Scientists find identical twins have unique souls at birth

Judaism, Christianity and Islam teach that every human, including identical twins who share an identical genome, have unique individual souls at birth. But until now there was no scientific evidence to show how that happened.

Parents of identical twins have often noticed subtle and not so subtle personality and character differences between identical twins, but it usually takes months to notice that on the behavioral level and so it could be explained as due to slight differences in parent child interactions.

Now scientists have found that identical twins are not perfect copies of each other even at birth.Twins emerge from the womb carrying different chemical marks on their DNA that influence the activity of individual genes.

Known as epigenetic markers, these alterations don’t change the underlying genetic information. But by regulating the activity of certain genes, they can profoundly influence how the DNA blueprint is used to create and operate a living organism.

Some of the greatest epigenetic differences between twins were near genes involved in development and metabolism. Also, identical twins who shared a placenta were more epigenetically different than twins who each had their own placenta, even though one would expect that two different placentas provide a bigger difference in environment than sharing one placenta.

My answer is that this is the effect of having two different souls in the months prior to birth, a factor which science cannot measure. That all souls even at birth are not exactly alike is a fundamental concept of all theories of gilgul-reincarnation.

For example,Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition, claims that the souls of most converts to Judaism are the reincarnated souls of Jews in previous generations that were cut off from the Jewish people. Through conversion to Judaism they are coming home.

Sometimes these souls are descendants of Jews who were part of whole communities that were cut off, like the Marranos of Spain and Portugal or the newly reviving Jewish community in Poland. Other times they are descendants of individual Jews who married out and did not raise their children as faithful Jews.

An example of the later is recounted by Rabbi Barbara Borts: “One of the most touching conversions I ever did was a young girl of 11, brought to me by her mother, to discuss Judaism. The mother was a widow, living back at home with her mother and her father, who was a minister. This girl had done some research on Hanukkah for her school class, and in the process both loved what she learned; and discovered that her late father’s grandfather was a German Jew.

“I asked her mother why she would support her daughter’s conversion to Judaism. Her response – her two daughters were no longer going to church and she was delighted that one had found a religious home. She hoped her older daughter might also find that of interest.

“When I said that I could not imagine doing what she was doing if the positions were reversed, she said, “It’s different for Jews, after the Holocaust and all.”

“So she started Hebrew school classes, and attending services. I moved a couple of years later, and bequeathed her to the next rabbi. Some years later, we met up again when she was in University. She had converted, changed her name permanently, and was an active member of her Hillel.”

Other people who become Jewish do not know of a specific Jew who was an ancestor but come from a population that contains the descendants of past Jewish communities.  Millions of Spanish and Portuguese speakers are descendants of Jews who were forcibly baptized during the 15th century.

In 1391 there were anti-Jewish riots in several Spanish cities. Thousands of Jews were forcibly baptized. The Church viewed these baptisms as valid because the Spanish Jews had freely chosen baptism over death, unlike the Jews of France and Germany during the first and second crusades, who chose to kill themselves rather than be baptized. Over the next three generations there were additional riots that led to more forcible baptisms.

Of course, Jews forced to be Christians didn’t stop believing in Judaism, but they had to practice it and teach their children in secret. The Church knew this but they thought that all the children and grandchildren of the Marranos (as the secret Jews were called) would be indoctrinated in the true faith and become believers. This did not happen.

In 1480 the Inquisition began holding trials in Spain. Over the next two centuries thousands would be tried/tortured, and imprisoned or executed. In 1492 all unbaptized Jews in Spain were exiled. Over 100,000 Jews left Spain, most of them going to Portugal.

In 1497, they were expelled from Portugal, but first all their children were forcibly baptized, so parents who didn’t want to lose their children had to freely choose baptism. In later decades many of these secret Jews and their children came to the new world seeking freedom so an Inquisition was established in Lima in 1570 and in Mexico City in 1571.

Secret Jews fled to all parts of central and south America to escape. (see: A History of the Marranos by Cecil Roth) . Many of these people have Jewish souls and are now returning to the Jewish people. How would someone know if he or she could be one of them?

Signs of a Jewish soul: 1- You like to ask questions? But when you asked them as a child, you were told faith is a gift from God and you shouldn’t question it. This never satisfied you, although others didn’t seem to have a problem with this view.

2- The trinity never made any sense to you even as a young child. You prayed to God the father more easily than Jesus the son of God, even though you were told to pray to Jesus. You couldn’t believe that people who didn’t believe in Jesus couldn’t go to Heaven.

3- You found you related well to Jewish people you met at work or at school even though they were culturally different from your own family.

4- When you first learned about the Holocaust you reacted more emotionally than did other members of your own family.

5- When you started to learn about Judaism the ideas and values seemed reasonable and the traditions and heritage were attractive. Rather than converting you felt that you were returning home.

To learn more about gilgul and converts see page 219 in my book Which Religion Is Right For You: a 21st century Kuzari