1491 (5786-42) 21 Tammuz 5786 (July 6, 2026)

"The Gift of Perceiving Reincarnations"

At the end of the feast, the brothers distributed money among the poor. When the young boy's turn came, he shouted, "How dare you offer me copper coins!? Bring me gold from the treasure chest!"

Why This Week? The 22nd day of the Jewish month of Tammuz [2026: July 6] is the yahrzeit of Rebbe Shlomo of Karlin.

Story in PDF format for more convenient printing.

The Gift of Perceiving Reincarnations

Rabbi Aharon 'the Great', the first Karliner Rebbe, died young, in 1772 at age 36. Rabbi Shlomo, who was his closest disciple and destined to become his successor, did not want the position of Rebbe. Why not? Because R. Shlomo and R. Aharon had once been fellow students who sat together as equals at the house of their teacher, the Maggid of Mezritch. Therefore, it did not seem right to R. Shlomo now, that he should take his older comrade's place as Rebbe of Karlin.

Besides, R. Shlomo had seen how the people flocked to a Rebbe day and night, so that he had no privacy or peace. "I don't want such fame and responsibility," Shlomo said. "I just want to lead a private life as an ordinary Jew." So the Karliner Chasdim were left without a Rebbe.

But then came the night when Rabbi Aharon himself appeared to R' Shlomo in a dream and said, "Shlomo, my friend and dearest student, if you will take on the yoke of leadership, you will be granted the power of seeing all the wanderings of souls in their various incarnations."

R. Shlomo could not resist the great temptation of this offer. To be able to read the past lives of all souls! Therefore, in the dream, he gave Rabbi Aharon his word that he would assume the succession and become the next Karliner Rebbe.

As it was promised in the dream, so it became in the waking world.

That very same day, a messenger brought Reb Sholom a kvittel (lit. a note. i.e. a written prayer request), along with a great sum of money as a donation. The sender was a prosperous merchant, whom we shall call Mr. Geltman. He lay dying and wanted the Rebbe to make a miracle and save his life.

No sooner had Reb Shlomo read the kvittel from Mr. Geltman, then a second messenger arrived with another prayer request, this time from the woman who supervised the homeless shelter near the edge of town. She had come on behalf of a pregnant woman, whom we shall call Mrs. Bettler, who was staying at the shelter. Mrs. Bettler had been laboring in childbirth for several days, but was unable to deliver her child. The midwife could do nothing for her. Could the Rebbe help?

With his newly-acquired mystical insight, Reb Shlomo immediately saw that the soul of the dying Mr. Geltman was destined to be re-born into the body of Mrs. Bettler's unborn child. Alas, the poor child could not be born until the rich man had died! "So be it," sighed the new Rebbe. "May the will of God be done."

Within moments, word of the rich man's death and the beggar child's birth arrived, one upon the heels of the other.

The next day, Reb Shlomo also heard that there was no firewood left at the homeless shelter, and the young mother and her newborn son were in danger of freezing to death. So Reb Shlomo took some of the donation money that Mr. Geltman had sent and used it to buy more firewood. "It really is the boy's own money after all," he said to himself. "So he deserves to benefit from it."

Not long after that, he gave the rest of the money to Mrs. Bettler, to be used for the boy's care. When the boy and his mother were strong enough to travel, they went on their way with the other beggars, going from town to town.

Six years later, the Bettlers happened to be passing through Karlin again. At the homeless shelter they heard that one of the sons of the deceased Mr. Geltman would be celebrating his own son's bar mitzvah. As was the custom, the poor were all invited to the feast. So Mrs. Bettler and her son went along with the others.

As soon as they arrived at the Geltman house, the six-year-old boy's whole manner began to change completely. He took on an air of importance, and refused to sit at the pauper's table with the rest of the beggars. In a loud, arrogant voice, he demanded to be seated at the head of the guest table in a place of honor. The child made such a great disturbance that Reb Shlomo stepped in and said, "Let's just humor the boy, so we can continue the celebration in peace."
But the rabbi knew there was more to it, because
he had recognized the boy as the reincarnated soul of Mr. Geltman. "He is really the master of the house, and those are his sons," thought Reb Shlomo to himself. "All he is doing is asking for his due."

When the meal was served, the same thing happened; the Bettler boy refused to take the plain foods offered to the poor, and insisted upon getting the best cuts of meat and the choicest morsels from the head table. Once again, Reb Shlomo said, "Let him have his way, so he doesn't disturb the feast."

But the other guests were getting upset with the boy. How dare he, a mere beggar's son, insult the Geltman brothers like that? They asked his mother, "Does your son always behave like this?"

"Why no," replied Mrs. Bettler, as puzzled as they were. "He's always been such a good boy, very quiet and well-mannered. He's never done anything like this before -- I just don't know what's gotten into that lad!"

At the end of the feast, after Reb Shlomo had already gone home, the Geltman brothers distributed money among the poor, as was the custom. When the Bettler boy's turn came, he looked disdainfully at the small coins and shouted, "How dare you offer me coppers!? Bring me gold from the treasure chest!"

By now, the Geltman brothers had had enough of his insolence, and Reb Shlomo was no longer there to intervene. So the Geltmans told their servants to throw him out of the house. And they did.

When Rabbi Shlomo later learned how the Geltman brothers had unknowingly mistreated their reincarnated father, he was deeply saddened. He could not bear the thought of spending his life watching such tragic scenes, so he begged Heaven to take away his miraculous powers. And they did.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: Excerpted, modified and supplemented by Yerachmiel Tilles from the DailyZohar website.

Why This Week? The 22nd day of the Jewish month of Tammuz [2026: July 6] is the yahrzeit of Rebbe Shlomo of Karlin.

Biographical notes:
Rabbi Aharon the Great of Karlin (1736 - 19 Nissan 1772) was a disciple of Rabbi Dov-Ber of Mezritch. He was the pioneer of chasidism in Lithuania, as is evidenced by the fact that in contemporary sources, "Karliner" became a local synonym for "chasid". He is remembered for the ecstatic and unrestrained fervor of his prayer, for his solicitude for the needy, and for the moral teachings embodied in his Azharos ("Warnings"). He was succeeded by his colleague and disciple R. Shlomo of Karlin, after whose death the succession reverted to R. Aharon's son, R. Asher of Stolin (d. 1823). The dynasty still thrives today, and the chasidim of Karlin and of Stolin are known for the volume of their communal prayers.

Rabbi Shlomo of Karlin [1738 - 22 Tammuz 1792], was a student of the Maggid of Mezritch and Rabbi Aharon the Great of Karlin, whom he succeeded in 1772. R' Shlomo was well known for the extraordinary fervor and enthusiasm with which he prayed and studied. Most of the chasidic leaders of the next generation in the Lithuanian region were his disciples, including Rabbi Uri of Strelisk, known as the Saraf ('burning angel') and Rabbi Asher, the first rebbe of Stolin. He died Al Kiddush HaShem, a holy martyr, stabbed by a Cossack with a sword while in the midst of the Amida prayer. The tzadik, Rabbi Yisrael of Rozhin, said about Rabbi Shlomo of Karlin that he was Mashiach ben Yosef and therefore he died.

Yerachmiel Tilles is co-founder and associate director of Ascent-of-Safed, and chief editor of this website (and of KabbalaOnline.org). He has hundreds of published stories to his credit, and many have been translated into other languages. He tells them live at Ascent nearly every Saturday night.

To receive the Story by e-mail every Wednesday--sign up here!

"Festivals of the Full Moon"
("Under the Full Moon" vol 2 - holiday stories)
is now available for purchase from ASCENT
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *