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  "title": "The Journey of the Soul: Gilgul Neshamot in Jewish Thought (Prologue)",
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    "article": {
      "slug": "editors-desk-treatise-the-journey-of-the-soul-gilgul-neshamot-in-jewish-thought-prologue",
      "title": "The Journey of the Soul: Gilgul Neshamot in Jewish Thought (Prologue)",
      "deck": null,
      "summary": "",
      "level": "scholarly",
      "sectionSlug": "editors-desk",
      "tags": [
        "gilgul",
        "soul",
        "kabbalah",
        "rationalism",
        "treatise"
      ],
      "publishedAt": "2026-07-06T02:19:03.001Z",
      "wordCount": 1096,
      "readMinutes": 5
    },
    "section": {
      "slug": "foundations",
      "title": "Foundations of Belief"
    },
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    "blocks": [
      {
        "type": "lede",
        "body": "The prologue of the Editor's full treatise on [gilgul neshamot](/glossary.json#letter-G) — the rationalist and mystical traditions of soul-transmigration in Judaism, with detailed engagement of [DovBer Pinson](/glossary.json#letter-D)'s contemporary synthesis.",
        "text": "The prologue of the Editor's full treatise on gilgul neshamot — the rationalist and mystical traditions of soul-transmigration in Judaism, with detailed engagement of DovBer Pinson's contemporary synthesis."
      },
      {
        "type": "summary",
        "body": "Summary. The Editor's full-length treatise (approximately 35,000 words) maps two coherent and respectable traditions within Judaism: the rationalist tradition ([Saadia Gaon](/glossary.json#letter-S), [Rambam](/glossary.json#letter-R), [Crescas](/glossary.json#letter-H), [Albo](/glossary.json#letter-J), [Leon of Modena](/glossary.json#letter-L), and into modern [Orthodox](/glossary.json#letter-O) figures like [Hirsch](/glossary.json#letter-S) and [Soloveitchik](/glossary.json#letter-J)) that has consistently rejected gilgul as a foreign accretion; and the mystical tradition ([Sefer haBahir](https://www.sefaria.org/Sefer_HaBahir), [Ramban](/glossary.json#letter-R), the [Zohar](/glossary.json#letter-Z), [the Arizal](/glossary.json#letter-T), [Ramchal](/glossary.json#letter-T), Hasidut, and into the contemporary work of DovBer Pinson) that has affirmed gilgul as the hinge of the cosmic drama. The prologue is reproduced here; the full treatise is preserved as a separate document. The treatise concludes that both positions have argued in good faith, with respectable tools, and that the question of gilgul is one on which Jews may legitimately differ.",
        "text": "Summary. The Editor's full-length treatise (approximately 35,000 words) maps two coherent and respectable traditions within Judaism: the rationalist tradition (Saadia Gaon, Rambam, Crescas, Albo, Leon of Modena, and into modern Orthodox figures like Hirsch and Soloveitchik) that has consistently rejected gilgul as a foreign accretion; and the mystical tradition (Sefer haBahir, Ramban, the Zohar, the Arizal, Ramchal, Hasidut, and into the contemporary work of DovBer Pinson) that has affirmed gilgul as the hinge of the cosmic drama. The prologue is reproduced here; the full treatise is preserved as a separate document. The treatise concludes that both positions have argued in good faith, with respectable tools, and that the question of gilgul is one on which Jews may legitimately differ."
      },
      {
        "type": "heading",
        "body": "The Article (Verbatim)",
        "text": "The Article (Verbatim)"
      },
      {
        "type": "paragraph",
        "body": "(Editor's note: the full treatise of approximately 35,000 words is preserved as a separate document. Below is the prologue. The Field Guide reader may consult the standalone treatise for the full treatment.)",
        "text": "(Editor's note: the full treatise of approximately 35,000 words is preserved as a separate document. Below is the prologue. The Field Guide reader may consult the standalone treatise for the full treatment.)"
