Question:
How long does it take for a soul to return to Earth in a different form?
Answer:
When our soul or our life force comes to this world there’s a specific purpose for being here. We need to complete our own tikun—the spiritual correction process—and then we leave this world. The body is a one-time deal, but the soul goes on forever.
There is a gap of time before we return. It is not set; the length of time between one lifetime and the next differs for everyone and is determined by when another body will be ready. That may seem like a weird answer because there are so many bodies available. We think, just pick one and that’s it! But no, the other body has to match the process that the soul needs to grow in the next lifetime.
We each need to be born to a certain place, to certain parents who will educate us in a certain way, who will treat us a certain way. Everything must line up so we will have the right siblings, friends, and circumstances to complete our tikun. Our next lifetime is set when we leave this world, so we will need to wait for the right body and right time in history. That can happen immediately, as soon as you leave the body, or it could take a week, a year, ten years, or five hundred years. There is no set time.
