Rabbi Chaim Vital was the closest disciple of the great 16th-century kabbalist, Rabbi Isaac Luria, also known as the "Holy Ari (lion) of Safed" or simply as "The Arizal." The Arizal's teachings were all given orally, and he himself wrote very little in print. His faithful disciple, Rabbi Chaim Vital, recorded his master's teachings in several books which have come down to us. One of these is "Sha'ar Gilgulim" (The Gate of Reincarnations,") which forms the basis of the book I am now reviewing. Although "The Gate of Reincarnations" is a fundamental source text for Jewish mystics and scholars, until now, it was only available in Hebrew.

Rabbi Wexelman's book is the first I known of to present substantial amounts of material from "The Gate of Reincarnations" in English. He has also included a second section, "The Kabbalistic Concept of Creation," which is based on two other works by Chaim Vital, the "Sha'ar ha-Hakdamot" and the "Otsrot Hayim." Together, they give a fine presentation of the Arizal's teachings on the spiritual journey of the human soul.

But, as the subtitle says, this book is "based on" the writings of Chaim Vital. As such, it is not a complete word-for-word translation. As Rabbi Wexelman himself states in his introduction, he has "omitted sections that would cause confusion due to problems of translating difficult concepts suitable only for more advanced learners." At the same time, he has also "tried not to distort the meaning and ideas or to add [his] own thoughts on these topics." The result is a redaction that presents the basics of Vital's work in a form that is accessible to the educated English-speaking student of Jewish mysticism. (However, I myself would have prefered a complete translation.)

The book explains the five levels of the human soul, how souls come to be reincarnated, how the 613 mitzvot relate to the 613 parts of the spiritual body, the phenomenon of "ibbur" (temporary benign possession), soulmates, etc. Especially interesting are the sections on "who was who," which trace the various incarnations of biblical and Talmudic personalities, according to the insights of Vital's master, the Arizal. (In addition to being a great kabbalist, the Arizal was also a type of "past-life reader" who could see all the previous incarnations of a person and prescribe the proper "tikkun" or soul correction for each person.)

Make no mistake, however: this is not an intro how-to book on reincarnation. The original text was intended for advanced rabbinic scholars who were already steeped in Jewish law, kabbalah, and Orthodox Jewish practices for many years, and it assumes you have that background. It also assumes a working knowledge of specialized kabbalistic terms in Hebrew, such as the Four Worlds, the Sefirot and their different combinations, levels of the soul, etc. One glaring weakness of the book is that it has no glossary. Nor does it have any biographical materials on the various rabbis who's incarnations are recorded. If you don't already know Jewish history, they are only so many names.

So, I give this book five stars for what it is: a good redaction of an advanced kabbalistic source text in English. As such, it will be very useful to the advanced student. However, for the general reader who doesn't want to plow through so many technical terms, I would recommend Rabbi DovBer Pinson's book, "Reincarnation in Judaism: the Journey of the Soul," instead. Rabbi Pinson's book presents the same ideas, based on the same authentic sources, but in much more accessible language.