      },
      {
        "type": "heading",
        "body": "The Journey of the Soul — Gilgul Neshamot in Jewish Thought",
        "text": "The Journey of the Soul — Gilgul Neshamot in Jewish Thought"
      },
      {
        "type": "paragraph",
        "body": "A Treatise on the Rationalist and Mystical Traditions, with a Dive into DovBer Pinson's [Reincarnation and Judaism](/glossary.json#letter-R)",
        "text": "A Treatise on the Rationalist and Mystical Traditions, with a Dive into DovBer Pinson's Reincarnation and Judaism"
      },
      {
        "type": "heading",
        "body": "\"Behold, all these things does God do, twice, three times, with a man.\" — Job 33:29",
        "text": "\"Behold, all these things does God do, twice, three times, with a man.\" — Job 33:29"
      },
      {
        "type": "paragraph",
        "body": "\"Some of those who call themselves Jews, I found, declared that they believe in metempsychosis, which they call transmigration… They have arrived at this opinion in the manner of foolish persons.\" — Rabbi Saadia Gaon, [Emunot v'De'ot VI:8](https://www.sefaria.org/HaEmunot_veHaDeot,_[Treatise_VI]_The_Soul_and_Death.8)",
        "text": "\"Some of those who call themselves Jews, I found, declared that they believe in metempsychosis, which they call transmigration… They have arrived at this opinion in the manner of foolish persons.\" — Rabbi Saadia Gaon, Emunot v'De'ot VI:8"
      },
      {
        "type": "heading",
        "body": "Prologue: The Puzzle",
        "text": "Prologue: The Puzzle"
      },
      {
        "type": "paragraph",
        "body": "There are few doctrines in the history of Jewish thought that simultaneously occupy so central a place in one current of the tradition and so peripheral — even polemically rejected — a place in another as the doctrine of gilgul neshamot, the transmigration or reincarnation of souls. For the Kabbalist, gilgul is woven into the very fabric of creation: it is the mechanism by which the soul completes its mission, by which divine justice is finally reconciled with human suffering, by which the exiled sparks of holiness are gathered back to their Source. For the medieval rationalist, gilgul is, at best, an embarrassment imported from foreign philosophy and, at worst, a theological absurdity incompatible with a coherent account of the soul, the body, and the resurrection. That a single tradition, reading the same [Torah](/glossary.json#letter-T), should produce Saadia Gaon calling reincarnation the opinion of \"foolish persons\" and, a few centuries later, Rabbi Isaac Luria — the Arizal — mapping in meticulous detail the transmigrations of biblical figures through successive generations of Jewish history, is one of the striking facts of Jewish intellectual history. It is that tension this treatise sets out to explore.",
        "text": "There are few doctrines in the history of Jewish thought that simultaneously occupy so central a place in one current of the tradition and so peripheral — even polemically rejected — a place in another as the doctrine of gilgul neshamot, the transmigration or reincarnation of souls. For the Kabbalist, gilgul is woven into the very fabric of creation: it is the mechanism by which the soul completes its mission, by which divine justice is finally reconciled with human suffering, by which the exiled sparks of holiness are gathered back to their Source. For the medieval rationalist, gilgul is, at best, an embarrassment imported from foreign philosophy and, at worst, a theological absurdity incompatible with a coherent account of the soul, the body, and the resurrection. That a single tradition, reading the same Torah, should produce Saadia Gaon calling reincarnation the opinion of \"foolish persons\" and, a few centuries later, Rabbi Isaac Luria — the Arizal — mapping in meticulous detail the transmigrations of biblical figures through successive generations of Jewish history, is one of the striking facts of Jewish intellectual history. It is that tension this treatise sets out to explore."
