Ibur While Alive

Gate of Reincarnations: Chapter Three, Section 1

Translation by Yitzchok bar Chaim; explanation by Shabtai Teicher

Ibur takes place during a person's lifetime, as we have already mentioned.

In Chapter 2, Section 3 it was written: "...There will reincarnate into the body of this person, while he is still alive, the  Nefesh of a righteous tzadik." This is called ibur, and more specifically, "ibur while alive." The difference between this type of ibur and gilgul was also explained there.

Normally, ibur takes place during a person's lifetime; it involves parts of soul that come to a person years after he is born.  Gilgul, on the other hand, involves parts of soul that a person is born with. They reincarnate from the time he is born, and they stay with him until the end of his lifetime.

(Later on in this chapter, there will be introduced a new concept of "ibur from birth," and it will be explained there, God-willing, when we come to it. The subject of this section, however, is the normal type of ibur.)

Sometimes a certain  mitzvah may come before a person, and he performs the mitzvah as it should be done. At that point the Nefesh of an earlier righteous person who had performed this same mitzvah correctly will join the person as an ibur, since they are alike with respect to this mitzvah.

Thus, the actual mitzvah to be performed affects which righteous soul will join a person as an ibur.

" Now we are learning that the ibur can even come from a living righteous individual"

Not only this, but it is also possible that the righteous person is alive during his lifetime, and still ibur can occur.

The one who performed the mitzvah and the righteous person are alive at the same time, and still ibur can occur.

Thus, if a person performs a particular mitzvah or  mitzvot relevant to a righteous individual who also performed correctly, then the Nefesh of that righteous tzadik can enter the person, even while they are both alive at the same time.

Up until now we knew that ibur occurred in a living body after birth, but with the soul of a righteous person who has already died. Now we are learning that the ibur can even come from a living righteous individual.

This is the secret meaning of the verse, "The Nefesh of Jonathan became attached to the Nefesh of David" (I Samuel 18:1). In other words, even while they were both alive, the Nefesh of David was joined with Jonathan as an ibur.

This accounts for the strong soul bond they had while they were alive.

(The Writer,  Chaim Vital, says: It appears that one mitzvah performed correctly is enough to initiate the ibur. It is not required that he have performed all mitzvot to this point).

To link to the previous article in this  reincarnation series, Yibum -- a Special Case, click here

To continue on to the next article of this reincarnation series, Effect of the Sin of Adam, click here

Shabtai Teicher was born in Brooklyn in 1946 and settled in Jerusalem in 1970. He studied for over 7 years with one of the outstanding and renowned kabbalists of our generation, Rabbi Mordechai Attieh, and is a specialist in Lurianic  Kabbala.

Rabbi Yitzchak Luria [...Ashkenazi ben Shlomo] (529

Yitzchok bar Chaim is the pseudonym of an America

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