Language:
English
Year of publication:
2022
Titel der Quelle:
Journal of Jewish Thought & Philosophy
Angaben zur Quelle:
31,1 (2022) 30–56
Keywords:
Yosef, mi-Shushan ha-Bira Criticism and interpretation
;
Cabala History To 1300
;
Animal welfare Religious aspects
;
Judaism
;
Reincarnation Judaism
Abstract:
In thirteenth-century Castile, the kabbalist R. Joseph of Hamadan offered an unprecedented articulation of the idea of reincarnation (gilgul), proposing that Jewish men could be reborn as gentiles, women, or even animals. This article studies the formation of the Jewish belief in the transmigration of human souls into animal bodies, focusing on the question of animal pain. It contextualizes the kabbalistic literary treatment of animals by examining the thirteenth-century European genre of bestiaries, which attempted to instill proper morals in readers by associating animals with sinners. Although the idea of animal reincarnation led kabbalists to treat animals as creatures with human souls, it did not lead to a fundamental or radical shift in the treatment of animals.
DOI:
10.1163/1477285x-12341344
URL:
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