      },
      {
        "type": "paragraph",
        "body": "The puzzle is sharpened by the silence that surrounds the doctrine in its most ancient phase. The [Chumash](/glossary.json#letter-C) never mentions gilgul explicitly. The [Talmud](/glossary.json#letter-T), that immense repository of halakhah and [aggadah](/glossary.json#letter-A), contains no clear locus classicus on reincarnation, and its few ambiguous hints — the exegesis of the verse \"one generation goes and another comes\" ([Kohelet 1:4](https://www.sefaria.org/Ecclesiastes.1.4)), the narrative of Elijah's return in the person of the future herald ([Malachi 3:23](https://www.sefaria.org/Malachi.3.23)), the puzzle of Pinchas being identified with Elijah — receive their developed reincarnationist reading only in the [Kabbalistic](/glossary.json#letter-K) literature of the medieval period. The [Geonim](/glossary.json#letter-G), when they encounter reincarnation, encounter it as a doctrine held by certain [Karaites](/glossary.json#letter-K) and, perhaps, by certain philosophically syncretistic Jews influenced by Islamic and Greek sources; they treat it as deviant. It is only with [Sefer haBahir](/glossary.json#letter-S) in the late twelfth or early thirteenth century that we possess an indisputably Jewish text teaching reincarnation on internal grounds, as Torah. From that point onward, the doctrine grows — tentatively in the Ramban's generation, powerfully in the Zohar, comprehensively in the school of Safed, and ubiquitously in Chasidut — until by the eighteenth century, to profess Judaism without gilgul is, in wide sectors of observant practice, to profess a Judaism its own mystics no longer recognize.",
        "text": "The puzzle is sharpened by the silence that surrounds the doctrine in its most ancient phase. The Chumash never mentions gilgul explicitly. The Talmud, that immense repository of halakhah and aggadah, contains no clear locus classicus on reincarnation, and its few ambiguous hints — the exegesis of the verse \"one generation goes and another comes\" (Kohelet 1:4), the narrative of Elijah's return in the person of the future herald (Malachi 3:23), the puzzle of Pinchas being identified with Elijah — receive their developed reincarnationist reading only in the Kabbalistic literature of the medieval period. The Geonim, when they encounter reincarnation, encounter it as a doctrine held by certain Karaites and, perhaps, by certain philosophically syncretistic Jews influenced by Islamic and Greek sources; they treat it as deviant. It is only with Sefer haBahir in the late twelfth or early thirteenth century that we possess an indisputably Jewish text teaching reincarnation on internal grounds, as Torah. From that point onward, the doctrine grows — tentatively in the Ramban's generation, powerfully in the Zohar, comprehensively in the school of Safed, and ubiquitously in Chasidut — until by the eighteenth century, to profess Judaism without gilgul is, in wide sectors of observant practice, to profess a Judaism its own mystics no longer recognize."
      },
      {
        "type": "paragraph",
        "body": "This treatise adopts the view that both sides of this dispute have argued in good faith, from within the Torah, and with intellectually respectable tools. It does not attempt to adjudicate between them. The rationalist tradition, from Saadia to Maimonides to Crescas to Albo to Leon of Modena, has a coherent and attractive account of the soul, the body, and divine justice, and that account does not require — indeed, has difficulty accommodating — gilgul. The mystical tradition, from the Bahir through the Zohar and Arizal to the Chasidic masters to Rabbi DovBer Pinson in our own day, has a coherent and attractive account of the soul's anatomy, its fall, its mission, and its ultimate reunification, and that account requires gilgul — it is, in a sense, the hinge on which the whole system turns. The two accounts are, on any fair reading, alternative construals of the Jewish spiritual universe rather than orthodoxy and heresy. It is one of the deeper features of Judaism that both have been allowed to live.",
        "text": "This treatise adopts the view that both sides of this dispute have argued in good faith, from within the Torah, and with intellectually respectable tools. It does not attempt to adjudicate between them. The rationalist tradition, from Saadia to Maimonides to Crescas to Albo to Leon of Modena, has a coherent and attractive account of the soul, the body, and divine justice, and that account does not require — indeed, has difficulty accommodating — gilgul. The mystical tradition, from the Bahir through the Zohar and Arizal to the Chasidic masters to Rabbi DovBer Pinson in our own day, has a coherent and attractive account of the soul's anatomy, its fall, its mission, and its ultimate reunification, and that account requires gilgul — it is, in a sense, the hinge on which the whole system turns. The two accounts are, on any fair reading, alternative construals of the Jewish spiritual universe rather than orthodoxy and heresy. It is one of the deeper features of Judaism that both have been allowed to live."
