This is PART 3 of Rabbi Yonassan Gershom's FAQ on reincarnation and the Holocaust. It contains Frequently Asked Questions regarding his work with people who believe that they died in the Holocaust during World War II and have been reincarnated.
(If you have already read this intro material in one of the other FAQ sections, you can skip to the list of Questions for Part 3. If are new to this FAQ, please read on...)
Part 3 (Which you are reading now) continues the discussion about karmic issues from Part 2, with answers to questions regarding the reactions of specific groups and individuals -- Jewish and non-Jewish -- to this work, some controversial Orthodox beliefs, the novel "Night of Broken Souls" by Monteleone, Barbro Karlen's claim to be Anne Frank returned, etc.
PART 2 discusses general issues of Jewish reincarnation beliefs about "karma," how they relate to Jewish mysticism and the Holocaust, who comes back as who, some thoughts on healing the karma of the Holocaust, forgiveness, etc.
PART 1 discusses issues directly related to the content of his two books Beyond the Ashes (1992) and From Ashes to Healing (1996) (which you can buy in our online bookstore.) This FAQ discusses which Jewish groups believe in reincarnation, some common misconceptions and media distortions about Reb Gershom's work, the concept of the Jewish soul, some controversies regarding this work, etc.
All answers in this FAQ are direct quotes by Yonassan Gershom and represent his current beliefs and opinions at the time of writing. This FAQ can be used as a news release: Copyright permission is hereby given to quote from it in reviews, articles, books, etc. (Journalists: Please read this FAQ before contacting Rabbi Gershom for an interview or reference question.) Webmasters please do not copy to your own site -- link instead, to be sure your readers have access to the latest version. This update replaces all previous versions of the FAQ.
His latest book on reincarnation, Jewish Tales of Reincarnation, was published in November 1999 and was featured by the Jewish Book Club that month. This is not on the Holocaust per se. Rather, it is a collection of 70 Jewish teaching tales from both classical and modern texts and folklore sources, retold in user-friendly language for the general public, with notes, commentaries, bibliography, etc.
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Q-2: As an Orthodox Jew, do you yourself believe in this theory?
Q-6: What do you think of Barbro Karlen's claim to be the reincarnation of Anne Frank?
I have heard and read various versions of it in many Jewish circles. Most recently, it was in the news when Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, Chief Rabbi of the (right-wing religious) Shas Party in Israel, claimed that Jews who died in the Holocaust were being punished for sins in past lives. This statement created a fervor of angry backlash among Holocaust survivors and others around the world. (Whether or not you agree with this rabbi's opinion, it does illustrate that even the "religious Right" among Israeli Jews can believe in reincarnation. For an in-depth Torah study on the issues of sin, punishment, repentance, spiritual growth, reincarnation, etc. see Defending Torah Secrets and Reincarnation by Rabbi Ariel bar Tzadok of Kosher Torah.com. NOTE: This document is in PDF format -- you'll need Acrobat Reader to read it. It also assumes you have a background in Jewish source texts and commentaries, terminology, etc.)
Jerome Mintz gives a brief explanation of it, quoting Hasidim he interviewed for his study, Legends of the Hasidim,(pp. 130-131) first published back in 1968. Most of the Hasidim he was interviewing at that time were themselves Holocaust survivors, so this was not an attempt to "blame the victim." Rather, it was/is an attempt on the part of some victims themselves to understand their own suffering within a Jewish theological context. From there, it entered some circles of Orthodox Jews, notably the Satmar Hasidim (and others.)
Not all the versions of this theory are directed specifically at Reform Judaism, which did not emerge as a movement until the mid-1800's. The assimilation and secularism referred to in this theory as the "Enlightenment" (Aufklaerung) began with the false messiah Shabbetai Zevi in the 1660's. Shabbetai Zevi taught that the mitzvot were no longer binding, and that it was actually a mitzvah to sin, heaven forbid. This led to a breakdown of Jewish observance in the 1700's which led, in turn, to the assimilationism of the 1800's. Reform Judaism was only a small part of a much larger movement focused on assimilating Jews (and other minorities) into mainstream European culture. Long before the Holocaust, there were already traditionalists who opposed the "Enlightenment" movement.
