As for the Tree of Life in Paradise, its blossoms are souls. It produces new souls, which ripen, and then fall from the tree into the Guf, the Treasury of Souls in Paradise. There the soul is stored until the angel Gabriel reaches into the treasury and takes out the first soul that comes into his hand. After that, Lailah, the Angel of Conception, guards over the embryo until it is born. Thus the Tree of Life in Paradise is a Tree of Souls. See “The Treasury of Souls,” p. 166. For an alternate myth about the origin of souls, see “The Creation of Souls,” p. 163. For the myth of the formation of the embryo see “The Angel of Conception,” p. 199.
Rabbi Isaac Luria of Safed, known as the Ari, believed that trees were resting places for souls, and performed a tree ritual in the month of Nisan, when trees are budding. He felt that this was the right time to participate in the rescue of wandering spirits, incarnated in lower life forms. The Ari often took his students out into nature to teach them there. On one such occasion, upon raising his eyes, he saw all the trees peopled with countless spirits, and he asked them, “Why have you gathered here?” They replied, “We did not repent during our lifetime. We have heard about you, that you can heal and mend us.” And the Ari promised to help them. The disciples saw him in conversation, but they were not aware of with whom he conversed. Later they asked him about it, and he replied, “If you had been able to see them, you would have been shocked to see the crowds of spirits in the trees.”
The core text of this myth comes from Ha-Nefesh ha-Hakhamah by Moshe de Leon (Spain, 13th century) who is generally recognized as the primary author of the Zohar. It is possible that de Leon symbolically identified the Tree of Souls with the kabbalistic “tree” of the ten sefirot. Tikkunei Zohar speaks of the ten sefirot blossoming and flying forth souls. (See also the diagram of the sefirot on p. 529.)
Not only is there the notion of a Tree of Souls in Judaism, and the notion that souls take shelter in trees, but there is also the belief that trees have souls. This is indicated in a story about Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav found in Sihot Moharan 535 in Hayei Moharan: Rabbi Nachman was once traveling with his Hasidim by carriage, and as it grew dark they came to an inn, where they spent the night. During the night Rabbi Nachman began to cry out loudly in his sleep, waking up everyone in the inn, all of whom came running to see what had happened. When he awoke, the first thing Rabbi Nachman did was to take out a book he had brought with him. Then he closed his eyes and opened the book and pointed to a passage. And there it was written “Cutting down a tree before its time is the same as killing a soul.” Then Rabbi Nachman asked the innkeeper if the walls of that inn had been built out of saplings cut down before their time. The innkeeper admitted that this was true, but how did the rabbi know? And Rabbi Nachman said: “All night I dreamed I was surrounded by the bodies of those who had been murdered. I was very frightened. Now I know that it was the souls of the trees that cried out to me.”
Sources:
B. Sanhedrin 98a; B. Yevamot 62a-63b; B. Niddah 13b; Hagigah 12b; B. Avodah Zarah 5a; 2 Enoch 5-6. 3 Enoch 43; Genesis Rabbah 24:4;Midrash Tanhuma-Yelammedenu, Pekudei 3; Pesikta Rabbati 29/30A:3;Zohar 1:12b, 1:47a, 2:96b, 2:149b-150a, 2:157a, 2:174a, 2:253a.; Battei Midrashot 2:90-91;Zohar Hadash, Bereshit 10b-10c, Noah 21b; Ha-Nefesh ha-Hakhamah 2; Raya Mehemma, Zohar 1, Hashmatot 38; Midrash haNe’elam; The Visions of Ezekiel; Sefer Etz Hayim 2:129-130; Likutei Moharan 1:7;Sefer Toledot ha-Ari; Sefer Orah Hayim, Birkat ha-Ilanot 6.
200. THE TREASURY OF SOULS
The souls of all those who have not yet been born are kept in the Guf, the Treasury of Souls, also known as the Chamber of Creation. There each soul waits its turn to be born. When the time comes for it to descend into this world, an angel is issued along with it, who accompanies it. It is said that sparrows can see the souls descend, and that is the source of their song. As soon as the soul leaves the Guf, it divests itself of its heavenly garment, and is clothed in a garment of flesh and blood.