      },
      {
        "type": "paragraph",
        "body": "(The full treatise continues with five parts — Part I: The Rationalist Tradition, Part II: The Mystical Tradition, Part III: DovBer Pinson's Reincarnation and Judaism, Part IV: Direct Dialogue, Part V: [Halachic](/glossary.json#letter-H) and Dogmatic Status — plus a bibliography. See the separate Gilgul_Treatise.docx file in this Field Guide for the complete text.)",
        "text": "(The full treatise continues with five parts — Part I: The Rationalist Tradition, Part II: The Mystical Tradition, Part III: DovBer Pinson's Reincarnation and Judaism, Part IV: Direct Dialogue, Part V: Halachic and Dogmatic Status — plus a bibliography. See the separate Gilgul_Treatise.docx file in this Field Guide for the complete text.)"
      },
      {
        "type": "heading",
        "body": "Where Denominations Diverge",
        "text": "Where Denominations Diverge"
      },
      {
        "type": "paragraph",
        "body": "The Editor's treatise treats both rationalist denial and mystical affirmation of gilgul as legitimate within authentic Judaism. The [Shulchan Aruch](https://www.sefaria.org/texts/Halakhah/Shulchan%20Arukh) does not require belief in gilgul; Albo treats it as non-foundational; thus a Jew may consistently reject gilgul without compromising membership in the community. The doctrine is dominant in [Hasidic](/glossary.json#letter-H) and [Sephardic](/glossary.json#letter-S) communities, prevalent in Mitnagdic via [the Vilna Gaon](/glossary.json#letter-T)'s affirmation, and held with reservation in modern Orthodox rationalist circles. [Reform](/glossary.json#letter-R) and [Reconstructionist](/glossary.json#letter-R) communities generally treat gilgul as folk tradition rather than dogma. [Renewal Judaism](/glossary.json#letter-R) is strongly affirmative.",
        "text": "The Editor's treatise treats both rationalist denial and mystical affirmation of gilgul as legitimate within authentic Judaism. The Shulchan Aruch does not require belief in gilgul; Albo treats it as non-foundational; thus a Jew may consistently reject gilgul without compromising membership in the community. The doctrine is dominant in Hasidic and Sephardic communities, prevalent in Mitnagdic via the Vilna Gaon's affirmation, and held with reservation in modern Orthodox rationalist circles. Reform and Reconstructionist communities generally treat gilgul as folk tradition rather than dogma. Renewal Judaism is strongly affirmative."
      },
      {
        "type": "heading",
        "body": "Sources Cited in the Article",
        "text": "Sources Cited in the Article"
      },
      {
        "type": "paragraph",
        "body": "(See the full treatise for the comprehensive source list, which includes: Saadia Gaon, [Emunot v'De'ot](/glossary.json#letter-E) VI:8; Rambam, [Mishneh Torah](https://www.sefaria.org/texts/Halakhah/Mishneh%20Torah) and [Moreh Nevuchim](https://www.sefaria.org/Guide_for_the_Perplexed); Crescas, [Or Hashem](https://www.sefaria.org/Ohr_Hashem); Albo, [Sefer ha-Ikkarim](https://www.sefaria.org/Sefer_HaIkkarim); Leon of Modena, [Ari Nohem](/glossary.json#letter-A); Sefer haBahir; Ramban on [Iyov](/glossary.json#letter-I) and [Devarim](/glossary.json#letter-D); Zohar ([Saba de-Mishpatim](https://www.sefaria.org/Zohar), [Idrot](/glossary.json#letter-I)); Arizal, [Sha'ar haGilgulim](https://www.sefaria.org/Sha'ar_HaGilgulim); Ramchal, [Derech Hashem](https://www.sefaria.org/Derekh_Hashem) and [Da'at Tevunot](https://www.sefaria.org/Da'at_Tevunot); [Tanya](https://www.sefaria.org/Tanya); [Likkutei Moharan](https://www.sefaria.org/Likutei_Moharan); [Vilna Gaon on Yonah](https://www.sefaria.org/Jonah); DovBer Pinson, Reincarnation and Judaism.)",
        "text": "(See the full treatise for the comprehensive source list, which includes: Saadia Gaon, Emunot v'De'ot VI:8; Rambam, Mishneh Torah and Moreh Nevuchim; Crescas, Or Hashem; Albo, Sefer ha-Ikkarim; Leon of Modena, Ari Nohem; Sefer haBahir; Ramban on Iyov and Devarim; Zohar (Saba de-Mishpatim, Idrot); Arizal, Sha'ar haGilgulim; Ramchal, Derech Hashem and Da'at Tevunot; Tanya; Likkutei Moharan; Vilna Gaon on Yonah; DovBer Pinson, Reincarnation and Judaism.)"