To suggest that the Holocaust might have been caused by Jews failing to observe the mitzvot properly is loaded with the potential for misunderstanding and misuse. Some Orthodox Jews use it to try to discredit the Reform Jews, and some Reform Jews angrily cite it to accuse the Hasidim of intolerance. Plus many Middle Eastern and Sephardic Jews simply see the Holocaust as the karma of the assimilated European Jews, and not at all related to themselves.
But beyond all the politics (which we shall ignore here), the idea itself has its roots in a much older, mystical concept regarding the cosmic function of Jewish prayers and ceremonies in the universe. This worldview was primarily developed by Rabbi Isaac Luria's school of kabbalah in the mid-1500's (during the time of the Spanish Inquisition, which martyred many Jews), and continues today among some Hasidim and other kabbalists.
Before I explain it here, please keep in mind that there are many different types of Jews, and not all of them would agree with this theory. In fact, individuals within the same branch of Judaism would probably disagree with each other on this point. This is only one of the many, many perspectives on the Holocaust which are discussed among Jews, and is not any sort of official dogma.
Having said that, here is the theory as I understand it. According to kabbalah and certain Hasidic teachings, the function of evil in the world was intended by God to remain contained within the forces of nature in the physical world, i.e., things live and die, animals hunt each other, storms happen and volcanoes erupt, etc. In this capacity, evil was created as a natural part of the physical universe and is necessary for its very existence.
However, there is another type of evil which is introduced into the world through the misuse of human free will. When a person commits a sin, heaven forbid, it feeds energy into this type of evil. Each individual sin thus feeds the collective energy of evil. If the evil becomes strong enough through many people sinning, it can then manifest as human-made evils such as wars, persecutions, etc.
Also according to kabbalah, the mitzvot (commandments in the Torah) are not merely "laws" but are also a very precise theurgical vehicle for keeping evil in its proper place. Every time a person does a mitzvah, it tips the scales of the universe toward the side of good, and strengthens the boundaries which prevent evil from spilling over it's intended function. But, conversely, every time a person sins, heaven forbid, it tips the scales toward the side of evil. Thus the sins of one person can affect the well-being of the whole world, not just the individual sinner.
Now, there are some Jews (not all of them Orthodox!) who see a connection between this mystical teaching and the secularization of the 19th-century "Enlightenment" movements in Europe, because these movements led large numbers of Jews to stop doing the mitzvot and, in some cases, to consciously violate the laws of the Torah and publicly desecrate the name of G-d (Chillul HaShem.) As for example, holding "Yom Kippur feasts," in order to publicly mock and desecrate a holy day on which Jews normally fast and repent of their sins. We are not talking here about individuals who simply fell away from religious observance for personal reasons. Rather, we are talking about an active movement to destroy the Torah way of life -- often backed by various European governments.
This flagrant mocking and abandonment of the Torah way of life -- and the spiritual power of those ceremonies -- weakened the mystical barrier which kept evil in its proper place as merely a force in nature. At the same time, the sins themselves were feeding more energy into that pool of evil. The evil continued to grow until, three centuries after this process had begun (with Shabbtai Tzvi in the 1600's), it erupted into World War II and fueled the Holocaust.
So goes the theory.
Of course, we should be very clear here that it was not only Jews who were feeding into the human-made pool of evil. Many other religious groups also point to the 19th century as a time of decadence and moral decay within their own circles. The 19th century saw a widespread rise of Communism, materialism, atheism, secularism, etc. There were also many movements in Europe which preached antisemitism, racism and other hatreds, and these also bear their own karmic responsibility for enabling that evil to grow and spread. So it would be wrong to see this kabbalistic teaching as "blaming the Jews" for the Holocaust. Nor does it let the rest of the world off the hook. Instead, it simply adds a mystical dimension to the well-known moral statement that "All it takes for evil to flourish is for good people to do nothing."
