In Jewish mysticism, the transmigration or reincarnation of a soul into another body after death.
From Hebrew גלגול (gilgul), literally meaning 'rolling' or 'turning.' The word originally referred to a wheel's rotation, then metaphorically came to mean the cycling of souls through different lives. This concept developed prominently in Kabbalah during the medieval period.
The Hebrew word 'gilgul' beautifully shows how mysticism borrows from physical reality—just as a wheel keeps rolling forward, the soul keeps moving through bodies, making an abstract spiritual concept concrete and imaginable.
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