      },
      {
        "type": "paragraph",
        "body": "[Judaism and Reincarnation (Gilgul)](https://www.chabad.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380599/jewish/Judaism-and-Reincarnation-Gilgul.htm) — Chabad.org.",
        "text": "Judaism and Reincarnation (Gilgul) — Chabad.org."
      },
      {
        "type": "paragraph",
        "body": "[Reincarnation](https://www.sefaria.org/topics/reincarnation) — Sefaria.",
        "text": "Reincarnation — Sefaria."
      },
      {
        "type": "paragraph",
        "body": "[Ramban on Genesis 38:8](https://www.sefaria.org/Ramban_on_Genesis.38.8) — Sefaria.",
        "text": "Ramban on Genesis 38:8 — Sefaria."
      },
      {
        "type": "heading",
        "body": "Further Reading",
        "text": "Further Reading"
      },
      {
        "type": "paragraph",
        "body": "See the standalone Gilgul_Treatise.docx for the full treatise.",
        "text": "See the standalone Gilgul_Treatise.docx for the full treatise."
      },
      {
        "type": "paragraph",
        "body": "DovBer Pinson, Reincarnation and Judaism: The Journey of the Soul.",
        "text": "DovBer Pinson, Reincarnation and Judaism: The Journey of the Soul."
      },
      {
        "type": "paragraph",
        "body": "Daniel Matt's translation of the Zohar (Pritzker Edition).",
        "text": "Daniel Matt's translation of the Zohar (Pritzker Edition)."
      }
    ],
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    ],
    "goDeeper": [],
    "glossary": {
      "ari-nohem": {
        "term": "Ari Nohem",
        "hebrew": "ארי נוהם",
        "translit": "The Roaring Lion",
        "definition": "Leon of Modena's 1639 polemic, 'The Roaring Lion,' arguing on historical and philosophical grounds that the Zohar is a medieval composition rather than ancient revelation — the sharpest rationalist critique of Kabbalah from within traditional Judaism.",
        "moreSlug": "gilgul-neshamot-the-journey-of-the-soul-gilgul-neshamot-in-jewish-thought"
      },
      "chumash": {
        "term": "Chumash",
        "hebrew": "חֻמָּשׁ",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "The Five Books of Moses in printed, bound form — from chamesh, 'five' — usually with translation and commentary, used to follow the Torah reading in synagogue.",
        "moreSlug": null
      },
      "devarim": {
        "term": "Devarim",
        "hebrew": "דְּבָרִים",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "The fifth book of the Torah — Deuteronomy — consisting of Moshe's farewell addresses. The name means 'words.'",
        "moreSlug": null
      },
      "dovber-pinson": {
        "term": "DovBer Pinson",
        "hebrew": null,
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "A contemporary Chasidic scholar and rosh yeshiva of Brooklyn's IYYUN Institute, whose Reincarnation and Judaism: The Journey of the Soul (1999) is among the most accessible English presentations of the Kabbalistic doctrine of gilgul for a general readership.",
        "moreSlug": "gilgul-neshamot-the-journey-of-the-soul-gilgul-neshamot-in-jewish-thought"
      },
      "emunot-vdeot": {
        "term": "Emunot v'De'ot",
        "hebrew": "אמונות ודעות",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "Saadia Gaon's 'Book of Beliefs and Opinions' (c. 933 CE), the first systematic work of Jewish theology, covering creation, the soul, and the world to come — and containing Judaism's earliest sustained philosophical argument against reincarnation.",
        "moreSlug": "gilgul-neshamot-the-journey-of-the-soul-gilgul-neshamot-in-jewish-thought"
      },
      "geonim": {
        "term": "Geonim",
        "hebrew": "גְּאוֹנִים",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "The heads of the great Babylonian academies from roughly the 7th to the 11th centuries, whose rulings and responsa carried Jewish law from the Talmud toward the medieval codes.",
        "moreSlug": null
      },
      "halacha": {
        "term": "Halacha",
        "hebrew": "הֲלָכָה",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "Jewish law — literally \"the way one walks\" — the legal system that develops from the Torah's mitzvot through the Mishnah, Talmud, and the great codes; the movements differ on how binding it is, not on its centrality to the tradition.",
        "moreSlug": "essentials-essential-questions-what-is-halacha"
