Ibbur

Ibbur (Hebrew: עיבור, "pregnancy" or "impregnation" or "incubation"), is one of the transmigration forms of the soul and has similarities with Gilgul neshamot. "Ibbur" is always good or positive, while dybbuk is negative. "Ibbur" is the most positive form of possession, and the most complicated. It happens when a righteous soul decides to occupy a living person's body for a time, and joins, or spiritually "impregnates" the existing soul. Ibbur is always temporary, and the living person may or may not know that it has taken place. Often the living person has graciously given consent for the "Ibbur". The reason for "Ibbur" is always benevolent -- the departed soul wishes to complete an important task, to fulfil a promise, or to perform a Mitzva (a religious duty) that can only be accomplished in the flesh [Encyclopedia Mythica, "Dybbuk." http://www.pantheon.org/articles/d/dybbuk.html] .

Explanation of Itzhak Luria

When a person is born, his nefesh enters him. If he is adequately rectified through his actions, his ruach will enter him at the end of his thirteenth year when he becomes a "completed person." His neshama will enter him only when he completes his twentieth year, as it says in the Zohar (Mishpatim 94b). [Consider the ramifications of this. Our soul is in three parts and we do not incarnate with all three parts.]

This is talking about the ideal situation during a person's first gilgul, as we will soon see. Gilgul גלגול is the root of the Aramaic word Golgatha, signifying a cycle of life. It is the same root found in Galilee. In the Ari's Shaar ha Gilgulim, we find many instances of transmigrated souls.

If he does not completely rectify his ruach, then the neshama will not enter him and he will remain with only his nefesh and ruach. Likewise, if he doesn't completely rectify his nefesh, then he will remain with only his nefesh, lacking both his ruach and neshama. The ruach and neshama will remain in a place known to The Holy One, Blessed is He, and there a place will be prepared for each one.

The Rectified Nefesh Can Receive an Ibbur

If a "nefesh" achieves tikun only in a subsequent gilgul and not in its first lifetime, then it cannot receive ruach in the same gilgul. The person must first die, and then his nefesh and ruach will be reincarnated together.

If a nefesh reincarnates and becomes rectified through its actions to the point that it is ready for its ruach, he cannot receive his ruach, as it has been explained. (If it is not his very first gilgul, then) two or three levels of soul cannot become unified in one gilgul without great need, as we will mention later. Rather, each one requires its own gilgul. First the nefesh needs to be rectified, and even when this happens he will not receive his ruach until after he dies. Then the nefesh can reincarnate and merit the ruach. The same is true of the two of them; if they become rectified to the point that they are ready for their neshama, they cannot receive it until they reincarnate again. Then they can merit their neshama.

Only in the first gilgul can the nefesh, ruach, and neshama be rectified within one body. After that, the person must reincarnate to move from level to level, even if he finishes one level "early."

What happens for the nefesh that is already rectified but lacks a ruach?

We are talking about after the first gilgul, when it is not possible to receive another level of his soul without reincarnation. What happens, though, in the meantime until reincarnation, if the nefesh is already rectified?

This is the sod: From the same level of purity and extent of tikun attained by this nefesh, there will reincarnate into the body of this person, while he is still alive, the nefesh of a righteous tzadik that has already completed gilgulim and rectification, and does not need to reincarnate here. By entering here, the nefesh of this tzadik takes the place of the ruach of this person.

Thus, from the time that the nefesh has become rectified, the nefesh of a righteous person will enter him and fill the role of the ruach that cannot come down.

Sometimes, it is even possible for the souls of early tzadikim, such as the nefesh of our patriarch Abraham, or similar souls, to reincarnate. This depends upon the tikun and purification of the nefesh of the person.

Gilgulim (of this type) which occur during the lifetime of a person are called by the rabbis, "sod ibur." And this is the basic difference between a regular gilgul and an ibur.

A regular gilgul involves reincarnation from one lifetime to another. Ibur, on the other hand, is the "impregnation" of a person by the soul of a rectified, righteous tzadik because the nefesh has completed its tikun, but it cannot receive ruach without reincarnating since the tikun did not take place in its very first gilgul.

Ibur while alive

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

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. 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.

ee also

* Gilgul (Kabbalah)
* Dybbuk

References

External links

* [http://www.elevated.fsnet.co.uk/index-page13.html Judaism and Reincarnation: ibbur and dybbuk]
* [http://www.famousrabbis.com/gilgulim/birth.html Understanding Ibbur Neshoma עיבור נשמה from Sefer Gilgulim of Reb Chaim Vital]