Gabriel Hagai claims to have been a voodoo priest in Haiti during the war of independence, which raged from 1791 to 1804. In his past lives, he and his brother were even husband and wife. And though Hagai, a 57-year-old rabbi, is currently perfectly healthy, he has already predicted that, in his next existence, he will "very likely not be Jewish." This is a certainty that he did not have a few months ago, which has led him to reflect: "That may mean that I am nearing the end of my present life."

These are just some of the surprising revelations found in the brilliant and surprising Itinéraire d'une Initiation. Le Cheminement d'un Rabbin Qabbaliste ("Journey of an Initiation: The Path of a Kabbalist Rabbi"), a book published at the start of the year, in which the man of faith shares his unique personal and spiritual path. Indeed, Hagai's life has been anything but ordinary: He has mastered the basics of around 40 languages, worked as a baker in Boston and as a paleographer-codicologist (an expert in manuscripts) at the prestigious Practical School of Advanced Studies (EPHE) in Paris. He currently works as an herbalist in the heights of Paris's Ménilmontant neighborhood.

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