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Yiddish-Folktales
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The Baal Shem Tov and the Gilgl

In a prophetic vision, the Baal Shem foresaw that a certain young woman would die on a Friday on her way to the wedding canopy. So he ordered his horses to be harnessed and started off to her town. When was it he made the journey? Three or four days before the wedding.

Arriving at the town, he went to the home of a tenant innkeeper and said, “May I spend the night?”

“Of course,” was the reply. “You’re welcome to spend the Sabbath with us. There’s going to be a wedding on Friday.”

Friday came and the bride died. The town was in an uproar. The groom wept and wailed. The mother wept and wailed. Just think, a bride dead before her wedding.

People brought the news to the Baal Shem. “Don’t be disturbed,” he said, “I’ll be there soon. Meanwhile, gather the burial society together.”

When he got there, he saw that the bride was dead. “Carry her to the cemetery,” he said, “but take her bridal dress with you. Who knows what may yet happen?”

They dug her grave and put her in it, face up. Then the Baal Shem asked them to select two strong men and told them to get into the grave, one on one side of the bride, one on the other. He cautioned them not to get any earth on themselves. “And be sure to watch her,” he said. “Never lose sight of her. Don’t look at anyone but her. Just stand there. If you see the Eternal One looking down on her, or if you see an expression on her face, don’t be frightened. Soon she will turn pale, then color will come into her face. If you see her eyes opening, lift her out of the grave at once.”

And that’s what happened. And when they took her out of the grave, the groom was there and the Baal Shem too, leaning on his stick, looking down. “Dress her in her bridal dress,” he said. “Set up four poles and this sheet, and get ready to lead her to the canopy.”

They did everything he told them to. Then the bride and groom were led to the khupe and the ceremony took place as if she had not died.

Well, how was all that possible? The answer is this: a gilgl had taken possession of the young woman sometime before. A gilgl is the transmigrating soul of someone who has died. And the time had come for this gilgl to leave her body, and in order for him to do that, she had to die. And so she did. But when the Baal Shem said to the gilgl, “I order you to leave her,” the gilgl fled and the bride’s soul returned to her body.

And so she was led to the wedding canopy, after which they all rode away.

* * *

GlossaryGilgl: (Heb. “gilgul”) According to Jewish lore, the being (human or animal) into which the soul of a dead person may pass to continue life and atone for sins committed in the previous incarnation.
gilgl: (Heb. “gilgul”) According to Jewish lore, the being (human or animal) into which the soul of a dead person may pass to continue life and atone for sins committed in the previous incarnation.
khupe: (huppah) The canopy under which the Jewish marriage ceremony traditionally takes place.

* * *

AnnotationsTELLER: Ben Schneider (b. 1888); Lutsk (Luck), Poland; heard it in Berlin after World War II.
COLLECTOR: Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett.
SOURCE: Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (1972b), pp. 135–36.

geostatonary
@geostatonary

“Carry her to the cemetery,” he said, “but take her bridal dress with you. Who knows what may yet happen?”

You just know the Baal Shem Tov thought this was so funny of himself


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