Is the celebrity-studded Kabbalah Centre bringing the benefits of age-old Jewish mysticism and learning to the masses, or is it a multimillion-dollar family enterprise scamming the gullible?\n\nThat basic question, raised with growing frequency and ever-larger headlines in recent years, was given a surprisingly well-balanced national airing last week on the ABC-TV newsmagazine, \”20/20.\”
More fashion for a cause? You betcha. After all, why \”Livestrong\” when you could \”Get Sababa?\”
Lance Armstrong\’s yellow \”Livestrong\” bracelets to benefit his cancer foundation are already passé. But hoping to start a fashion craze of her own, 27-year-old Traci Szymanski has launched Get Sababa, a clothing line in progress, complete with the now-requisite rubber-band bracelets. (Hers are blue-and-white tie-dye.)
My 90-year-old mother-in-law, who was born in Jerusalem, says that when she was a child no one had heard of red string. It was red ribbon then, and a bit was tied around her wrist after she recuperated from typhus.
I have never been to the Kabbalah Centre, never studied with one of their teachers, and cannot comment on their practices. My sole direct exposure was to watch a videotape produced by the center, \”The Power of Kabbalah: A Documentary,\” from 1996, in which they claim, among other things, credit for producing the Oslo accords — credit which they may be presently inclined to disavow. But no matter. I spent an infuriating hour reading \”Becoming Like God\” by Rabbi Michael Berg. If I can succeed in persuading one person not to buy this confused, contradictory, intellectually disreputable and Jewishly perverse volume it will be well worth the exasperation.
Quietly studying a page of the Talmud on a crowded plane, the great Orthodox teacher and thinker Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik was interrupted by a passenger in the next seat.
Madonna\’s just-completed visit to Israel has been called a lot of things: scandalous, threatening, inspiring, encouraging, cheap.
Marcus Weston is a thin, good-looking Londoner who in his casual attire and unobtrusive kippah could pass for typical Pico-Robertson Modern Orthodox guy. On this cool Tuesday night in December, he offers his audience a reassuring smile.
It\’s official. The Kabbalah Centre has usurped the Church of Scientology\’s status as Hollywood\’s hottest creed of choice. These days, it seems like every celeb looking to add meaning to his or her glittering but empty life of fame and fortune is joining the red-string-wearing, holy-water-selling, quasi-Jewish group.
David Shamouelian believes he has tapped into what he thinks is a sure-fire marketing tool: 4,000 years of Jewish mysticism.
