Guf
Open-knowledge reference entry
Guf (Hebrew: גּוּף, also transliterated Guph or Gup) is a Hebrew word, meaning "body". In Jewish mysticism the Chamber of Guf, also called the Otzar (הָאוֹצָר, "treasury"), is the Treasury of Souls, located in the Seventh Heaven.
Tree of Souls
According to Jewish mythology, in the Garden of Eden there is a Tree of life, or the "Tree of Souls", that blossoms and produces new souls, which fall into the Guf, the "Treasury of Souls". Gabriel reaches into the treasury and takes out the first soul that comes into his hand. Then Lailah, the Angel of Conception, watches over the embryo until it is born.
According to Rabbi Isaac Luria, the trees are resting places for souls; sparrows can see the soul's descent, explaining their joyous chirping. The Tree of Souls produces all the souls that have ever existed, or will ever exist. When the last soul descends, the world will come to an end. According to the Talmud, Yevamot 62a, the Messiah will not come until the Guf is emptied of all its souls. In keeping with other Jewish legends that envision souls as bird-like, the Guf is sometimes described as a columbarium, or birdhouse.
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This entry incorporates text from “Guf” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.