Kabbalah and the Spiritual Quest: The Kabbalah Centre in America

by Jody Myers

Overview

Dressing entirely in white is normal practice on a five-block stretch of Robertson Boulevard in West Los Angeles. Western men and women, garbed in white from their turbans to their Keds, traverse the busy streets surrounding the Sikh Temple. Further north, you have to wait until Friday afternoon to see white-clad young men in yarmulkes gathering outside the Kabbalah Learning Centre greeting each other with hugs, the spaces around them filled with women and children wearing multi-colored garments. Beyond this city street, one hears of the popularity of Kabbalah in the tabloids, as celebrities such as Madonna claim Kabbalah as their new religion. How have the obscure and offensive ideas of medieval Jewish mysticism, expressed in doctrines like the demonic power of women's menstrual blood or the soulless bodies of Gentiles, been made palatable for so many from all stripes of life?

With KLCs in cities such as Boca Raton, New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Miami, Philadelphia, San Diego, Houston, and Las Vegas, the reach of this mystical tradition can be said to be nationwide. But how did its beliefs and practices become as fashionable as they are now? What do the KLCs teach so that adherents stay on? Is it a cult, a religion, or simply a system of universal wisdom as its leaders purport? Determined to uncover the secrets of this esoteric faith, the author embarked upon three 10-week Kabbalah classes among other learning opportunities, examined Kabbalah publications from the 1970s to the present, listened to KLC audio tapes, and interacted with adherents. This book presents her experiences and findings, and offers an overview of the history of the Kabbalah in this country, its beliefs and practices, its positions on health and healing of both the self and the world, its structure and outreach, and its views of men and women. She traces the origins of Kabbalah, offers a glimpse into its world, its relationships to Judaism, its place in American society, and its future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275989408
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/30/2007
Series:	Religion, Health, and Healing
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

Jody Myers is Professor of Religious Studies at California State University, Northridge and author of Seeking Zion: Modernity and Messianic Activism in the Writings of Tsevi Hirsch Kalischer, and many other jourbanal articles and book chapters.

Table of Contents

Series Foreword   Susan Starr Sered   Linda L. Barnes     vii
Preface     ix
Acknowledgments     xiii
Kabbalah, from Origins to Popularization in America     1
Kabbalah and New Religious Movements in America, 1960s-1980s     33
Main Teachings     75
The Spiritual Tools and Who Gets to Use Them     109
Religious Healing     137
Profiles of Participants in the Kabbalah Centre Community     181
Conclusion     219
Notes     223
Bibliography     245
Index     251

What People are Saying About This

Dr. Boaz Huss

"Prof. Myers skillfully integrates the perspective of a critical historian with a sensitive and empathic ethnographic approach. Based on both written documents and close acquaintance with participants and leaders of the Kabbalah Center, Prof. Myers portrays the multifarious and complex facets of one of the most intriguing and influential contemporary spiritual movements.

Kabbalah and the Spiritual Quest is an excellent work of historical and ethnographic scholarship, for both general readers and academic scholars. This is a major contribution to our understanding of contemporary spiritual culture."

—

Dr. Boaz Huss, Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Jonathan D. Sarna

"This path-breaking study peels away many layers of mystery surrounding the beliefs, practices, leaders, and history of the Kabbalah Centre--a movement rooted in Jewish mysticism, but now broadly universal and heavily New Age. Myers shows how the Kabbalah Centre fits into the panoply of American religion, where it engenders controversy, and why it appeals to Christians like Madonna. A valuable and illuminating contribution."

—

Jonathan D. Sarna, Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University, author of American Judaism: A History

Jonathan D. Sarna

"This path-breaking study peels away many layers of mystery surrounding the beliefs, practices, leaders, and history of the Kabbalah Centre—a movement rooted in Jewish mysticism, but now broadly universal and heavily New Age. Myers shows how the Kabbalah Centre fits into the panoply of American religion, where it engenders controversy, and why it appeals to Christians like Madonna. A valuable and illuminating contribution."

Dr. Boaz Huss

"Prof. Myers skillfully integrates the perspective of a critical historian with a sensitive and empathic ethnographic approach. Based on both written documents and close acquaintance with participants and leaders of the Kabbalah Center, Prof. Myers portrays the multifarious and complex facets of one of the most intriguing and influential contemporary spiritual movements. Kabbalah and the Spiritual Quest is an excellent work of historical and ethnographic scholarship, for both general readers and academic scholars. This is a major contribution to our understanding of contemporary spiritual culture."

