קרח

the spies, as an example.

For the Rav z"l wrote: (Sha’ar HaPesukim, Parashat Shelach), that HaKadosh Barukh Hu, when He saw that they were destined to sin, therefore chose to send them, in order to rectify, by diminishing the evil somewhat; and Moshe Rabbeinu, his intent being that these spies were destined to sin, and from Moshe Rabbeinu’s will, Israel are called by the Neshmot of the tribes themselves, the brothers of Yosef, a little. Therefore He, may He be blessed, decreed that they should literally be impregnated, in the secret of Ibur, in these spies, in order that they would help them a little and they would not sin completely.

In their going, this is explained in the verse, “And they went and they came to Moshe, etc.”; and nonetheless, it did not help them, and as is known, because when they went to scout the land, they took evil counsel in themselves to bring forth an evil report about the land; therefore they withdrew from them, as the above. For it is known that the Neshmot of the tribes that were impregnated in them, as a Neshamah that is joined in Gilgul with [another]—but in the secret of Ibur, it withdraws from him; for the Neshamah of the person withdraws from there until the day of death. But when a person sins, it withdraws from him, as it says (Numbers 16), “Turn away from the tents of these wicked men”; and not only this, but even the wicked, in the secret [that] when he sins, withdraws, the person himself is dead; and the wicked in their lives are called dead, and therefore, “they withdrew from them.”

The Rav z"l explains in Sha’ar HaGilgulim the distinction between the return of the Neshamah from the upper world to this world.

The Neshamah returns to this world by way of Gilgul and by way of Ibur. Gilgul returns in a new body to rectify what it did not rectify still in the previous gilgulim, to complete what is still lacking to it in Torah and mitzvot, in order that it be fit, in its completeness, to return to its source in the upper world and to enjoy the delight of the radiance of the Shekhinah in Gan Eden.

But Ibur is that the Neshamah of a tzaddik that has already departed from the world does not need to be reincarnated again in order to rectify; nevertheless, sometimes it becomes impregnated and enclothes itself within another Neshamah in this world, in order to assist him in the service of HaShem, in the fulfillment of Torah and mitzvot. For when the tzaddik merits Ibur from the Neshamah of a tzaddik whose level is higher than his own level, behold he is elevated in his level and merits to serve HaShem at a higher level, until this adds further completeness to his level, and also to the Neshamah that was impregnated in him.31.

Also sometimes there is a Neshamah of a tzaddik that already completed its deeds; but it does not need to be reincarnated again; however, there are lacking to it certain mitzvot that the tzaddik did not fulfill due to circumstances, that it was not in his power to fulfill them. And in order that the Neshamah be completed also in these mitzvot, it becomes impregnated in the Neshamah of a tzaddik who is going to fulfill one of these mitzvot, so that it will assist him to fulfill it, and it will be considered that it too fulfilled it; and through this it too becomes completed in this mitzvah.32.

This is the distinction between Ibur and Gilgul: that in Gilgul the Neshamah is obligated to remain in this world until the body in which it was reincarnated dies, even if he sins. For behold, the Neshamah does not withdraw from him, because it still has not been rectified by its deeds in the previous gilgulim, and now it returned to this world in the form of this person, and he has no other Neshamah besides it. But in Ibur, the person has his own Neshamah, and the Neshamah that is impregnated in him does not need to return to this world, but only in order to assist this tzaddik in his service and to complete itself with an additional completeness that it did not merit when it was in the world. Therefore it enclothes itself in him only for the need of this completeness; but when he sins and it is not again in need of him, and it is not obligated to suffer from his evil deeds, therefore it withdraws from him.33.