But on the other hand, I do believe that prayer has real power, that sin also has genuine, tangible effects in the world, and that our actions really do have an effect on the universe. So it is possible that the collective sins of humanity, along with mass complacency, somehow fed and enabled this evil to grow into such enormous proportions.
Am I saying the G-d punished the Jews with a Holocaust because they failed to be orthodox enough? No, emphatically NO!!!
Am I saying that each and every Jew in the Holocaust died because he or she wasn't orthodox enough? No, emphatically NO!!!
The Talmud says that "Once the sword is let loose in the land, it does not distinguish between the innocent and the guilty." I understand this to mean that in times of war, it is possible for innocent victims to get caught up in events that are not their own fault. The Angel of Death, it is said, wields his sword indiscriminately on the battlefield. Again I stress: only G-d really knows an individual's "karma."
We can also look at this issue of assimilation in a more sociological sense. Whenever a minority people -- any people, not just the Jews -- begins to develop a self-hating attitude toward its own religion and culture, and then tries to ape the dominant culture in order to "pass", this creates an opening for domination by that other culture. I have been told by many Native American (Indian) people that the point at which they began to lose the battle against the European invaders was when they gave up their own religion and culture and converted to Christianity. By this they mean that as long as the circle of their own people was strong, they were not conquerable in their hearts, even if they lost the military battles. But when they ceased being proud to be Indians, and were no longer believing in or practicing their own ceremonies, they lost their spiritual power and became vulnerable to moral, cultural, and spiritual domination by others.
In this sense, I would say that the assimilated Jews in 19th-century Europe had invested a lot of energy into assimilating, into wanting to be accepted by the dominant culture in Germany. They had come to think of themselves as Germans and not Jews. This created a false sense of security which lulled them into thinking they were safe from future persecutions. But the reality was, their gentile neighbors still thought of them as Jews, whether or not they practiced Judaism. And there was still prejudice against Jews in Europe, which the Nazis played upon. The majority of the non-Jews, in turn, did not actively oppose the rise of Nazism, thus allowing the human-made evil to grow to hideous proportions.
Whether or not the mystical part of this theory is true (and only God knows for sure), I would say that the way to prevent another Holocaust is for Jews to be strong and firm in their Judaism, and for the non-Jewish world to honor and respect that. I believe that when a soul incarnates as a Jew, it has come here for a specific purpose within the context of its Jewishness. Each mitzvah is connected to redeeming and raising up the Holy Sparks -- exiled bits of cosmic energy -- back to their proper places in the universe. In as much as we help such a Jewish soul to fulfill that purpose, then so much do we also help to heal the entire planet.
All of us -- Jews and non-Jews alike -- should consciously choose to be on the side of good in this process, by helping each other to fulfill the spiritual missions that we came to earth to do. This means, among other things, letting Jews be Jews, and seeing that Jewishness in a positive, beautiful, light-filled way.
And the Talmud, in the section Pirkei Avot, says:
The sword comes upon the world because of the delay of justice and the perversion of justice, and because of those who teach conclusions in the Torah that are at variance with the definitive law (halachah)...Exile comes upon the world because of idolatrous worship..." Pirkei Avot 5:5.7)
The Bible sees idolatry as the cause for the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians, and the Talmud sees sinat chinam (baseless hatred and bickering among ourselves) as the reason for the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans. And, in the eyes of some Jews today, The Holocaust was a Third Destruction (Churban Shlishi) with its roots in assimilationism, which is also a form of idolatry.
Again, I stress that not all Jews would accept this theory, and many vehemently oppose it. It is only one way of looking at a very complicated set of historical events.
To those who are interested in pursuing this further, I recommend the book Hasidic Responses to the Holocaust in the light of Hasidic Thought by Pesach Schindler.
