Kabbalah Centre Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
The Kabbalah Centre is an international for-profit private enterprise founded in Los Angeles in 1984 by Philip Berg (born Feivel Gruberger), dedicated to teaching Kabbalah (esoteric Jewish mysticism) as understood by Berg and his disciples.
The Kabbalah Centre is now run by Berg, his wife Karen, and their sons Yehuda and Michael. It has over 50 branches worldwide, with major ones in New York City, Los Angeles, London, and Toronto.
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2 Target audiences 3 Criticisms 4 Role of Berg 5 Claims that he can cure disease 6 References 7 External links |
Berg's teachings
Berg states that it is his job to reveal the real truths about Kabbalah, which all other rabbis have failed to teach correctly. For example, while most Kabbalists have traditionally taught that Jews must follow Halakha (Jewish law) as strictly binding, Berg holds the opposite.
- Judaism is not concerned with conforming to a strict religious way of life in which it is perceived that if one wants to be considered a Jew he has to perform certain ritual tasks. On the contrary, the goal is to connect to metaphysical forces through which we can fulfill our Desire to Receive The Torah, properly understood, can completely fulfill all our needs, and once that goal has been achieved, the barriers that have been created between Jews and non-Jews will collapse: (The Kabbalah Connection, p.43)
Until Berg, all Kabbalists have taught that the teaching of Kabbalah must be restricted. While some parts of the Kabbalah were considered acceptable to teach to both young men and women over the age, most of Kabbalah was held to be forbidden to be taught, except to men under 40 years of age. In contrast, Berg teaches that most rabbis have been teaching falsehood and setting up false requirements for such study; he terms them rabbis of "ill repute".
- There are those who pose as religious leaders who, for their own selfish reasons, spread false requisites for the study of the Zohar and discourage people from "indulging" in its sublime treasures. Either these rabbis fear for their positions, because people tasting of the Kabbalah might embarrass them with the incisiveness of their questions, or, perhaps, because their own upbringing deprived them of this because their own knowledge, they see no reason to allow others of "lower standing" to be given the opportunity of partaking of Kabbalah's spiritual elixir....These kat (cults) of Rabbis have been, and are still in some quarters, blemishes and disfigurements on the face of Rabbinic Judaism. "The arid field of Rabbinism, the P'shat seekers are the fools and hate knowledge." (Tractate Sanhedrin, P. 99B) These Rabbis of ill-repute attempt to conceal from the layman the facts that the foremost Jewish legalists and talmudists were also famous kabbalists.
- (The Zohar, Ed. Berg, Introduction, Parashat Pinhas, p. xxxiii-xxxv)
- We are taught from childhood that if we do something good, G-d will reward us and if we do something bad, He punishes us Never believe it.
- (The Wheels of a Soul, Berg, p. 46)
- Reincarnation is not a question of faith or doctrine, but of logic and reason.. the Bible is its Fountainhead."
- (The Wheels of a Soul, Berg, p. 29)
- The fundamental purpose of Hasidism, which borrowed from the example of the Sephardim, was to inject spirituality into the religion, as opposed to the thoughtless formalism prevailing within the liturgy and ceremonies of their fellow Jews in Lithuania, the Mitnagdim. For this reason the Hasidim did not enjoy either credibility nor popularity among Mitnagdim.
- The place that was assigned to the Zohar in the scheme of prayer and ritual by the Hasidim was one of the basic points at issue between the two sects It was and is essentially a contest between the formalism of dogmatic ritual, as practiced by Mitnagdim and the spiritually-directed practices of the Hasidim.
- (The Zohar, Ed. Berg, Introduction, Parashat Pinhas, p. pp. xliii-xliv)
Target audiences
With a carefully targeted message mixing astrology, numerology, psychology, and themes from New Age teachings, intermingled with Jewish rites and observances, the group has attracted many secular and assimilated Jews and non-Jews, including entertainment celebrities such as Demi Moore, Elizabeth Taylor, Mick Jagger and Britney Spears. Their most prominent fervent devotee is the singer Madonna who, joined by her husband Guy Ritchie, studies regularly with a personal Kabbalah Center rabbi, no longer gives concerts on Friday night (which is the onset of the Jewish Sabbath), wears red band around her wrist to ward off the "Evil Eye" (Ayin Hara), has introduced Jewish ritual objects such as tefilin into her videos, and claims to have changed her name to Esther (named for the ancient Jewish queen Esther of Persia) and she donated several million dollars towards the opening of a new Kabbalah center in London. (Madonna, for the record, was born a Catholic.)
Criticisms
Reactions from organized Jewish groups have been almost uniformly negative, and other critics have accused it of being a "cult".
The Toronto Vaad HaRabonim, the Queens Vaad HaRabonim, Rabbi Yitchak Sladowsky of the Vaad HaRabonim of Queens, The Chief Rabbi of South Africa, the Bet Din of Johannesburg, the Rabbinical Association of South Africa, Rabbi Emanuel Schochet of Canada, and Rabbi Shmuel Boteach all have issued public condemnations of Berg and the Kabbalah Centre, warning people to staw away from this group and avoid its publications. The Philadelphia Board of Rabbis warned that Berg and his group had become abusive.
