused their sparks to become more deeply immersed in the kelipot.

Cain murdered Abel, and according to the Midrash, Abel had (previously) looked at the Divine Presence as it descended to consume his sacrifice on the altar. Gazing such at the Divine Presence was deemed a grave sin and warranted for Abel the penalty of death. Thus, they caused further damage and blemish to the soul-sparks from the soul of Adam that were originally damaged by the sin of the First Man.

However, in each generation some of the sparks reincarnate into the world to become rectified.

That is good news. All do not end up like Cain and Abel. There is tikun.

Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam, increased the damage and blemish of the soul-sparks

The level of the "quarry" of the souls of a particular generation can be either that of the sparks of the head, or the eyes, etc.

The "quarry" [as in a rock quarry] is the place in the soul-structure of Adam from which the soul-sparks derive. This varies by the generation. It is like a spiritual quarry from which the sparks of the souls of a particular generation are "hewn." Some of these sparks reincarnate and become rectified, but some of them reincarnate, become more blemished because of sin, and fall deeper into the kelipot, like the souls of Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam.

[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
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)
Effect of The Sin of Adam (3:2)
Additional Blemishes (3:3)
Half-way: Ibur from Birth (3:4)
Summary and Completion (3:5)
Between Yibum and Gilgul (3:6)
A Second Difference (3:7)
A Slightly New Gilgul (3:8)
2nd Gilgul Is Like 1st (4:1)
Rectifying the Soul (4:2)
Showing 17 - 31 of 186