Regarding the possible karma of the more fanatical sectors of the Orthodox community, (for example, some of the Haredim in Mea Shearim in Jerusalem, or the Gush Emunim settler movement on the West Bank), it is my personal opinion (not to be taken dogmatically) that many of them were secular Jews in their past lives, and are now trying to make up for lost time by doing as much Torah learning and observance as possible in this life. Others were born into secular families in this life, and have now adopted the Orthodox way of life and feel they are atoning for past sins.
In some cases (not all!) there is a tendency to do the mitzvot (commandments) somewhat mechanically because they have not yet mastered the deeper levels, which can take several incarnations. However, we should also note that there are some very deeply spiritual people among the Haredim, so one cannot make generalized statements about "ultra-Orthodox karma."
For traditional Jewish teaching stories about repentance and reincarnation, I refer you to my latest book, Jewish Tales of Reincarnation.
In my old e-mail discussion
group (now offline), the
reactions were mixed. Some people liked the book, while others were
seriously offended that a novelist would use the Holocaust in that
way. There seemed to be too much reliance on the atrocities in
the concentration camps for the "horror" aspects of the
story. On the other hand, the plot did have a lot of good twists
and turns, with a chilling surprise at the end.
However, the author clearly did not do his homework
regarding
Jews and Judaism. The worst blooper is when he has his
serial-killer-in-the-making posing as a rabbinical student
and
bringing the rabbi dead wild animals -- including rabbits and wolves!
-- and the rabbi is supposedly
So, in the end, I gave this
book a reluctant thumbs-up for a lot
of good twists and turns, but a thumbs-down for lack of authenticity
and poor character development. Beyond that, I sure hope they never
make this into a movie.
Barbro Karlen, a well-known writer in Sweden, first made this claim publicly on an Amsterdam TV program in 1995. The story was later published in German in 1997 as Und die Wölfe heulten, (And the Wolves howled), a novelized version of her biography. Since then, the case has been hotly debated in the Continental press.
I have read the book in German and, although I don't doubt Ms. Karlen's sincerity, in my opinion the story reads more like an archetypal identification with the story of Anne Frank's suffering, rather than an actual reincarnation of Anne Frank's soul. Plus, as I have already pointed out elsewhere, she was the sixth person (but not the last!) to tell me she was Anne Frank returned. And there have been numerous others whose past-life stories resembled aspects of Anne's diary. Clearly, Anne Frank has entered the collective consciousness of humanity as an archetype. (For an excellent discussion of the archetypal phenomenon in reincarnation cases, see "Will the real Mark Twain please stand up?" in Brad Steiger's book, Returning from the Light.)
My pre-publication review copy of the British edition includes a special Afterword written by Thomas Meyer, Karlen's publisher, addressing some of the reactions since the German release of the book in 1997. He notes, among other things, that some reviewers found serious discrepancies between Karlen's past-life memories and the documented details of Anne Frank's life. Meyer writes:
...Some argued, for example, that the description of the arrest at the beginning of this book contradicts certain historical facts. Thus the main protagonist of the arrest in the Frank family (Silberhauer) could not possibly have reincarnated in the nineteen fifties or sixties in Sweden -- as the main protagonist of the corresponding scene in the book did -- since he was still alive at that time. Furthermore, Sara [Karlen] describes her previous death as one of being burnt alive, whereas it is considered an established fact that Anne Frank and her sister Margot died of a typhoid epidemic in Bergen-Belsen. (And the Wolves Howled, pp.242-43.)