Where is the Treasury of Souls? In the highest heaven, known as Aravot, where there are many treasuries, each of them guarded by angels, including the Treasury of Rain, the Treasury of Ice and Snow, the Treasury of Clouds, the Treasury of Peace, the Treasury of Blessing, and the Treasury of the Dew with which God will revive the dead. The Guf is found near the Throne of Glory, and a dazzling brilliant light emanates from the many souls in repose there. Those souls are in their pristine state, untainted by existence in this world. Some of them flicker like a small candle and some shine like a torch, and there are some whose radiance rivals the sun.
When the time comes for the soul to leave this world, the Angel of Death strips off the worldly garment, and at the same instant the soul is clothed in the holy garment that was stripped away when it descended to this world. Then the soul delights in having been stripped of its worldly body and in having its original garment restored. And the souls who have departed from their earthly bodies return to that same treasury, and fly before the Throne of Glory in the presence of God. And when the time comes for a human to be born, the angel Gabriel puts his hand into the Treasury of Souls and takes out the first soul that comes into his hand. If the person is fortunate, a great soul comes into Gabriel’s hand; if not a spark of a soul inhabits the body.
It is said about the soul of the Ba’al Shem Tov that its radiance shone from one end of the universe to the other. Each time the angel Gabriel sought to bring this soul down to this world, Satan would storm into heaven and protest. In this way, the brightest of souls remained in heaven for thousands of years, but at last it descended and the Ba’al Shem Tov was born.
There are those who say that the Guf contains an infinite number of souls, while others insist there is only a finite number of souls in it, and that the Messiah will not come until the Guf has been emptied of every soul. Others say that from the day the Temple was destroyed, no more souls entered the Guf, and when it has been emptied of all the remaining souls, the Messiah will come.
And when the last soul has descended and the Guf is empty, the first infant to be born without a soul, born dead as such an infant must be, will herald the death of the world and so is called the final sign. Then all of the sparrows will grow silent, and the world, as we know it, will end, and the End of Days will begin.
There is general agreement in rabbinic lore that the souls of the unborn are kept in a storehouse or Treasury of Souls. In B. Avodah Zarah 5a, Resh Lakish, an important talmudic sage, is quoted as saying, “The Messiah will only come when all the souls destined to inhabit earthly bodies have been exhausted.” Rashi, commenting on this, says that “There is a treasure house called the Guf, and at the time of Creation all souls destined to be born were formed and placed there.” This treasure house is said to contain souls created since the six days of Creation, which are being saved for bodies yet to be created. It is also described in B. Yevamot 63b as located behind the heavenly curtain known as the Pargod, where “there are spirits and souls created since the six days of Creation that are intended for bodies yet to be created.”
A linkage is also made between the depletion of souls in this treasury and the End of Days. The Talmud (B. Yev. 62a) states, “The Son of David will not come before all the souls in the Guf have been disposed of, as it is said, “For the spirit that unwraps itself is from Me and the souls that I have made” (Isa 57:16). Guf literally means a “body,” thus the storehouse of souls is literally “a body of souls.” This enigmatic verse grew into the myth of the Guf, a treasury that provided souls for those still to be born. The myth describes the events that will take place when the treasury runs out of souls. In 3 Enoch 43 Rabbi Ishmael expands on this verse. He concludes that the first part of the verse “For the spirit that unwraps itself is from Me” refers to the souls of the righteous that have already been created in the Guf and have returned to the presence of God. The second part of the verse, “and the souls that I have made,” refers to the souls of the righteous that have not yet been created.
In addition to the myth of the Guf, the c
oncept of such a treasury is found in other forms in Jewish tradition. An alternate version of the origin of souls is found in Zohar Hadash, Bereshit 10b-10c, in which it is stated that God hewed from His Throne all souls that would be born, and stored them in the storehouse of souls. There is also said to be another storehouse of the souls of the righteous who have died. As long as a person is alive, his soul is entrusted to his Creator, as it is said, O keep my soul and deliver me (Ps. 25:20). Once a righteous person dies, his soul is placed in this other treasury, as it is said, The soul of my Lord will be bound up in the bundle of life in the care of the Lord (1 Sam. 25:29).
A third explanation of the origin of souls is found in Nishmat Hayim 2:7, where holy souls are said to spring forth from God. In contrast, in Torat Moshe, Rabbi Moshe Alshekh describes the soul as a spiritual light that emanates from the Shekhinah. Thus in one version the soul comes forth from the male aspect of God; in the other, it shines forth from God’s Bride.
