Kabbalah Centre: Encyclopedia II - Kabbalah Centre - Criticisms

Kabbalah Centre - Criticisms

Reactions from organized Jewish groups have been almost uniformly negative, and other critics have accused it of being a cult.

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz was quoted as saying that "what pornography is to love -- such is the connection between what Berg teachs and true Kabbalah".

The Toronto Vaad HaRabonim, the Queens Vaad HaRabonim, Rabbi Yitschak Sladowsky of the Vaad HaRabonim of Queens, the Chief Rabbi of South Africa, the Beth Din of Johannesburg, the Rabbinical Association of South Africa, Rabbi Emanuel Schochet of Canada, and Rabbi Shmuel Boteach have all issued public condemnations of Berg and the Kabbalah Centre, warning people to stay 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, as well Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis, have condemned Berg and his Kabbalah Centre for multiple deviations 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 forty, and to women.
• Charging huge amounts of money for courses in mysticism, which traditionally have been given for free or low cost.
• Pressuring people to buy the Kabbalah Centre's own books, which are sold at prices up to five times higher than from other sources.
• Engaging in extortion by scaring people with threats of curses that will befall them if they do not give money to the Kabbalah Centre.
• Promising people cures if they buy and use Kabbalah Centre products.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach went so far as to say:

He goes on to say:

[I]s the Kabbalah Center really so desperate that it is prepared to promote itself through a vulgarian whose main contribution to the culture is porn rock? [1]

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 Angeles Task Force on Cults and Missionaries, this is a common tactic of Berg's when one spouse has been donating large sums of money to the Kabbalah Centre and Berg is afraid that the other spouse will object. (The Truth about the Kabbalah Centre)

In addition, the Kabbalah centre angered many when it emerged that a fund set up to send teddy bears and other toys to the victims of the 2004 Boxing day tsunami had not worked efficiently, and by June 2005, not a single teddy bear had been delivered, leading many to conclude that it was in fact a publicity stunt to help the cause of the Center. In addition, one of the images on its website featured a young tsunami victim with a red string around his arm, attracting widespread condemnation as the group was believed to be taking advantage of suffering in order to sell their products and services.

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.

Arnold Markowitz states that Berg's group engages in tactics used by mind-controlling cults. According to him,

Concern has also been expressed over the high fees charged by the Kabbalah Centre for its "life-enhancing" products and services, many of which are out of the range of ordinary people.

Cult expert Rick Ross includes Berg's Kabbalah Centre on his list of monitored groups.

Kabbalah Centre - Position on the Holocaust

According to a BBC news article [2], Eliyahu Yardeni, a senior figure in the London Kabbalah Centre has been quoted as saying

Kabbalah Centre - Leah Zohin

On 31 October 2005, Shaul Youdkevitch, head of the Kabbalah Centre in Tel Aviv, was arrested on suspicion of promising to cure a woman of cancer for more than £30 000 [3].

Leah Zohin was promised a cure for her illness if she paid the centre large amounts of money, according to the Guardian newspaper and Ha'aretz. She died in August after the donations failed to produce any improvement in her condition. The centre has so far not responded to these allegations.

Kabbalah Centre - 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 exposés 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.

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".

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Criticisms", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki