Yonassan Gershom
Born	1947 (age 77–78) Berkeley, California, U.S.
Nationality	American
Education	Minnesota State University, Mankato
Occupation(s)	Rabbi and writer
Known for	Reincarnation research
Spouse	Caryl Gershom

Yonassan Gershom (born 1947) is an AmericanRabbi and writer who was ordained in theJewish Renewal movement during the 1980s, and is now a follower ofBreslovHasidism. He was associated with the early days of theB'nai Or movement, a forerunner of Jewish Renewal, in which he was ordained by RabbiZalman Schachter-Shalomi in 1986,^[1] although he is not in agreement with the direction that the movement has taken in more recent years.^[2]

Gershom lives on a farm in rural Minnesota, where he writes and conducts himself as a "cyber-rabbi" on the Internet.^[3] In 1997, he made a pilgrimage to the grave of RabbiNachman of Breslov inUman,Ukraine, a trip that has strongly influenced his later writings. Until this point, "he wasn't aware how much the rural experience shaped Hasidism. It gave him a deeper understanding of Hasidic stories and the Torah."^[4] He has served on the Advisory Board of theJewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA), and is active in the vegetarian andanimal welfare movements.^[5] In 2013, he was widely quoted as opposing the use of live chickens forKapparot ceremonies.^[6]

Gershom is best known for having written several books on the topic of theHolocaust andreincarnation.Beyond the Ashes andFrom Ashes to Healing recount stories of people who claim to have died in the Holocaust and are now reincarnated,^[7] whileJewish Tales of Reincarnation deals with Jewish accounts of reincarnation, including a few from the Holocaust, but mostly others from classical Jewish texts andoral tradition.

In his books on reincarnation, Gershom discusses theories concerning whether Jews who died in the Holocaust did so as punishment for their sins in their previous lives. He argues that in the Jewish conception of evil and reincarnation (as opposed to the conception found in some other religions), suffering in this life is not necessarily punishment for wrongdoing in a previous life. Rather, he argues, undeserved suffering in this life can be purely due to the wrongdoing of the perpetrators, and not some punishment for the victims.^[8] He does, however, argue that, according to the Jewish concept, wickedness can be accumulated over a succession of reincarnations. Thus, he argues, it is possible that the Nazis committed the Holocaust due to the evil they had accumulated through many lifetimes of persecuting and killing Jews throughout the preceding centuries. He cites thatAdolf Hitler might have been a reincarnation of the biblicalAmalek.^[9]

Gershom has appeared on several TV programs in connection with his reincarnation work, includingSightings^[10] andUnexplained Mysteries. The Duluth, Minnesota,PBS station, WDSE, also featured him on theirVenture North news magazine show, in connection with his philosophy on gardening and Jewish spirituality.^[11] He appears in the 2007 documentary film,A Sacred Duty: Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal the World, directed byLionel Friedberg for theJewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA).

Although he is best known for his books on reincarnation, Gershom is also a life-longpacifist and peace activist, who has written many articles on Judaism andnon-violence, later collected into an anthology entitled,Eight Candles of Consciousness. He was active in the peace movement inMinneapolis during the 1980s, and publicly protested against the policies ofMeir Kahane.^[12] He is also a supporter of gay rights, basing his stance on equal rights under the law, rather than theology.^[13] He graduated fromMankato State University in 1975, with a Bachelor of Science degree in German language and Native American Studies.

During the 1990s, Gershom was diagnosed withAsperger syndrome andADHD at the age of 45.^[14]

On reincarnation:

• Beyond the Ashes: Cases of Reincarnation from the Holocaust, A.R.E. Press, 1992. (ISBN 0876042930)
• From Ashes to Healing: Mystical Encounters with the Holocaust, A.R.E. Press, 1996. (ISBN 0876043406)
• Jewish Tales of Reincarnation, Jason Aronson, Inc., 2000. (ISBN 0765760835)
• Are Holocaust Victims Returning?,ebook anthology of articles on reincarnation reprinted from various periodicals, 2007.

On other topics

• 49 Gates of Light: Kabbalistic Meditations for Counting the Omer, Crown Point Enterprises, Minneapolis, 1987, reprinted as49 Gates of Light: a course in kabbalah, Lulu Press, Inc., 2010.
• "Shamanism in the Jewish Tradition", included in Nicholson, Shirley (ed.),Shamanism: An Expanded View of Reality, Quest Books, Wheaton, Illinois, 1996.
• "The Peace Stone" included inSeeing the Light: Personal Encounters with the Middle East and Islam, Curtis, Richard H. and McMahon, Janet (eds.), American Educational Trust, Washington, D. C., 1997.
• Eight Candles of Consciousness: Essays on Jewish Non-Violence, Lulu Press, Inc., Raleigh, N. C., 2009. (ISBN 978-0-557-04922-6)
• Jewish Themes in Star Trek, Lulu Press, Inc., Raleigh, N. C., 2009. (ISBN 978-0-557-04800-7)
• Two dialogues with him onanimal rights issues in Judaism ("Raising Holy Sparks: Hasidic Thought and Vegetarianism", and "A Dialogue on Nature Deficit Disorder") are included inWho Stole My Religion?: Revitalizing Judaism and Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal our Imperiled Planet byRichard H. Schwartz, Lulu Press, Inc., Raleigh, N. C., 2011. (ISBN 978-1-105-33646-1)
• Kapporos Then and Now: Toward a More Compassionate Tradition, Lulu Press, Inc., 2015. (ISBN 978-1-329-18940-9)
• "Spock and Jews in the 1960s", included inSpockology:Essays on Spock and Leonard Nimoy from The Undiscovered Country Project and Friends, Neece, Kvin C. (editor), Createspace, 2015. (ISBN 978-1506108179)
• "Rabbi Birds and Rooster Chicks: How I Became a Vegetarian", included in Yanklowitz, Schmuly,The Jewish Vegan, Shamyim v'Aretz Institute, 2015. (ISBN 978-1517393021)
• "Antisemitic Stereotypes in Alice Bailey's Writings", 1997-2005.

• Jewish vegetarianism

• A Sacred Duty: Applying Jewish Values to Heal the WorldArchived December 13, 2007, at theWayback Machine, homepage for this documentary film, which includes interview footage with Yonassan Gershom. You can alsoVideo onYouTube.
• "The Soul of Every Living Thing", a 5-minute video from theShamayim v'Aretz Institute, featuring Yonassan Gershom speaking on nature and animals,Video onYouTube

• 1947 births
• Living people
• Jewish pacifists
• Jewish American non-fiction writers
• American Orthodox Jews
• American Jewish Renewal rabbis
• American male non-fiction writers
• American pacifists
• American vegetarianism activists
• Breslov rabbis
• Reincarnation
• Holocaust historiography
• American nonviolence advocates
• People from Pine County, Minnesota
• People with Asperger syndrome
• Autistic writers
• People with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
• 20th-century American rabbis
• Clergy with disabilities
• American writers with disabilities
• 21st-century American rabbis
• 21st-century American male writers
• 20th-century American male writers

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