religion birth_place nationality birth_date known_for residence spouse image article_title name occupation alma_mater
judaism berkeley , california american us 1947 reincarnation research sandstone , minnesota caryl gershom rabbi yonassan gershom 2008.jpg yonassan gershom
 yonassan gershom rabbi and writer minnesota state university , mankato
yonassan gershom

yonassan gershom is a rabbi and writer who was ordained in the jewish renewal movement during the 1980s and is now a follower of breslov hasidism .
he was associated with the early days of the b'nai or movement , a forerunner of jewish renewal , in which he was ordained by rabbi zalman schachter-shalomi in 1986 , although he is not in agreement with the direction that the movement has taken in more recent years gershom lives on a farm in rural minnesota , where he writes and conducts himself as a `` cyber-rabbi '' on the internet .
in 1997 he made a pilgrimage to the grave of rabbi nachman of breslov in uman , ukraine , a trip that has strongly influenced his later writings .
until this point , `` he was n't aware how much the rural experience shaped hasidism .
it gave him a deeper understanding of hasidic stories and the torah . ''
he serves on the advisory board of the jewish vegetarians of north america -lrb- jvna -rrb- and is active in the vegetarian and animal welfare movements .
in 2013 he was widely quoted as opposing the use of live chickens for kapparot ceremonies .
gershom is best known for having written several books on the topic of the holocaust and reincarnation .
`` beyond the ashes '' and `` from ashes to healing '' recount stories of people who claim to have died in the holocaust and are now reincarnated , while `` jewish tales of reincarnation '' deals with jewish accounts of reincarnation , including a few from the holocaust but mostly others from classical jewish texts and oral tradition .
in his books on reincarnation , he 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 -lrb- as opposed to the conception found in some other religions -rrb- , 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 .
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 that adolf hitler might have been a reincarnation of the biblical amalek .
gershom has appeared on several tv programs in connection with his reincarnation work , including sightings and unexplained mysteries .
the duluth , minnesota pbs station , wdse , also featured him on their `` venture north '' news magazine show in connection with his philosophy on gardening and jewish spirituality .
he appears in the 2007 documentary film , `` a sacred duty : applying jewish values to help heal the world '' , directed by lionel friedberg for the jewish vegetarians of north america -lrb- jvna -rrb- .
although he is best known for his books on reincarnation , gershom is also a lifelong pacifist and peace activist , who has written many articles on judaism and nonviolence , later collected into an anthology entitled `` eight candles of consciousness . ''
he was active in the peace movement in minneapolis during the 1980s , and publicly protested against the policies of meir kahane .
he is also a supporter of gay rights , basing his stance on equal rights under the law rather than theology .
he graduated from mankato state university in 1975 with a bachelor of science degree in german language and native american studies .
