JewishPost.com – The Rise of Kabbalah in America

http://www.jewishpost.com/archives/news/the-rise-of-kabbalah-in-america.html

From the page: “The Zohar is not the only Kabbalah publication. Indeed, Judaism means a rational – Halacha kind of movement (Talmudic world) but also an irrational, secret, messianic, movement as well. This movement of mysticism kept the idea of redemption alive. Indeed, its roots are to be found in the era of our destruction. I mean the Temple in Jerusalem, 70 A.D. This national catastrophe of destruction and exile was the mother of our quest for a new redemption. Since this movement we started by using Kabbalah to find the answer to the question: When will the Messiah come?

The Center of Kabbalah in L.A. with his teachers (The Bergs) is not promising to answer this hard question, of course, but the Center offers education, wisdom, and “…to bring harmony to the chaos of contemporary life…” And it promises: Kabbalah will foster positive social change and social unity.” Also, each student (ten week course) gets the red strings. “

The Mystical Qabbalah by Anonymous Download Free

http://darkbooks.org/pp.php?v=469991359

Take it from the experts of their realm. Those in the know can tell you what the Zohar/Kabbalah are really all about.

Daniel Matt: Revealing the secrets of the Zohar | Los Angeles | Jewish Journal

http://www.jewishjournal.com/los_angeles/article/daniel_matt_revealing_the_secrets_of_the_zohar_20101104/

From the page: ” For example, the Zohar (the masterpiece of Kabbalah) reads the opening verse of the Torah not as In the beginning God created…, but rather: With beginning, [the Unnamable One] created God. This sounds shocking or heretical. But the point is that our usual understanding of God is pretty childish. What we think of as God is only one limited aspect of the infinite divine reality, which transcends and explodes all names.

Understanding God

Ultimately, God is Ein Sof, the Infinite. But, being finite creatures, it’s hard for us to comprehend or relate to Infinity. We need mental images of God. Yet all images are inadequate; so Kabbalah insists that we not limit ourselves to any one image or set of images. For example, most religious texts portray God almost exclusively in masculine terms. Kabbalah fills out the picture by showing that God is equally male and female: God as Father or King is balanced by the figure of Shekhinah, the feminine Divine Presence. There is a dynamic relationship between the He and She of God, and it’s up to us to unite the divine couple by living virtuously, ethically, and spiritually.

Finding God

The Jewish mystics speak of divine sparks hidden within all things. God is not someone up there running the show; God is the energy that animates all material existence. We can discover and “raise” the sparks by cultivating our awareness, by looking for spiritual opportunities. One of Shekhinah’s many names is the Secret of the Possible. The challenge is to actualize the divine potential in ourselves and in the world by choosing how to live lovingly and wisely. We can start by quieting our cluttered, busy mind with a few minutes of silence each day. Then it’s easier to identify the sparks, the possibilities of transformation.

Daniel MattGarden of Eden in Our Lives

We all know the famous story near the beginning of Genesis about the expulsion from the Garden of Eden. It’s clear that God expels Adam and Eve from the garden. But the Zohar asks a startling question: Who threw whom out of the Garden? Through a very artistic and radical reading of the text, the Zohar suggests that Adam expelled God from the Garden! “

The Kabbalah of Deconstruction – Other Authors

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/330018/jewish/Kabbalah-of-Deconstruction.htm

From the page: “The Kabbalah, particularly as interpreted by the Chabad school, adds a deconstructivist element to Judaism. It notes the inherent superiority of the female over the male and says that in the messianic epoch women will be perceivably greater than men. Similarly, the Kabbalah deconstructs the boundaries between the physical and the spiritual. Whereas non-Kabbalistic Judaism holds spirituality superior to physicality, the Kabbalah maintains that in the final analysis the physical is more potent.

The principle is simple: the higher the source the lower it reaches. Esau is thus seen as having a higher spiritual antecedent than Jacob. One who meditates may reach lofty spiritual heights; however, the essence of G-d will remain elusive. Ironically, Kabbalah teaches that the only way one can connect to the Divine essence is through the physical. Spiritual levels are by definition constantly cognizant of their dependency on their sources. Conversely, physical objects project auras of egocentricity–they seem to depend on nothing other than themselves for their existence. This aura is, in a sense, a reflection of the the nature of the Divine essence whose existence is truly independent.2 According to the Kabbalists, the ex nihilo nature of the creation of the physical universe necessitates direct intervention of the Divine essence. It is this intervention that allowed the physical to assume its egocentric aura. Thus, there is a unique similarity–at least in terms of language–and connection between the physical and the Divine essence.3

This sheds light on the mitzvot, which are mainly physical acts rather than mystical meditations. It is precisely through the physical act of a mitzvah that the most profound connection with the Divine is forged. In fact, according to a Midrash4–adopted by the Kabbalists–the purpose of creation was for humans to unveil the Divine essence found in those parts of the universe which are most devoid of G-dliness.”

