Perhaps the most important societal change in Judaism in the past 50 years is the rise of the teshuvah movement. Many (if not most) of the readers of this magazine would identify themselves as ba’alei teshuvah. HaRav Ginsburgh himself identifies as a ba’al teshuvah despite returning to observance at 16. Being a ba’al teshuvah (or ba’alat teshuvah) has its unique challenges.
This excerpt from a farbrengen held during Sukkot 5786 paves an interesting path for finding one’s identity as a ba’al teshuvah based on Rabbi Isaac Luria’s (the Arizal) teachings to his disciple, Rabbi Chaim Vital about the latter’s previous incarnations.
The full farbrengen was published in the No’ach 5786 edition of Nifla’ot.
The commentary known as Maggid Mishneh is the major commentary on Maimonides’ Ya d—his legal corpus. The Arizal states that this is because the author’s soul is bound in essence with Maimonides’ soul. The fact that someone dedicates his life to interpreting a particular book reveals that their souls are bound together.
Of all the Rishonim—the scholars of the Middle Ages—it seems that the Arizal dedicates more of his teachings to the Maggid Mishneh than to any other. Most of this was directed at his disciple, Rabbi Chaim Vital, and was meant to reveal to him the origin of his soul, i.e., who he is spiritually. Rabbi Chaim Vital’s origin is in the Maggid Mishneh. As great as the Maggid Mishneh was—he is a contemporary of the Ran, Rabbeinu Nissim—very little is known about him. There are different theories about who his teacher was, we do not know when he was born, most people do not even know that his name was Vidal, or as he was known by some: Don Vidal. This is one of the things the Arizal told Rabbi Chaim Vital: your name “Vital,” derives from the Maggid Mishneh’s given name, Vidal. Even though it is pronounced “Veetal,” when written in English it is easy to see that both Veedal and Veetal mean the same thing: “life.” So says the Arizal to Rabbi Chaim Vital, both your first name, Chaim, and last name, Vital, mean the same thing—life—and both are derived from the Maggid Mishneh’s first name.
In the Arizal’s explanation of reincarnations, many of them are meant as a tikkun, a rectification for some issue that forces the soul to reincarnate. What was the Maggid Mishneh’s issue? We would not use this word if the Arizal had not used it. In any case, his issue was the same issue that Maimonides had; neither received the concealed tradition of Torah. Instead, they studied philosophy. The Arizal writes that they even denied the concealed tradition. Therefore, the Arizal says to his disciple Rabbi Chaim Vital, you are the Maggid Mishneh’s main reincarnation. In your past lifetime you already learnt in-depth enough of the revealed tradition of Torah, which is why you do not invest yourself in it so much in this lifetime. Instead, you are completely immersed in the concealed tradition, because that is where your rectification lies. As it says, “...the Torah of Havayah is his desire, and in his Torah, he will immerse day and night.” The inner desire of a Torah scholar, meaning the subjects that his heart desires, they constitute the portion of Torah allotted to him to learn for his rectification in his present lifetime. So, in his lifetime, the Maggid Mishneh did not learn the Torah’s concealed tradition and did not even believe in its verity; in his present incarnation, Rabbi Chaim Vital came to immerse in the concealed tradition.
When a Soul Emerges from the Depths
The inner message the Arizal taught Rabbi Chaim Vital involves King David. How so? King David’s soul was a very lofty one. But with the Shattering of the Vessels in the World of Chaos and then with Adam’s sin, his soul fell into the deepest realm of the kelipot—the husks of impurity. He was trapped there so tightly that there was no normal way to redeem his soul. Nonetheless, his time came, his mazal was great, and his soul was able to escape the kelipot, but a very powerful evil inclination attached itself to his soul. This is the explanation for his failures in life, the most important of which is his sin with Batsheva. Even though the sages say that “whomever says that David sinned is wrong,” the plain reading is that he sinned, was punished severely, and then did teshuvah from the bottom of his heart. The sages state that the reason for David’s failures was, “to instruct about teshuvah for the individual,” meaning that every individual can do teshuvah regardless of his or her situation.
What happens when a great soul emerges from the depths of the kelipot? Everyone listening can think of themselves in this context.... When the Arizal uses the terminology “the depths of the kelipot” he means it in a spiritual sense, not yet a soul that is embodied in our physical reality. But this relates to a ba’al teshuvah who in this world finds themselves deep in the kelipot, deep in impurity. Our generation is one of ba’alei teshuvah—of many people who have found their way back to Judaism and observance. We have said many times in the past that the rectification of the State of Israel depends on ba’alei teshuvah taking the helm of its leadership. Indeed, the Mashiach himself is a ba’al teshuvah.
Three Incarnations Before Embodiment
The Arizal explains that once a great soul that was trapped in the kelipot emerges for the first time, it cannot immediately receive a body. It first must go through three incarnations where it serves as a surrounding force for some individual who belongs to the same soul root. Only then can it receive its own body. This is obviously a very deep idea, which is described as, “elusive and deep, deep down; who can grasp it?”
What we can say about the application of this idea is that before a ba’al teshuvah can enter his own body—i.e., before he or she can appreciate who they are, know what they are capable of, and receive their true mission in life—they need to act like a surrounding force for three Jews. This means that they need to exhibit self-sacrifice for them, truly dedicate themselves to three other people. From heaven, they will be guided to meet these people, three people who are from their own soul root. After they have completed this task, which can take a very long time—sometimes years of dedication to a person can pass and the ba’al teshuvah has still not entered themselves fully—they are guaranteed to appreciate who they are and find their mission in life.
This is what is required from a true ba’al teshuvah. In merit of their self-sacrifice over years to three other people, they will merit to fully recognize who they are.
