any knowledgeable Jewish souls out there that can help me with a question about Judiasm?

Question

I am confused about kariat (divine severence of existence for certain sins). Does that mean that the soul has no share of the world to come, whether for the righteous or the wicked? Does it just mean that the soul dies and still has a share in the rewards and punishments of the next life? Is it something other than that? Please help me understand better what it is and how it is administered and the long term reality the soul experiences. Thanks and all the best.

Thank you for your answers. If you are willing, can you explain how the idea of reincarnation reconcilles with the verse in the tehillim that says,
"Their heart was not constant with HIM, and they were not steadfast in HIS covenant. Nevertheless, HE, the Merciful One, is forgiving of iniquity and does not destroy; frequently HE withdraws HIS anger, not arousing HIS entire wrath. For HE remembered that they were but flesh, a fleeting breath, not returning"
tehillim 78:37-39 (stone edition tanach)

To me, the last few phrases are talking about the fraility and mortality of man and says not returning. Perhaps I am reading it wrong, but I am confused how the idea of reincarnation is capatible with this verse. Please help.

Answer 1

OK- I will try to explain though I may drift a bit since it is not an area I am an expert in.

A quick note on the rewards and punishments of the next life before addressing kares and reincarnation (they are interlinked and i think it will make more sense this way round).

Judaism does not have a heaven and hell in the Christian sense. The world to come isn't a better version of this world- it is completely different- a spiritual realm in which souls seek to move closer to the essence of God through perfecting their understanding of the Torah and God's will expressed therein, since in contemplating God's essence, they draw closer to it. The idea of punishment is non-exiten, the worst their is, is the burning shame the soul feels when it is shown the difference between what it could have achieved and what it did achieve.

Kares is the excission of the soul from the presence of God. Such a soul cannot approach the divine essence of God since it has been cut off from it, and no matter how much it contemplates Torah and the Divine essence, it can never approach. In practical terms, then, what does this mean? Probably the most accepted explanation (there is a disagreement amongst the Amoraim on this): The soul remains forever just outside the lowest realm of the World to come (The Talmud in Masechta Chagigah records that the world to come has seven levels to God's courtyard- but states "beyond that we do not inquire", either it is unknown or in the realm of Sod and only taught directly from teacher to student in an one on one session). In other words- the soul remains eternally estranged from everything and is distressed by that (thusthe story in the Talmud when Onkelos summons the spirit of Bilaam it states it is being boiled in excement- in other words, it is perpetually shamed (and feels the burning of shame) and cut-off for the advice he gave to Balak to get Bnei Yisrael to worship Baal Peor (an idol worshiped by defecating in front of it).

So how does all this fit into reincarnation? The most basic understanding of the soul is that it has three parts- a purely animalistic animating part, the "You" i.e. your intellect/personality etc, and the Holy spark from God. When you die, the animating spirit dies with the body. The "You" part is the part that is judged and enters into the world to come to await the resurrection of the dead in the days of Mashiach and the Holy Spatk is the part that is reincarnated (only into another human- we do not believe in the type of reincarnation found in Hinduism where people can come back as animals). So, the soul that is punished with Kares remains forever outside the world to come, and will not be reincarnated in the time of Mashiach. What happens to the Holy Spark of the person punished with Kares? I don't know, it is not something I have ever seen discussed or brought down (so if it is discussed it is probably in one of the Kaballistic sources- and since I haven't studied Kaballah, I haven't seen it).

Answer 2

what many people do not realize, is that Judaism, in large, is such that it permits belief in Reincarnation.

Reincarnation is NOT fundamentally contrary to belief in the God of Abraham.

in fact in Kabbalah(the real stuff that is) Reincarnation is pretty much a given. in fact once you grasp the idea of reincarnation in a kabbalistic-compatible manner, ... it actually seems rather obvious and the only rational solution.


edit for additional,
the way I intepretet that is basically that the flesh, the person as they are in their current state.

kinda like, that if someones just having a bad day, you might dismiss their acting unsociable, as being because of a bad day. tomorrow they might feel better and act more like themselves.

note it says "is forgiving of iniquity and does not destroy" and "merciful"
if its only one lifetime, would this really be consistent or true?

heres how it works by my understanding and views.