Lorne L. Dawson

"The Kabbalah Centre has received a great deal of publicity, but no sustained attention from scholars studying new religious movements. This surprising gap in our understanding has been closed admirably by Dr. Myers in this clear, concise, and comprehensive study of the group. Myers' carefully researched, and sympathetic yet critical, ethnography provides an excellent introduction to the history, the beliefs and practices, and the social profile of this uniquely American religious innovation."

—

Lorne L. Dawson, Professor of Sociology & Religious Studies, University of Waterloo

Lorne L. Dawson

"The Kabbalah Centre has received a great deal of publicity, but no sustained attention from scholars studying new religious movements. This surprising gap in our understanding has been closed admirably by Dr. Myers in this clear, concise, and comprehensive study of the group. Myers' carefully researched, and sympathetic yet critical, ethnography provides an excellent introduction to the history, the beliefs and practices, and the social profile of this uniquely American religious innovation."

Matt Goldish

"Few contemporary religious phenomena have received as much attention as the Kabbalah Centre. For the first time now, an academic scholar of history and religion, Professor Jody Myers, has made a sincere foray into the institution itself and presented her fascinating findings in this volume. Using the technique of disciplined empathy along with an open mind and great creativity, Professor Myers enlightens us concerning the Centre's history, methods and philosophy, and how these fit into the larger phenomenology of religion. This book is outstanding, both for its insights into the Kabbalah Centre and as an example of how to study a contemporary urban religious community."

Matt Goldish

"Few contemporary religious phenomena have received as much attention as the Kabbalah Centre. For the first time now, an academic scholar of history and religion, Professor Jody Myers, has made a sincere foray into the institution itself and presented her fascinating findings in this volume. Using the technique of disciplined empathy along with an open mind and great creativity, Professor Myers enlightens us concerning the Centre's history, methods and philosophy, and how these fit into the larger phenomenology of religion. This book is outstanding, both for its insights into the Kabbalah Centre and as an example of how to study a contemporary urban religious community."

—

Matt Goldish, Samuel M. and Esther Melton Professor of Jewish History and Director of the Melton Center for Jewish Studies at the Ohio State University

Editorial Reviews

Myers presents an interesting investigation of a highly controversial subject: the Kabbalah Centre in America. Created by Rabbi Philip Berg, these centers are dedicated to popularizing, in a highly revised form, traditional Jewish mysticism known as kabbalah among both Jews and non-Jews. The justification for such dissemination lies in a belief in the unusual mission of kabbalah. Berg and his colleagues have had considerable success. In most large US cities one finds all sorts of individuals, including most famously Madonna, espousing kabbalistic doctrines. Myers was sufficiently intrigued to undertake the first serious, surprisingly sympathetic study of this phenomenon. She sees it as a syncretistic new religious movement that attracts upwardly mobile Western urbanites, disappointed by organized religion yet looking for a spiritual and ethical outlook with religious roots. Her description of the movement covers its roots, popularization in the US, main teachings, and value in spiritual healing, and a survey-profile of some of its adherents. Her methodological approach is primarily sociological and psychological and stresses the functional character of the movement. Even if one is more critical of the Kabbalah Centre, as this reviewer is, this is a valuable study for libraries serving religious studies programs. Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above.” —Choice

“Though much has been written about it in the popular press, this is the first scholarly study of the Kabbalah Centre, utilizing both historical and ethnographic methodologies….This is an important study that is of great value to anyone interested in new religious movements in general and the Kabbalah Centre in particular.” —Religious Studies Review

“Jody Myers's excellent debunking of The Kabbalah Centre….is marked by scholarly rigor, objectivity and depth of analysis that is absent among the center's usual promoters and detractors. It's a must-read for those interested in the truth and hucksterism behind the red strings and expensive bottles of water.” —Forward.com

“The first comprehensive, book-length examination of the Kabbalah Centre's founders, philosophy and methods…. Lots of folks aren't going to appreciate such a rare, temperate treatment of a trend that has caused concern for the Jewish establishment. But complaining about it has not derailed the movement. Myers' book reflects the reality: The Kabbalah Centre continues to thrive because it directly addresses difficult life situations and satisfies a hunger for a faith system that promises tangible results.” —Toronto Star

From the Publisher