Nishmat ḥayim (Breath of Life)

He Does Wonders by Showing All That the Masters of the Science of the Ancient Philosophy Believed Concerning the Matter of Transmigration

In order that all the simple people should know that it is from the good that the Lord did good for His people, that all of those who come into the world have merited their own languages in their own lands for their own nations [see Genesis 10:20], I will present before you all that which was made known among the Greeks from ancient times concerning transmigration, which they received from Him. Thus we can attribute to them that which the Zohar, in which there is no blemish (Numbers 19:2), wrote: “This is the kingdom of Greece, made up of those who approach the way of faithfulness” [Zohar II, 237a]. R. [Menaḥem] Recanati explained that this hints at the ancient philosophers who preceded Aristotle, whose opinions are somewhat similar to those of our rabbis: it is generally accepted throughout the world that the belief in transmigration is attributed by everyone to the philosopher Pythagoras. But the firmness of this opinion is not in accordance with the faith, as the one who first revealed the secret was our father Abraham when he went down to Egypt. In this regard, Herodotus wrote in his second book that the Egyptians were the first people in the world who upheld a belief in an afterlife for the soul and in the moving of souls from body to body. This is the truth, but this prophecy only came to them from he of whom it is said: And the soul that he had made for himself in Haran (Genesis 12:5). For the whole world believed that the souls perish, and that man has no advantage over the animals (Ecclesiastes 3:19), until Abraham our father came and made known throughout the world the idea of the afterlife and transmigration, and this he truly made souls.

For as Gregory of Nyssa wrote in his second book that all those of the nations of the world who believed in an afterlife for the soul also believed in transmigration, in a manner that both generally agree. And indeed, when Abraham went down to Egypt and sojourned there, he taught this idea. And after him, the idea was propagated by the sons of his concubines, whom he sent away from his son Isaac while he was still alive, eastward to the land of the east [see Genesis 25:6]; and this is India. They too made this belief known. Indeed, do you not see that the Abrahamites, who today are called Brahmans, they are the sons of Abraham our father? They were the first ones in the land of India to make this belief known. And as Apollonius of Tyana has testified, he spoke face to face with them and with Larchos the king who verified and upheld the belief in transmigration by saying that their priests and their ancient wise men were the ones who taught them this cornerstone of faith. And he spoke the truth, for it is from the sons of our father Abraham that this belief was innovated there, and from them it spread out in all the land of India, as is known to all writers of history. And indeed, this belief was attributed to Pythagoras because he renewed it after it had disappeared and was hidden for many years, and not because he was the first one to make it known. [ . . . ]

This Chapter Brings Forth in Detail All That Which the Wise Men of the Nations Have Said Concerning the Matter of Transmigration into Animals

Knowledge of transmigration into animals, O friendly reader, is also not absent from them. Indeed, it is said concerning Pythagoras that because of this, he prohibited the eating of animals, and he nourished and supported himself with all kinds of seed-bearing herbs and with all kinds of fruit-bearing trees which bring forth fruit to be eaten [see Genesis 1:11–12]. And this is because he considered himself a murderer if he were to kill a soul that had within it a living intellective soul [nefesh]. And still today, the Indians who are between the rivers Gihon and Indus, who believe in transmigration [i.e., Hindus], act according to this decree; and they are very merciful to animals. There are those among them who walk the streets of the city and buy birds from those who hunt them and set them free. And there are those among them who, in the marriage of a bull and a cow, as is their custom, expend great expenses, as Pedro Teixeira [d. 1641] has attested. At the time of their death, they take in their hand the tail of the cow, which they had fed lupines, in their belief that they will immediately enter into it. In Kumbakonam are houses full of every goodness, in which they heal all of those animals that are afflicted among them and all those that are sick. All of this is according to their belief that perhaps these things are not only helpful to the animal, but also to the soul of man which perhaps has transmigrated there. And they also say that according to the merits of man and his transgressions, he transmigrates into a good and healthy animal or a meager and evil one that is contaminated and smitten by God, and afflicted [see Isaiah 53:4]. In the kingdom of Gujarati, the people who are called by them Banianis [Vaishna/Vaishya] do not eat any animal. And among them are saints and scrupulous individuals who put masks over their faces because they are afraid of killing with the breath of their mouths the smallest of flying insects that cannot be seen with the eye. Thus, almost all of the people of India believe in transmigration into animals.