150 - Reincarnation

A fundamental concept of the Torah is the concept of Gilgulim - reincarnations. We are taught in many Torah sources that almost all souls are recycled, meaning to say that we have lived before, in previous lives. For the most part, people do not remember anything about their previous lives.

One of the basic conclusions that a life of emunah should bring us to, is to understand that we don't understand anything. The picture that we see is so small in comparison to what's actually going on in the picture that Hashem sees. When we are able to internalize that the reason we are here in this life is for a specific mission which is also very directly connected and related to our previous lives, it is easier to try live life making less effort in trying to make logical sense about the way that Hashem deals with us, and rather choosing to follow a life of belief, knowing that Hashem is carrying me through the exact course that would be best for me, not just for this life isolated from my previous lives, but rather Hashem is doing what's best for my soul, in the bigger picture, taking into account all of the reincarnations that this soul has experienced.

The Midrash teaches that Hashem wanted to teach Moshe Rabbeinu this concept, and therefore He was told to go to a certain place where He was able to watch a series of events that would teach this lesson how in truth we don't understand anything. 

There were three people. There was an individual who came to get water from a well. Whilst he was there drawing the water, he dropped his purse unknowingly, which had a large amount of money inside of it. After he finished drinking, he left not knowing that he had lost his purse. A while later, a second individual came to get water from the well, and he noticed the purse on the floor. And to his delight, there was no one around to return this purse to, so he rejoiced on the treasure that he had found, and the second individual left with the money in his pocket. It then happened that a third individual came to drink water from the well. And whilst the third individual was there, the first individual who had lost his purse realized what had happened and turned around to go back to the well to try to find his purse. And when he arrived, he encountered the third individual, and when the third individual denied having found the purse, the first individual accused him of stealing his money to the point that he murdered the third individual out of anger, mistakenly thinking that this was the person who had taken his purse and money. 

And Moshe Rabbeinu watched this whole episode and said to Hashem, this is not fair. Firstly, that the first individual lost so much money for no apparent reason, and how come the second individual just got a treasure for free? And how come the third individual committed murder and there's no one around to testify his actions? 

And the Midrash states how Hashem explained back to Moshe Rabbeinu that really the father of the first individual had stolen money from the father of the second individual, and this was Hashem's way of paying the rightful inheritance back to the second individual by making the first individual lose his purse and the second individual finding it. And as to why the third individual was murdered by the first individual, Hashem explained that the father of the third individual had murdered the father of the first individual in a previous life, and in order to avenge his father's blood, Hashem orchestrated events now that the first man would kill the third man. 

If we try to understand life according to our own understanding, not only will we come out with nothing, but worse than that, we will draw the wrong conclusions. We are called on to make every effort to live our lives according to the values of Emunah and Bittachon, rather than trying to live our lives based on our understanding. "Thank you Hashem for teaching me that the ideal course in how to live my life is living a life of Emunah."