      },
      "hasdai-crescas": {
        "term": "Hasdai Crescas",
        "hebrew": "חסדאי קרשקש",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "A rabbi of Aragon (c. 1340–1410/11) whose Or Hashem mounted a rigorous philosophical challenge to Maimonidean rationalism, arguing that love of God, not intellect alone, is the true end of religious life — and rejecting reincarnation along the way.",
        "moreSlug": "gilgul-neshamot-the-journey-of-the-soul-gilgul-neshamot-in-jewish-thought"
      },
      "hasidism": {
        "term": "Hasidism",
        "hebrew": "חֲסִידוּת",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "The mystical revival movement founded by the Baal Shem Tov in 18th-century Eastern Europe, teaching that God can be served with joy in every act and every person. Its communities, each led by a Rebbe, remain a major force in Jewish life.",
        "moreSlug": "going-deeper-deeper-questions-hasidism-vs-mitnagdism"
      },
      "idrot": {
        "term": "Idrot",
        "hebrew": "אדרות",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "The \"Assemblies\" — the sections of the Zohar (the Idra Rabba and Idra Zuta) in which Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai gathers his closest disciples and reveals the tradition's deepest teachings.",
        "moreSlug": null
      },
      "iyov": {
        "term": "Iyov",
        "hebrew": "אִיּוֹב",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "The biblical book of Job — the Tanakh's searching confrontation with undeserved suffering, found in the Ketuvim (Writings).",
        "moreSlug": null
      },
      "joseph-albo": {
        "term": "Joseph Albo",
        "hebrew": "יוסף אלבו",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "A 15th-century Spanish rabbi (c. 1380–1444), a student of Crescas, whose Sefer ha-Ikkarim narrowed Judaism's essential dogmas to three: the existence of God, revelation, and reward and punishment — establishing that many widely held beliefs, including reincarnation, are legitimate but not required.",
        "moreSlug": "gilgul-neshamot-the-journey-of-the-soul-gilgul-neshamot-in-jewish-thought"
      },
      "joseph-soloveitchik": {
        "term": "Joseph Soloveitchik",
        "hebrew": "יוסף דב הלוי סולובייצ'יק",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik (1903–1993), known to his students as \"the Rav,\" was the towering figure of 20th-century Modern Orthodoxy; his framing of the Jew as both dignified \"Adam I\" and covenantal \"Adam II\" remains a touchstone of Modern Orthodox thought.",
        "moreSlug": "essentials-essential-questions-what-does-judaism-teach-about-god"
      },
      "kabbalah": {
        "term": "Kabbalah",
        "hebrew": "קַבָּלָה",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "The Jewish mystical tradition — literally \"that which is received\" — whose central text is the Zohar and whose distinctive teachings include the ten Sefirot and the infinite Ein Sof.",
        "moreSlug": "going-deeper-deeper-questions-what-is-kabbalah"
      },
      "karaites": {
        "term": "Karaites",
        "hebrew": "קראים",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "A movement that arose in 8th-9th century Babylonia and Egypt rejecting the Talmud and the Oral Torah in favor of independent readings of the Tanakh alone; small Karaite communities survive today in Israel and the diaspora.",
        "moreSlug": "going-deeper-deeper-facts-the-oral-torah-and-its-authority"
      },
      "leon-of-modena": {
        "term": "Leon of Modena",
        "hebrew": "יהודה אריה ממודינא",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh (Leon) of Modena (1571–1648), a Venetian rabbi and prolific writer whose Ari Nohem argued, on historical and philosophical grounds, that the Zohar was a medieval composition rather than an ancient text — Jewish tradition's sharpest internal critique of Kabbalah.",
        "moreSlug": "gilgul-neshamot-the-journey-of-the-soul-gilgul-neshamot-in-jewish-thought"
      },
      "orthodox-judaism": {
        "term": "Orthodox Judaism",
        "hebrew": null,
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "Orthodox Judaism holds Halacha as fully binding and the Shulchan Aruch as its canonical code; it spans Haredi and Hasidic communities as well as Modern Orthodoxy, and is the starting point from which this Field Guide is written, even as it engages seriously with other denominations.",
