An interesting but somewhat disappointing sequel: lacks research
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After having read Rabbi Gershom's "Beyond the Ashes", I looked forward to this book as perhaps providing the missing dimension of the previous book, namely the real life histories of those people who (apparently) suffered in the Holocaust and then reincarnated and accessed past memories. On the whole I was disappointed: this book contains 15 personal stories from 15 different contributors which range from the convincing to the quite definitely unconvincing and from the fascinating to the banal.
At the convincing end of the spectrum, we have the famous story of the clock, where, through recurrent spontaneous dreams (supplemented later by hypnotic regression) the (Canadian) writer accesses a past life as a Dutch Jew where an antique clock has a significant place in the hideout where he and his family sheltered from the Nazis. After the third dream he receives directions to a Canadian antique shop where the very same clock is for sale, the shopkeeper having picked it from Holland where the authorities had sold off unclaimed items from World War II Dutch Jews.
At the other end of the spectrum we have a writer who describes himself as a "religious mystic" who suffered from a traumatic childhood, a serious weight problem, depression and low self-esteem. On reading Rabbi Gershom's "Beyond the Ashes" this writer started to believe that he "might have been a victim of the Nazi Holocaust in a past life" which he begins to explore by what he describes as "self-hypnosis". The following excerpt reminds me a little bit of Gogol's "The Diary of a Madman" when the diary-writer wakes up one morning with the "realisation" that the missing King of Spain is in fact himself: "When I thought about my past life in the Holocaust, I somehow sensed that I had been an adolescent Jewish girl, between the ages of twelve and fifteen. Over the years, I have had many dreams in which I was a young girl".
Then again we have the fascinating story of the contributor who has both "past life memories" of dying in a concentration camp and the undeniable talent of creating (acclaimed) sculptures of the Holocaust. In short, this book is something of a mixed bag. A significant number of the contributors are Gentiles with dysfunctional childhoods who "feel Jewish", and a number of non-mystical interpretations could explain many of the stories. In fairness to the book, many of the stories in the book are very interesting, but I feel that Rabbi Gershom's comment that this "is not a book of dry systematic case histories" is something of a defensive cop-out and his claim that these are "in-depth personal stories" is somewhat deceptive: The 15 stories cover no more than 136 pages and a bit of systematic research and the inclusion of the details thereof would have enhanced the book no end (although one or two stories might have bit the dust in the process).
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Great sequel, great stories, great research!
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I was really glad when this second book came out because it had complete stories written by some of the people themselves. There's a whole lot of different approaches to healing by the different authors that are very useful for understanding different ways to heal karma. It also has a REALLY GREAT chapter about "Edgar Cayce on the Holocaust" written by Rabbi Gershom that tells how some of the things that Cayce supposedly said about Jews in the Holocaust were never said by him at all. Such as the Holocaust being a karmic punishment, etc. which Cayce NEVER said! It turns out that the source of these teachings was an American Nazi sympathizer who went to Cayce for a reading in the 1930's and misunderstood it, etc. Everybody who is into Cayce or New Age philosophy really needs to read this chapter -- as well as the rest of the book.
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Bravo! More real-life reincarnation stories!
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Thank you, Rabbi Gershom, for more wonderful reincarnation stories. "Beyond the Ashes" was beautiful, and you continue to elate and inspire us with "From Ashes to Healing". More! More!
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