Kabbalah for the masses or for the elite

In this week's Jewish Week, there is an article about a recent conference in California regarding the rapid, widespread kabbalah study. As usual, the primary issue is a two part question.
A. Should Kabbalah be a knowledge accessible to the masses or just an elite few?
B. If it is for dissemination to a greater population, is it supposed to be Judeo-specific?

Within the article, the main focus is again on the Kabbalah Centre phenomenon. If you ask me, I think much of the negativity regarding the center might just be a reaction to the notion of Madonna claiming to be a Kabbalist. But I digress. While many find what the Kabbalah Centre is doing to be a sham, perhaps there is another side which the article only briefly touches upon:

Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, an Arizona State University Jewish history professor, is a harsh critic of the Centre. She followed Rabbi Berg at the conference and rejected his claim of historical validity. She said the Centre does nothing to enhance Judaism and argued that its universalist approach reduces Kabbalah to “a commodity like many other New Age spiritualities” that offer a “plastic reality” in “our age of despair.”

If we consider for a moment the desire to study Kabbalah, it is a New Age desire for most. It is another brand of esoteric, mystical, holistic thought which people find satisfying. On some level, it is not different than the Americans studying Eastern thought. Sure, perhaps there is a concern that the subject matter might be watered down, but so is most consumer oriented material, whether self-help or new age. Personally, while I have many concerns with commercializing certain topics, the facts remain that people spend their lives searching and each finds a different path or paths, depending on what the upheavals are in a person's life. Better to encourage a spiritual quest than to encourage some of the alternatives existing in the world.

Judaism and Modernity - educational issues

On Shabbat, I read a transcription of a lecture given by Rabbi Yitz Greenberg about how to confront Jewish education in the Postmodern age. The title of the lecture is Judaism and Modernity; Realigning the Two Worlds. Even if one is not an educator, this transcribed lecture does evoke much thought regarding issues of change we might consider investigating in our modern society.

In his lecture, after presenting an overview of Judaism's encounter with the Modern world and the differences between pre-modernity and modernity, R. Greenberg argues that we need changes in our education system that absorb and utilize the world we occupy currently. His thoughts include the need to be more in tune with technology and the issues it invokes, including how the growth of technology has changed how we gain knowledge. In an idea echoed in recent Time articles, education might have to move beyond simple dates and information. He also calls for more mutual relationships between students and teachers regarding education, stating that we need to create a "covenantal community" in our schools were both student and teacher are in it together.

This has got to take the cake

Our dear "brethren" in the ultra-right wing Orthodox world, Neturei Karta, as has been highly publicized, decided that they should join the ranks of Ahmadinejad and other Holocaust deniers. The newspaper reports regarding this most heinous of acts includes their explanation of going to this conference not to deny the Holocaust but to say that Jews used the Holocaust for their own gain. Sometimes we are our own worst enemies. However, in a sign of solidarity for once, all other Jewish groups of all denominations (even other anti-Zionist groups) have come out against this disgusting show.

Hmm, I wonder if this solidarity is the first time almost all Jews might have agreed about something. Perhaps the Messiah really is coming.

Jewish Press editorial
Jewish Week article