        "moreSlug": "how-to-use-this-field-guide"
      },
      "rambam": {
        "term": "Rambam",
        "hebrew": "רמב״ם",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (1138–1204), known by the acronym Rambam and in the Latin West as Maimonides, was the towering rationalist codifier and philosopher of medieval Judaism — author of the legal code Mishneh Torah and the philosophical Guide for the Perplexed. His formulation of God's unity and incorporeality remains foundational to Jewish theology across denominations.",
        "moreSlug": "essentials-essential-questions-what-does-judaism-teach-about-god"
      },
      "ramban": {
        "term": "Ramban",
        "hebrew": "רמב״ן",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman (1194–1270), also called Nachmanides — a leading halachist and Torah commentator of medieval Spain who was also a trained Kabbalist, and whose guarded mystical readings (marked 'al derekh ha-emet') helped bring Kabbalah from the margins into the rabbinic mainstream.",
        "moreSlug": "gilgul-neshamot-the-journey-of-the-soul-gilgul-neshamot-in-jewish-thought"
      },
      "reconstructionist-judaism": {
        "term": "Reconstructionist Judaism",
        "hebrew": null,
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "Founded by Mordecai Kaplan, Reconstructionist Judaism understands Judaism as an evolving religious civilization rather than a fixed set of supernatural commandments, and was an early adopter of patrilineal descent and full gender egalitarianism.",
        "moreSlug": "how-to-use-this-field-guide"
      },
      "reform-judaism": {
        "term": "Reform Judaism",
        "hebrew": null,
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "Reform Judaism treats Halacha as a source of values and meaning rather than binding law, emphasizing individual autonomy, ethical monotheism, and tikkun olam; it was the first movement to fully recognize patrilineal descent and ordain women as rabbis.",
        "moreSlug": "how-to-use-this-field-guide"
      },
      "reincarnation-and-judaism": {
        "term": "Reincarnation and Judaism",
        "hebrew": null,
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "Rabbi DovBer Pinson's 1999 book, subtitled 'The Journey of the Soul' — a systematic, sympathetic presentation of the Kabbalistic doctrine of gilgul for English-speaking readers, drawing on the Zohar, the Arizal, and Chabad thought.",
        "moreSlug": "gilgul-neshamot-the-journey-of-the-soul-gilgul-neshamot-in-jewish-thought"
      },
      "renewal-judaism": {
        "term": "Renewal Judaism",
        "hebrew": null,
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "Jewish Renewal is a small but influential movement drawing deeply on Hasidism and Kabbalah, combined with feminist and ecological commitments and an experimental, often neo-Hasidic approach to prayer and spirituality.",
        "moreSlug": "how-to-use-this-field-guide"
      },
      "saadia-gaon": {
        "term": "Saadia Gaon",
        "hebrew": "סעדיה גאון",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "Saadia Gaon (882–942), head of the Babylonian academy of Sura, considered the first systematic Jewish philosopher, harmonizing revelation and reason in his Emunot v'Deot; he stands at the head of the rationalist tradition that would later include the Rambam.",
        "moreSlug": "essentials-essential-questions-do-jews-believe-in-an-afterlife"
      },
      "samson-raphael-hirsch": {
        "term": "Samson Raphael Hirsch",
        "hebrew": "שמשון רפאל הירש",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "A 19th-century German rabbi (1808-1888) and founder of the 'Torah im Derech Eretz' philosophy underlying German neo-Orthodoxy, which held that full engagement with secular culture and rigorous Torah observance could be combined.",
        "moreSlug": "going-deeper-deeper-questions-hasidism-vs-mitnagdism"
      },
      "sefer-habahir": {
        "term": "Sefer haBahir",
        "hebrew": "ספר הבהיר",
        "translit": "the Bahir",
        "definition": "The Bahir, a terse and enigmatic 12th-century mystical text, is among the earliest surviving works of Kabbalah and is the earliest source for the doctrine of gilgul neshamot, the transmigration of souls.",