you(or rather your body, to be technical) die.
you(your soul, still signifigantly connected to your physical identity) hang around til the funeral, and observe and stuff. (this is part of why jewish tradition is to bury the body as soon as possible, to not hold up the process)
after the funeral, assuming you are accepting your death and move on, you either go directly to "gahenna" or have a court type thing that determines your sins and the balance of things and whatnot, and THEN go to "Gahenna" the description of it I like, is basically its like your sat in a room, with a book. the book enumerates all your outstanding sins of that lifetime. (remember, in Judaism you can at least partially "pay for" wrongdoings, in this life, not just in the afterlife)
that time in Gahenna has a maximum of the passage of one year for the living. of course, this can be a very long time, if you've got alot of horrible things you have to sit and account for.
part of the idea though is that *everyone* spends at least a moment there.

after that, you move on, at this point the way I see it anyway, you would be much less who you were the immediately previous life, but entirely your higher pure self, the soul, untainted by mortal humanity, having "done its time" for the wrongdoings of the past, ect.

then you can lay out things for your next life.

its kinda like how some spots the word "soul" is used where it MEANS "soul" and others where it just means like ... the actual person as they are the mortal self.

hopefully thats helpful. I am not sure if anyone els sees it that way, but its my 2 cents.

Answer 3

It would help if you could cite the passage from the Torah to which you're referring. I'll try to answer as best I can.

[edit] OK, I just realized that a better transliteration of the Hebrew word you're looking for is "karet". First, you have to understand that this just isn't a big area for Judaism--we're much more concerned with the here and now. Having said that, here's a mystical interpretation of karet:

Karet means "to sever." It signifies the cutting off of the consciousness of the soul present in the body from its superconscious source which is always at one with G-d. Nonetheless, it is always possible to do teshuvah (repent) and to reconnect--with a stronger bond than before--the finite dimension of the soul with its infinite source. The soul's source then arouses "from afar" the estranged finite consciousness of the soul's reflection in the physical body to do teshuvah. If in a certain life-time the soul does not merit to do teshuvah it will be reincarnated in one form or another until it achieves its rectification. Often the reincarnation in a lower form of life (or even inanimate existence) suffices to achieve the rectification, for the soul's inability to choose is spiritual imprisonment which counteracts the wrong choices of a previous lifetime.

Answer 4

Well, I think what this all means is that your soul will be denied certain rewards (like carnal immortality?) until you rectify your wrongdoings...
And of course you are given time, over and over again, to improve upon your soul....

Abraham was born a Pagan, which is why Judaism has elements of reincarnation - but supposedly, Abraham, considered by God to be more intelligent than most, contemplated and refined his discovery of belief in the One Forgiving God, and passed this down. With each generation up to Judah (Abraham's grandson), this discovery was refined even more, losing most of it's Pagan aspects. Judaism began with Judah - so I think it's safe to say that although Abraham had his faults (he was born wicked, and practiced wickedness for a good part of his life), he corrected them, he will be awarded immortal life with God. If he dies, in sin, his soul will be separated from God (put in jail, if you will), and he will have to prove himself (like in a court of law, I suppose the Messiah will ultimately be Judge), worthy of immortality by showing he either wasn't entirely at fault or he rectified it in other ways. When he proves himself innocent or guilty, it will determine whether he resides confortably or he is punished eternally. Either way, Judaism says Man's soul (wicked or not) was created immortal, and that soul will always be immortal.

I'm not Jewish, so if I erred on any of this, very sorry - I'm just trying to understand things better.

Answer 5

If a Christian can answer:

Read Moses' Prayer while the people of Israel sinned against YHWH.

He talk about the Book of Life and sinners being removed from it.

EXODUS 32:31 AND MOSES RETURNED UNTO THE LORD, AND SAID, OH, THIS PEOPLE HAVE SINNED A GREAT SIN, AND HAVE MADE THEM GODS OF GOLD.
32 YET NOW, IF THOU WILT FORGIVE THEIR SIN--; AND IF NOT, BLOT ME, I PRAY THEE, OUT OF THY BOOK WHICH THOU HAST WRITTEN.
33 AND THE LORD SAID UNTO MOSES, WHOSOEVER HATH SINNED AGAINST ME, HIM WILL I BLOT OUT OF MY BOOK.


May the LORD add His blessings.
tomsan

Answer 6

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