The Preexistence of the Soul

When we meet someone who does not seem to fit into the normative behavior of their generation, we might refer to them as an "old soul." This generally implies that they reflect a level of wisdom that exceeds what one normally accrues through the course of a lifetime. In other words, their soul has been around for a while.

But, can the soul be older than the body?

In my experience, most people have not really considered this possibility. In modern religious expression, the generals and particulars of the soul¹ are often left unexplored.

We will break this down and look at a few sources to support this idea.

Incidentally, this topic may be one of the most intriguing and spiritually enlightening concepts within Torah; and one that can be a powerful tool to combat the challenges of life.

Pre-Existence

Since ancient times, the Jewish people have sought to understand the Torah's vague references to the afterlife. Though hinted at in the text, it is through thousands of years of research and credible personal experiences that the tradition has helped us to better understand the soul's journey.

Let's begin with this statement in Deuteronomy:

Not with you, you alone
do I cut this covenant and this oath,
but with the one who is here, standing with us today
before the presence of YHWH our God,
and with those who are not here with us today.
- Deuteronomy 29:13-14

Many commentators understood this phrase as a reference to future generations of Israel². Though not in body, they were present at the foot of Mt. Sinai, in Spirit.

... all the souls were there, [even] when [their] bodies had not been created."
- Midrash Tanchuman Nitzavim 3

Amid the Rabbinic discussions, most agree the soul was created somewhere in the first few days of creation, whereas the body was created on the sixth day. One nuance is that righteous souls were created on the first day.

the souls were created on the first of the six days
- Rabbeinu Bachya on Numbers 8:2

In the Torah, we see the idea that everything existed in some higher dimensional form before manifesting in physical reality. As such, the lower(physical) world is structured to reflect the pattern of the upper (spiritual) world.

Notably, when Moses ascended to receive the Torah, it was there he was shown the plans and model from which to emulate in the lower temple.

With this, we recognize a principle that the spiritual precedes the physical. For many, this is not such a surprise as the New Testament also teaches this idea as well³.

The Soul of Adam

Kabbalah teaches that all human souls were initially part of Adam's composition, and were splintered into tiny shards upon his sin in the garden. As a result, each of us is a spark from the super-soul of Adam.

This gets quite deep. On one hand, it illustrates the connectedness (quantum entanglement) of all humanity; on the other hand, this plays a role in our tikkun (repair) depending upon which part of Adam's soul we came from. But, more on this a little later.