Orthodox rabbis from all sectors of the varied Orthodox Jewish community have condemned Berg and his Kabbalah Center for multiple devioations from traditional Judaism, such as:
- Using horoscopes and astrology to counsel people.
- The teaching of Kabbalah to people who have no in-depth background in Judaism, which is a violation of traditional Jewish law.
- The teaching of Kabbalah to people under 40, and to women.
- Charging huge amounts of money for courses in mysticism, which traditionally have been given for free or low cost.
- Pressuing people to buy the Kabbalah Centre's own books, which are sold at prices up to five times higher than the same books from other sources.
- Engaging in extortion by scaring people with threats of curses that will befall them if they do not give financial offerings to the Kabbalah Centre.
- Promising people that their diseases will be cured if they buy and use Kabbalah Centre products.
There have been documented cases of Berg advising women to divorce their husbands based on supposed mystical incompatibility. (Phil Abramowitz, Director of the Task Force on Missionaries and Cults at the Jewish Federation of New York) According to the Los Angelos Task Force on Cults and Missionaries, this is a common tactic that Berg engages in when one spouse has been donating larg sums of money to the Kabbalah Centre, and Berg is afraid that the other spouse will object. (The Truth about the Kabbalah Centre)
Arnold Markowitz states that Berg's group engages in tactics used by mind-controlling cults According to him, research "has shown the centre to impart 'an inordinate amount' of submission to its rules - the neglect of other pursuits - a his level of suggestibility, denial of privacy and a strong focus on a self-appointed, charismatic leader, namely, Berg. It also employs some 'hard-sell' tactics usually associated with better-known cult groups. The centre displays a strong inwardness too: 'They see the outside world as unenlightened. It's a very 'us-versus-them' mentality." (Canadian Jewish News, quotes from Arnold Markowitz, director of the Cult Hotline of the New York Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services)
Cult-expert Rick Ross includes Berg's Kabbalah Centre on its list of cults.
Orthodox Rabbi Emanuel Schochet of Canada, an expert in Kabbalah, spoke out against Berg on a number of occasions, including a 1993 lecture to the Jewish community in South Africa. In response, upon his return to Canada, Berg sued Schochet for $4.5 million dollars for "libel and slander."
Philip Berg claims to have a doctorate, and many of his books are listed as being by "Dr." Berg. However, in different interviews he has offered different explanations of what type of Ph.D. he earned. He claimed to have a Ph.D. in comparative religion, at another time he claimed to have a Ph.D. in jurisprudence in biblical law, and later claimed that his Ph.D. was given as part of receiving semicha, traditional rabbinic ordination. He has never shown his Ph.D. to investigative reporters, and refuses to name the organization that gave him the Ph.D.
Berg used to call his center "Yeshiva Kol Yehuda," and claimed that it was affiliated with a genuine Orthodox Jewish yeshiva, Yeshivah Kol Yehuda, in Jerusalem, Israel. The Yeshiva in Israel was founded in 1922 by Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag, and later led by Rabbi Yehudah Tzvi Brandwien. Berg claimed to be a disciple of Rabbi Brandwein, and alleges that he received rabbinical ordination at this yeshiva. However, investigative journalists have interviewed this Yeshiva; they deny any relationship between his group and theirs, and deny that Berg ever received rabbinical ordination.
The Kabbalah Centre advertises Berg as being "the greatest Kabbalist in the world" and "the world's foremost authority
on the Kabbalah." However, outside of his organization he is not accepted as an authority on Kabbalah, nor as a rabbi, by any of the Jewish denominations.
An expose in the Canadian Jewish News (March 18, 1993, pp. 2, 6-7 and 9.) discussed the case of Berg's claims to be able to cure diseases. He sells untranslated sets of the Zohar, an ancient Jewish mystical text written in Aramaic, and claims that by merely opening the book and running one's fingers along the lines, one can be cured of disease
Robert Eshman L.A.'s Kabbalah Learning Center seems to attract many searching Jews, but criticism of it is widespread The Jewish Journal, February 14, 1997
Aynat Fishbein The Cabal of the Cabbalah Centre Exposed: New Relations "Tel Aviv" (An Israeli magazine) September 1994, pp.31-35
Tamara Ikenberg, Madonna, et al have watered down Jewish mysticism, scholars charge Louisville Courier-Journal/August 26, 2004
Nadya Labi What Profits Kabbalah? Time Magazine, November 24, 1997
David Rowan Chief Rabbi sounds alarm on mystical Kabbalah group The London Times, April 3, 2004
The Truth about the Kabbalah Centre Task Force on Cults and Missionaries, Los Angeles, CA 1995
This is an Article on Kabbalah Centre. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Kabbalah Centre High pressure and cult-like tactics
According to the Cult Hotline of the New York Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services, Berg's New York group regularly engages in abusive, high-pressure tactics. Use of libel lawsuits to prevent criticism
Berg and his Kabbalah Centre were initially heavily criticised by many Orthodox rabbis and by a number of journalists who wrote exposes about his group. In response, Berg initiated a series of lawsuits alleging libel and slander against those who criticised him, a tactic that no other practioner of Kabbalah has engaged in.Role of Berg
Claims that he can cure disease
References
Abby Ellin and Adam J. Sacks The Kabbalah centre wants your heart - and your money: The String That Binds The Village Voice, August 11, 2004External links