The Ramchal's Mysterious Mission R' Yehuda Sheinfeld in his sefer Nofech Da'as Tikunei Zohar² same He that that evil writes that the Ramchal
said before his passing that he was a reincarnation of R' Akiva ben Yosef (i.e., R' Akiva),³ and therefore he was buried next to the grave of R' Akiva.⁴
With this he explains the reason that so many of the sages in that generation opposed the Ramchal.⁵ It was because he was a gilgul of R' Akiva and he came to rectify his early years when he was an Am Haaretz and hated Torah scholars.⁶ Now he would be pursued and hated by Torah scholars in order to be rectified.
The reason why his rebbe, R' Yeshaya Bassan, stood firmly on his side during the opposition was because he also was from the neshama of R' Akiva.⁷ Since they were both from the same source, they loved one another.
If R' Yeshaya Bassan was from the neshama of R' Akiva, then why wasn’t he also persecuted like the Ramchal? The answer is because he was rooted in the later years of R' Akiva when he was already a Torah scholar.⁸
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4 5 from the threats of the Italian rabbis. However, they refused and forced him to sign a document which said that all the teachings of the maggid (the malach whom the Ramchal would learn with) were false. Most of the Ramchal’s writings were burned, though some did survive.
⁶ Pesachim 49b. In a letter dated Sunday, the 18 of the month of Shevat in the year 1730, the Ramchal wrote to his Rebbe, R' Yeshaya Bassan, after he asked about the source of his soul: “I have already informed l’kavod toraso (referring to his Rebbe, R' Yeshaya Bassan) regarding your root soul is from Rabbi Akiva ben Yosef…” (Igros Ramchal U'bnei Doro, 86, Otzros Ramchal, p. 322 and Yarim Moshe, p. 137) ⁸ Otzar Hagilgulim, Rishonim and Achronim, pp. 222-223. 7 th