There are alternate myths about other places where the souls of the unborn are kept. Some say that the highest abode of the soul is the pure place under the Throne of Glory, where all the souls of the unborn are kept close to their Creator. According to Ben Ish Hai in Derushim Bereshit, both the Torah and the souls of Israel come from the Throne of Glory, which he identifies with the World of Creation (Beriah), one of the four Kabbalistic “worlds.” Still other sources, including Sefer ha-Bahir and the Zohar, identify the Shekhinah with the soul, calling the Shekhinah the dwelling place of the soul. This teaches that the soul had its origin on high, and that the Shekhinah is the soul that dwells in everyone. This identification of Shekhinah with soul is also found in the myth of the neshamah yeterah, the second soul that arrives on the Sabbath at the same instant as the Shekhinah in the form of the Sabbath Queen. See “The Second Soul,” p. 310 and “The Pargod, p. 186.
The Seventh Sign (1988), a popular film in the apocalyptic genre, is based on the theme of the Guf. Its plot takes place when the first infant without a soul is about to be born, a sign that the world is about to end. This is an accurate account of the prophecy about a child born after the last soul departs from the Guf, except that the film tries to turn a Jewish apocalyptic myth into a Christian one.
For the related myth of the origin of souls, see “Tree of Souls,” p. 164. See also “The Creation of Souls,” p. 163.
Sources:
B. Sanhedrin 98a; B. Yevamot 62a-63b; B. Niddah 13b; B. Hagigah 12b; B. Avodah Zarah 5a;2 Enoch 5-6; 3 Enoch 43; Genesis Rabbah 24:4;Sefer ha-Bahir 1:184; Midrash Tanhuma-Yelammedenu, Pekudei 3; Pesikta Rabbati 29/30A:3;Zohar 1:12b, 1:47a, 2:96b, 2:149b-150a, 2:157a, 2:174a, 2:253a.; Zohar Hadash, Bereshit 10b-10c, Noah 21b;Zohar 1, Hashmatot 38, Midrash ha-Ne’elam; The Visions of Ezekiel; Sefer Etz Hayim 2:129-130; Likutei Moharan 1:7;Derushim Bereshit; Nishmat Hayim 2:16.
Studies:
“A Fragment of the Visions of Ezekiel” by A. Marmorstein.
201. THE PATH OF THE SOUL IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN
Some say that when the righteous leave this world, three companies of angels join them. These angels go ahead of the righteous, leading them to the Garden of Eden. And when the soul of a Tzaddik leaves his body, the archangel Michael goes out to meet it, saying, “May you come in peace.”
Others say that there is a column through which the soul of a person who has passed away travels from the lower Garden of Eden to the higher Garden. By means of this column, the soul rises from one world to another, from one year to another, and from soul to soul. This is called “the column of service and fear of heaven.”
Still others say that the souls of the righteous ascend the Tree of Life into heaven, to the celestial Garden of Eden. That garden is planted on a source of living water, and the size of the garden is a thousand years’ journey.
The reward awaiting the righteous when they take leave of this world is the Olam ha-Ba, the World to Come. This is also identified in rabbinic texts as Gan Eden, the Garden of Eden. This myth describes what occurs when a righteous person dies and goes to receive his heavenly reward. The second teaching, that of the “column of service and fear of heaven,” is attributed to the Ba’al Shem Tov. It resolves the problem of the link between the earthly Gan Eden and the heavenly one. It also explains how it is possible for a soul to ascend to higher levels of Paradise. The description of moving “from soul to soul” may be a reference to gilgul, the transmigration of souls, i.e., reincarnation. Hasidic theory also includes the possibility of the combining of sparks of souls, and moving “from soul to soul” might also be referring to this.
Studies:
Midrash Tehillim 30:3; Midrash Konen in Beit ha-Midrash 2:24-39; Zohar Hadash 24d-25a, Midrash ha-Ne’elam; Rabbi Yisrael Ba’al Shem Tov, p. 47.
202. THE FIELD OF SOULS
There is a field where wondrous trees grow. Its splendor cannot be described. The trees and grass are holy souls that grow there. There are also many naked souls that stray beyond its borders and await repair. For even the greatest soul has difficulty reentering that field once it has departed. And all of those exiled souls call for the field master who will engage himself in tikkun, so that those souls can be repaired.
