Was there any other world before this world was created? Is it possible that all the good people in that world have taken rebirth in this present world? Maybe the wicked people of that previous world are being born as insects and animals in this world?
Thank You.
It is possible. There are midrashic sources that state that there were other worlds that were combined together to form this world. [Some use this as the explanation for fossil discoveries that carbon date millions of years old.]
It would have little impact on us however, since G-d put us in this world with a a guide that we are to follow, the Torah. We will be judged based on our actions during this lifetime and how well we utilize the opportunities that we are given. We are free to conjecture what was before time and what will be after, but there is no way of definitively proving these ideas.
The world is definitely cyclic, and this is clearly implied in the hebrew words (biblical/talmudic hebrew) for womb and grave. They are one and the same! “Kever” We are born from the kever (womb) and return to the kever (grave). Pretty sobering thoughts.