        "moreSlug": "essentials-essential-questions-do-jews-believe-in-an-afterlife"
      },
      "sephardi": {
        "term": "Sephardi",
        "hebrew": "סְפָרַדִּי",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "A Jew whose family traces to medieval Spain and Portugal — and, in common usage, to the broader communities of the Mediterranean and Middle East that follow Sephardic law and liturgy. The plural is Sephardim.",
        "moreSlug": null
      },
      "talmud": {
        "term": "Talmud",
        "hebrew": "תלמוד",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "The vast rabbinic work — the Mishnah together with the Gemara's discussion of it — that develops the Oral Torah into Jewish law and thought. It is the central text of Jewish study after the Bible itself.",
        "moreSlug": "essentials-essential-facts-the-talmud-in-one-article"
      },
      "arizal": {
        "term": "The Arizal",
        "hebrew": "האר\"י ז\"ל",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534-1572), the towering kabbalist of 16th-century Safed whose teachings -- including tzimtzum, shevirat hakelim, and tikkun -- reshaped Jewish mysticism; he wrote almost nothing himself, and his system survives through the writings of his student Rabbi Chaim Vital.",
        "moreSlug": "going-deeper-deeper-questions-what-is-kabbalah"
      },
      "ramchal": {
        "term": "The Ramchal",
        "hebrew": "רמח\"ל",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707-1746), Italian kabbalist and ethicist whose Mesillat Yesharim ('Path of the Just') became the central text of the later Mussar movement.",
        "moreSlug": "going-deeper-deeper-questions-what-is-mussar"
      },
      "vilna-gaon": {
        "term": "The Vilna Gaon",
        "hebrew": "הגאון מווילנא",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "Rabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman (1720-1797), the towering Lithuanian Talmudist who led the Mitnagdic opposition to the rising Hasidic movement while remaining a serious student of Kabbalah himself.",
        "moreSlug": "going-deeper-deeper-questions-hasidism-vs-mitnagdism"
      },
      "torah": {
        "term": "Torah",
        "hebrew": "תּוֹרָה",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "The Five Books of Moses — the scroll at the center of Jewish life — and, more broadly, the whole of Jewish teaching. 'Learning Torah' can mean anything from Chumash to Talmud.",
        "moreSlug": null
      },
      "zohar": {
        "term": "Zohar",
        "hebrew": "זוהר",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "The central work of Kabbalah — a mystical commentary on the Torah that emerged in 13th-century Spain and is traditionally attributed to the 2nd-century sage Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.",
        "moreSlug": "going-deeper-deeper-questions-what-is-kabbalah"
      },
      "aggadah": {
        "term": "aggadah",
        "hebrew": "אגדה",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "The non-legal portions of rabbinic literature — the stories, ethics, theology, and biblical interpretation woven through the Talmud and Midrash. Its counterpart is halacha, the legal material.",
        "moreSlug": null
      },
      "gilgul-neshamot": {
        "term": "gilgul neshamot",
        "hebrew": "גִּלְגּוּל נְשָׁמוֹת",
        "translit": null,
        "definition": "The Kabbalistic doctrine of the transmigration of souls — the teaching that a soul may return in successive lifetimes to complete its unfinished work; often shortened to gilgul.",
        "moreSlug": "gilgul-neshamot-the-journey-of-the-soul-gilgul-neshamot-in-jewish-thought"
      }
    }
  },
  "links": [
    {
      "rel": "parent",
      "title": "Foundations of Belief",
      "href": "/sections/foundations.json"
    },
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      "title": "On Redemption",
      "href": "/articles/editors-desk-comparative-on-redemption.json"
    },
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      "rel": "related",
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      "href": "/articles/editors-desk-comparative-the-calumny-of-the-new-testament.json"
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    {
      "rel": "related",
      "title": "A Case for Existence, A Case for God",
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  ]
}