Whoever takes on that task must be steadfast and courageous. There is one such man who can only complete this task through his own death. He must endure many afflictions, but in the end he will accomplish the work of the field and prevail.
This is an allegory of Rabbi Nachman’s about the meaning of exile from the Garden of Eden, and about the tikkun, or repair, of souls. The field of souls is the Garden of Eden, or Paradise (which blur together in the rabbinic concept of Gan Eden), where souls originate as well as find eternal rest. But those who stray from there, exiled into the fallen world, eventually find themselves naked and in need of repair by the field master. This figure represents the Tzaddik in general and Messiah ben Joseph in particular. The role of Messiah ben Joseph is to pave the way for the arrival of Messiah ben David, the heavenly Messiah, who will initiate the End of Days. It is the fate of Messiah ben Joseph to die while engaged in his messianic task. See “The Two Messiahs,” p. 517.
Thus Rabbi Nachman’s allegory is essentially a reaffirmation of the need to long and pray for the coming of the Messiah, who will repair all souls in need of repair. Such a messianic figure is portrayed in Rabbi Nachman’s famous tale “The Master of Prayers” in Sippurei Ma’asiyot.
Rabbi Nachman asked to buried in the city of Uman because there had been a great pogrom there two centuries earlier, and he wanted to assist the souls buried there, who he said were trapped in that place. It was his intention to guide them into heaven. Thus, as in most of Rabbi Nachman’s stories, the Tzaddik he is alluding to in this allegory is himself. This also suggests that Rabbi Nachman saw himself as the Tzaddik ha-Dor, the leading Tzaddik of his generation, who was the potential Messiah ben Joseph of his generation.
Sources:
Likutei Moharan 1:65.
Studies:
“Messiah and the Light of the Messiah in Rabbi Nachman’s Thought” by Hillel Zeitlin in God’s Voice from the Void: Old and New Studies in Bratslav Hasidism, edited by Shaul Magid, pp. 239-262.
Tormented Master by Arthur Green.
203. THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS
After death a man’s soul undergoes up to four transformations. First, it crosses the sea. And if the soul falls there, it enters the body of a fish. And if that fish is caught, and someone cooks and eats that fish after saying the proper blessing, that soul is spared its suffering and ascends to the Garden of Eden.
Then there are the souls that cross the ocean and pass above the trees. If the soul falls and enters a fruit-bearing tree, and if those fruits are later picked and blessings pronounced on them, that soul also enters the Garden of Eden, its sufferings at an end.
So too are there souls that pass over the crops, such as wheat. If the soul enters the wheat and bread is made of it, and the blessings are said over it, that soul is also saved. But if the soul ente
rs crops that are eaten by animals, it remains in sorrow. For if an animal eats the crops containing this soul, it enters the animal. It suffers there until the animal is slaughtered and blessings are made over the food. And that is the soul’s last chance of being saved from its suffering. For if it is not saved, it will continue to suffer until the End of Days. But if it is saved, its soul will be saved from great suffering, and it will make its home in the Garden of Eden. Otherwise it will be condemned to wait until the footsteps of the Messiah are heard.
Beginning with the Safed kabbalists in the sixteenth century, the concept of metempsychosis, the transmigration of souls, becomes a central principle in Judaism known as gilgul. The ultimate goal of the soul, from this perspective, is to be freed from the cycle of reincarnation, much as the goal in Hinduism is to achieve Nirvana and be freed from any further rebirths.
The fate of the soul as outlined here involves great suffering. And an even worse punishment awaits those souls whose sins were so great that avenging angels chase them from one place to the next. When such a wandering spirit takes possession of a living person, it is known as a dybbuk. See, for example, “The Widow of Safed,” p. 228. For an example of the freeing of a soul from gilgul, see “The Sabbath Fish,” in Gabriel’s Palace, pp. 233-234. See also S. Ansky’s folk drama, The Dybbuk.
Sefer ha-Likutim, edited by Binyamin ha-Levi and Elisha Vestali, p. 175, based on teachings of Hayim Vital, suggests that the righteous may go through gilgul for a thousand generations, while the unjust do so for only three. This is because those who were learned in Torah are said to be protected from entering Gehenna, where sins are purified through the punishments of hell. Yet even the righteous accumulate sins that need to be cleansed, so the process of gilgul serves to purify their souls. But the unjust enter hell after only three generations and have their sins cleansed there.
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