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One of Hollywood's biggest crazies in recent years has been Kabbalah. And its leading fan Madonna, who is to Kabbalah what Tom Cruise is to Scientology, another silly so-called spiritualism favored by asinine Hollywood ignoramuses.
Kabbalah is a ancient Jewish mysticism with an opaque founding centered around a 13-century text, its canon, titled the Zohar, which is a commentary on, say, the Five Books of Moses and other Jewish ecclesiastical texts. For centuries it was a minor offshoot of mainstream Judaism which emphasized asceticism and was confined to handfuls of Jewish men. Not any more.
Thanks of a former New York insurance salesman, Philip Berg (who now posses as a rabbi), Kabbalah has become commodity. A brand, really. In doing so, the Berg family has diluted the religious nature of the mysticism and turned into vague and innocuous generalities like reject "anger, jealousy, and other reactive behaviors in favor of patience, empathy, and compassion." For Hollywood celebrities it sounds great. And Madonna herself has written that Kabbalah, a tenet of the Jewish faith, has "nothing to do with religious dogma."
The Berg family, according to a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed contribution, are living large on what they have done to Jewish mysticism: taken something profound and made it into a tawdry sell for Hollywood hacks. Kabbalah preaches an ascetic lifestyle, by the Berg's have other ideas:
Commodifying Kabbalah has apparently been good business. According to a report in Newsweek this week, the family lives lavishly—Beverly Hills mansions, luxury cars, first-class travel—all of it bankrolled by the Centre.
They have set up Centers to preach Kabbalah where rich donors, including Madonna, have lavished millions. And then there are the silly products:
Among the items available for purchase: red string to ward off the evil eye ($26), a 23-volume English translation of the Zohar ($415), and a bevy of books, DVDs and CDs by the Bergs (titles include "Becoming Like God" and "Divine Sex"). The Kabbalah Centre does encourage members to perform acts of charity, but the Centre itself often seems to be the beneficiary.
$26 for a piece of string. If you buy it, you're an idiot.
So that's the sham. The Bergs are excellent slick salesmen who have hoodwinked vain celebrities looking for a quick spiritual fix.
But there's Kabbalah and there's Kabbalah. If interested, study the real one and stay away from the Kabbalah Inc. associated with Madonna (general good advice, really).
