Why Non-Jews can revert back to Judaism

Judaism is not a missionary faith, so Rabbis doesn’t try to convert non-Jewish people (in many countries anti-Jewish laws prohibited converting to Judaism for centuries). Despite this, the modern Jewish community increasingly welcomes converts. A person who converts to Judaism becomes a Jew, and is just as Jewish as someone born into Judaism.

There is a good precedent for this. Ruth, the great-great grandmother of King David, was a convert to Judaism, and the book of Ruth in the Bible which tells the story of her becoming Jewish, is read every year during the services held on Shavuot; the celebration of the Jewish People’s receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai.

Every year thousands of people find out that one or two of their 24 ancestors might have been Jewish. For most of them this discovery is an interesting fact of little significance. For some of them it might be an embarrassment to be ignored.

But for others it becomes a life changing discovery. They feel drawn to Jewish people and seek to learn about Jewish music, food, literature, culture and religion. They feel more and more attached in some mysterious way to the Holocaust and the struggle of Israel to live in peace in the Middle East.

Many of these people eventually are led to become Jewish either by formal conversion or by informal reversion within Reform, Renewal or Progressive synagogues.

These people provide a rather unusual form of evidence for reincarnation that comes from the Jewish mystical tradition; the Kabbalah.

Unlike Buddhism and Hinduism, Kabbalah does not teach that reincarnation (gilgul) occurs over the course of hundreds of millions of years to millions of different sentient species.

According to Kabbalah, only the souls of self conscious moral creatures like human beings reincarnate; and they reincarnate only when they have not fulfilled the purpose of their creation in their current lifetime. These esoteric Kabbalistic concepts from the 12th to 17th centuries; were popularized and spread throughout Eastern Europe, especially in Poland and Ukraine, by the Hassidic movement in the last half of the 18th and 19th century.

Since Judaism is an optimistic religion, most Kabbalists teach that most people can accomplish their life’s purpose in one or two lifetimes. A few souls may take 3-5 lifetimes or more. The bright souls of great religious figures like Abraham and Moses or Sarah and Miriam can turn into dozens of individual sparks that can reincarnate several times over many centuries.

The tragic souls of Jews whose children have been cut off from the Jewish people, either through persecution or forced conversion to another religion, will reincarnate as one of their own, no longer Jewish, descendants. These non-Jewish descendant souls will then seek to return to the Jewish people.

A majority of people who end up converting (or reverting) to Judaism and the Jewish people have Jewish souls from one of their own ancestors. Thus, the Jewish mystical tradition, claims that the souls of most converts to Judaism are the reincarnated souls of Jews in previous generations who were cut off from the Jewish people either voluntarily or involuntarily.

Through conversion to Judaism they feel 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 European Jews in Eastern Europe during the Holocaust and then the decades of Communist oppression.

Isabel Schenkel is a good example of a convert who was drawn to Judaism from childhood. She writes: ‘I was born in Scotland. I don’t think my parents knew any Jews at all. My family immigrated to Los Angeles when I was four. My best friend was a little girl who was Jewish. My parents had a liberal attitude about religion so when I was eight and Susie went to Temple Akiba’s religious school I went along too. In fact, my parents became very interested in learning about the Jewish religion and took the “Introduction to Judaism” class at Wilshire Boulevard Temple.

A few years later when I was a teen I also became very close to a family I babysat for, and I was invited to celebrate Shabbat, Passover, and Hanukkah with their family. I always had a good time and felt good when I went home.”

According to Kabbalah, only the souls of self conscious moral creatures like human beings reincarnate; and they reincarnate only when they have not fulfilled the purpose of their creation in their current lifetime. These esoteric Kabbalistic concepts from the 12th to 17th centuries; were popularized and spread throughout Eastern Europe, especially in Poland and Ukraine, by the Hassidic movement in the last half of the 18th and 19th century.

Since Judaism is an optimistic religion, most Kabbalists teach that most people can accomplish their life’s purpose in one or two lifetimes. A few souls may take 3-5 lifetimes or more. The bright souls of great religious figures like Prophets Abraham, Moses, Sarah and Miriam can turn into dozens of individual sparks that can reincarnate several times over many centuries.

The tragic souls of Jews whose children have been cut off from the Jewish people, either through persecution or forced conversion to another religion, will reincarnate as one of their own, no longer Jewish, descendants. These non-Jewish descendant souls will then seek to return to the Jewish people.

A majority of people who end up converting (or reverting) to Judaism and the Jewish people have Jewish souls from one of their own ancestors. Thus, the Jewish mystical tradition, claims that the souls of most converts to Judaism are the reincarnated souls of Jews in previous generations who were cut off from the Jewish people either voluntarily or involuntarily.

Through conversion to Judaism they feel 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 European Jews in Eastern Europe during the Holocaust and then the decades of Communist oppression.

Other times they are descendants of individual Jews who, several generations ago, married non-Jews and did not raise their children to be faithful Jews.

Most of the time people who become Jewish do not find out that they have a Jewish ancestor until years after their conversion. According to a mystical 14th century Kabbalistic teaching found in Sefer HaPliyah, those non-Jews who do feel this powerful attraction to Jewish things and Jewish people, have Jewish souls that are reincarnations (gilgulim) of one of their own Jewish ancestors from 3-7 generations in the past.

That explains why they react to the discovery of some Jewish heritage in such a unusual way. It also explains why many people who do not even know that they have Jewish ancestors follow a similar path; and only discover a Jewish ancestor years after they have returned to the Jewish people.

The Hebrew word for reincarnation is gilgul which means recycling. Many people are born with new souls who are here for the first time. Others have a soul that has lived on this planet before. Most people do not reincarnate after their life on this earth is over. Most people who end up becoming Jewish, especially now, after the Jewish people has experienced several generations of assimilation, marriage to non-Jews, hiding from anti-semitism and outright genocide, are descendants of people whose children, in one way or another, have been cut off from the Jewish People.

Among their non-Jewish descendants a few will inherit a Jewish soul (gilgul) that will seek to return to the Jewish people (Sefer HaPliyah).

The following introspective personality and character test can help people who never had or have left their own childhood religion; discover some hints that they may have a Jewish soul from generations past.

1- People who like to ask questions especially about religion; but when they asked them as a child, you were told faith is a gift from God and you shouldn’t question it. This never satisfied them, although others in their family didn’t question this answer.

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

3- On first learning of the Holocaust they reacted more emotionally than their friends or other members of their family. They also feel some sense of connection with the Jewish struggle to defend the Land of Israel.

4- They have an attraction to Jewish people, or to Judaism and Jewish culture. They have always been more open to people who were culturally, nationally or religiously different from their own family, or their friends or class mates.

If a person answers yes to three of these four items he or she might have one or more Jewish ancestors. Many, but not all, people who answer yes to all four items will be interested in learning more about their Jewish roots. Those who become very interested in studying Judaism might have a Jewish soul.

If the following item also applies to non-religious non-Jews who study Judaism; then they must have a Jewish soul.

5- When they start to learn about Judaism: the ideas and values seem reasonable to them; the traditions and heritage are very attractive to them; and the non-Jews around them, as well as they themselves, are surprised that they slowly come to feel they are coming home.

If you know any people like this, it would be a great kindness to invite them to study Judaism and return home.