Found In Translation – TIME

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,993858,00.html

From the yadda yadda: ” The Zohar’s elusiveness dates to its appearance in the Spanish region of Castile around 1280. Written in Aramaic, a language Jews had not composed in for centuries, the book was attributed to a great rabbi of a millennium earlier. But in fact, in the 1930s scholars determined that it was penned by one Moses de Leon and his associates in the 13th century. De Leon had every reason to fake his work’s pedigree: the Zohar was far too radical to be accepted without a fabricated imprimatur. An utterly original 1,800-page mix of Torah commentary, parody, erotic poetry, numerology and experimental narrative devices, it crams some 400 subplots into a Chaucer-like tale of a band of traveling sages. The book’s form alone, says Matt, is “a challenge to the normal workings of consciousness.” Its theology is wilder still–nothing less than the division of God’s personality, which Judaism had always seen as a unity, into 10 interacting emanations, two of them female. One of these, the Shekhinah, was the Zohar’s obsession, the portal through which it pulled believers willy-nilly into the divine drama. Only their prayer and good deeds could save her from hordes of demons and effect her mystic marriage to God’s male aspect, a reunion described in sometimes erotic detail. “Without arousal below,” de Leon noted, “there is no arousal above.” Remarkably, his book caught on. By 1600 the Jewish world saw the Zohar as its third holiest text, preceded only by the Bible and the Talmud. Cabalistic study and meditation flourished, and zoharic principles formed the basis of Hasidic Judaism. The Zohar’s use faded as Judaism absorbed the just-the-facts influence of the European Enlightenment, but it left behind dramatic mementos such as the Bar Mitzvah coming-of-age celebration and the gorgeous Friday-evening song welcoming God’s “Sabbath bride.” The Zohar also informs the current Cabalistic resurgence, so fascinating to Jews and spiritual adventurers like Madonna. “

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The great Kabbalah con exposed – Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3634742/The-great-Kabbalah-con-exposed.html

From the page: ” Tony Donnelly
12:01AM GMT 10 Jan 2005

What is Kabbalah and who believes in it?

Kabbalah is a branch of Jewish mysticism, which is thought to have originated in the 13th century. Its teachings come from an ancient 23-volume book called the Zohar, which offers interpretations of the inner meaning of the Torah. Traditionally, its practices were reserved for a select number of Jewish scholars who already had an advanced understanding of Jewish law, but for the past 500 years it has been followed more widely.

In 1969, a former insurance salesman, Rabbi Philip Berg, established the Kabbalah Centre International and appointed himself its leader. The centre markets Kabbalah as a “universal system for self-improvement” and attracts more than 3.5 million followers. Berg claims that Kabbalah answers the ultimate questions of human existence: who we are, where we come from and why we’re here. Its followers claim that it can purify the soul and banish disease, depression and discontent using the spiritual light of the Zohar.

The Kabbalah Centre sells copies of its sacred texts and other “spiritual tools”, such as Kabbalah Water. Among the best-selling items is the red string bracelet, said to protect the wearer from the evil eye. The Beckhams, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Demi Moore and Madonna have all been seen sporting one. “————————————————————————————–So what is Kabbalah and – especially – whats its main-point Zohar all about? Where’d it originate?

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Crash reunites Soles, Strickland | WWAY NewsChannel 3 | Wilmington NC News

http://www.wwaytv3.com/crash_reunites_soles_strickland/08/2010

From the page: “TABOR CITY, NC (WWAY) — Sen. R.C. Soles is back in the news after another run in with 18-year-old Allen Strickland. Saturday night, Strickland’s 2004 Pontiac crashed into the back of Soles’s BMW.

Tabor City Police say Strickland’s uncle Jerry Stanley was driving the car and trying to pass Soles when Soles turned left, and they collided. Strickland was a passenger in the Pontiac. There was significant damage to both cars, but no one was hurt. Police ticketed Stanley for an improper passing.

Sen. Soles made headlines last summer when the house he bought for Strickland was destroyed in a fire and people began asking questions about the unusual relationship between the 75-year-old senator and many young men in the Tabor City area. “

Police investigate break-in, vandalism at Soles’s home | WWAY NewsChannel 3 | Wilmington NC News

http://www.wwaytv3.com/police_investigate_breakin_vandalism_soless_home/11/2010

From the page: “At 9:45 p.m., Tabor City Police received a call about gunshots fired somewhere around the lake near Soles’s home. Dowless said the call did not come from Soles.

At 9:48 p.m., police did received another call from Soles. This time he said he heard glass break in his home. Dowless said when officers arrived, they found rear window broken, a glass table broken and paint on a wall. Dowless said investigators asked Soles if he heard any gunshots, but Soles said, “All I heard was glass breaking.”

This is not the first time police have been called to Soles’s home or office. The longest-serving member in the history of the state legislature has often called police about being harassed by young men looking for money. In August 2009, Soles shot Kyle Blackburn, who the senator said was trying to break into his home. Soles eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon. A judge ordered him to pay a $1,000 fine plus court costs.”