Two doctrines that are of primary interest to my work are a form of cosmic reincarnation and cosmic cycles; in the forms I research, one is about natural and supernatural categories transmigrating from one into another. The latter, more radical, entails the scala naturae itself and its categories transforming.
My research on reincarnation examines in the theological function of reincarnation in medieval kabbalah – what is its purpose? And what might be learn from the fact that there are radically different treatments of the belief in various kabbalistic methods? Moreover, I am interested in the origins of the belief among Jews, and more specifically, how we might explain that all of a sudden in toward the end of the thirteenth century we find numerous forms of the belief.
Another aspect that interests me is what kabbalistic reincarnation might have to say about ontologies of being. In other words – how to better understand the kabbalistic articulations relating to spiritual and physical matter, as well as the relationship between various categories of being.
To that end, a recent paper of mine offers a portrayal of the inanimate according to a specific kabbalistic tradition, and asks about its potential relevance to the common phenomenon of seas filled with plastic bottles.