So -- how does Meyer deal with these glaring discrepancies? He blows them off as mere "symptoms" (his word), which, he says, are based on a limited perspective that he likens to being trapped inside a materialistic house without doors. Genuine proof, he claims, can only come through using "spiritual science" (also his words.) Meyer then goes on to ask, and I quote: "But is there no possibility that some of the historical facts may have been incompletely or inaccurately investigated? Or can it perhaps be taken for granted that the reincarnation memory -- if it exists -- might be more reliable than the physical memory?" (page 243)
HELLO??? Did I read that right? Is Mr. Meyer actually trying to claim that a past-life memory which contradicts known historical facts is more reliable than the recorded facts themselves? Is he advocating that we simply ignore recorded history if the facts don't fit the results channeled through "spiritual science?" Apparently he is. In more than one place, he implies that if the past-life memories don't match the facts, then the facts are not reliable anyway because they might not be thoroughly researched enough.
Sorry, but I don't buy it. While it is certainly possible that historical records can be wrong, this excuse cannot be used to dismiss these errors unless you can prove the records are wrong. Simply implying they might be wrong is mere inuendo. And we are not talking about insignificant details here, either. We are talking about very basic questions: Who arrested Anne Frank, and how did she die?
So, whom do we trust? The eye-witnesses to the actual events, or somebody's psychical impressions half a century later?
To give him credit, Mr. Meyer does suggest a second alternative, namely, that Barbro Karlen may be Anne Frank, but that she is remembering some of the incidents wrongly. OK, that is possible. But it is equally possible -- and this is the direction I lean toward -- that she is not really Anne Frank, but is remembering a different person's past life, someone who also died in the Holocaust, and these memories have become linked in her mind to the story of Anne Frank. Perhaps she knew Anne Frank in that life, or lived in the same area, which would account for her familiarity with Amsterdam, while, at the same time, also accounting for the discrepancies between her memories details of Anne's arrest and her death, etc.
Mr. Meyer also makes direct reference to my feature article, Anne Frank Returned? that I referred to at the beginning of this article. He correctly notes that, after summarizing the case and analyzing its pros and cons, I stated that, in my opinion, the jury is still out. To which Mr. Meyer replies in his Afterword to the book:
Excellent! But if this jury is not only to judge the validity of spiritual experience by reading symptoms, but by actually proving (or disproving) their inner reality, it must be composed of individuals who are able to leave the house of ordinary consciousness. Otherwise their verdict will be of no avail. (page 248)
I wonder... am I qualified to be on that jury, according to Mr. Meyer? He does not say. But let's give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he respects my opinion as a spiritual teacher as well as a book reviewer. That being the case, what if I do leave my "house of ordinary consciousness" and ascend to the Heavenly Record Halls, only to return with a conclusion different from his? How can we test either of our ESP results, if not by comparing them to recorded history?
What Meyer is relying upon is not real science, it's a personal faith statement about the accuracy of his own psychical abilities. OK, I use my psychical abilities sometimes, too - but only as supplementary to the verifiable facts, never as the final determining factor for defining reality.
So, what this all boils down to is this: Thomas Meyer believes Barbro Karlen to be the reincarnation of Anne Frank, based on her account and his own ESP impressions, which he places above the validity of the historical accounts. I am not convinced she is Anne Frank, based on her account, the life of Anne Frank as recorded in history, and my own ESP impressions.
Now, since our ESP impressions cancel each other out (Meyer for, Gershom against), and there is no way to prove the validity of our "spiritual impressions" other than by faith anyway, we are left with those annoying little "symptoms" that just don't fit the recorded facts. And I, for one, am not willing to resort to revisionism in order to prove a case of reincarnation.
Ms. Karlen has stated repeatedly that it is not so important to her to prove she was really Anne Frank. Rather, she told her story to show how events from one incarnation can continue to affect the next life, in the hope that it could help others. In that light, her book demonstrates the same types of symptoms and healing that I have encountered in hundreds of other Holocaust reincarnation cases. Individuals who are struggling with similar flashbacks, interpersonal problems, etc. will probably find the book to be a useful tool. But is she really the reincarnation of Anne Frank? I, for one, am not convinced.
See also Dennis Eisenberg's positive review from the Jerusalem Post, The Swede who says she was Anne Frank, which has quite a bit of interview material with Barbro Karlen.
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