Kabbalah and the Spiritual Quest

"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 "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 "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 "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

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.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.