Sin death and beyond
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
SIN, DEATH AND BEYOND: M.M.NINAN<br />
B<br />
OLAM HABA AND GILGUL<br />
In Judaism in general the afterlife is called olam habah, or the World to Come. This is the place<br />
where the righteous souls go to after <strong>death</strong> - the World of Souls. It's a place where souls exist<br />
in a disembodied state, enjoying the pleasures of closeness to God. The World of<br />
Resurrection, by contrast is a world, where the body <strong>and</strong> soul are reunited to live eternally in a<br />
truly perfected state. That world will only first come into being after the Messiah <strong>and</strong> will be<br />
initiated by an event known as the "Great Day of Judgment,"(Yom HaDin HaGadol)<br />
However by providing a body which may be non-material or even material will lead to the<br />
concept of reincarnation. Later Jewish thought did include this possibility as a Babylonian<br />
גלגול ( Neshamot influence in Kabbalah where it is called Gilgul/Gilgul neshamot/Gilgulei Ha<br />
.(,הנשמות<br />
"As long as a person is unsuccessful in his purpose in this world, the Holy One, blessed be He,<br />
uproots him <strong>and</strong> replants him over <strong>and</strong> over again." (Zohar I 186)<br />
gilgul [Sephardic Hebrew: geel-gool; Ashkenazic Hebrew: gil-gool]<br />
the soul of a dead person that passes into another living body to assume a new existence <strong>and</strong><br />
atone for past sins.<br />
literally: transmigration, metamorphosis rolling, revolving<br />
113
Change language