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.
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.
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