Kabbalah Centre
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| Formation | 1984 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Philip Berg |
| Type | Kabbalah |
| Headquarters |
Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Website | www |
The Kabbalah Centre International is a non-profit organization located in Los Angeles, California that provides courses on the Zohar and Kabbalistic teachings online as well as through its regional and city-based centers and study groups worldwide. The presentation of Kabbalah was developed by its director, Philip Berg, along with his wife, Karen Berg. The Kabbalah Centre International has a multi-ethnic, international staff of teachers that offers kabbalistic study and guidance to its worldwide student community.
Traditionally, Rabbis believed that the mysteries of Kabbalah were so complex and so easily misunderstood that it could only be taught to devout students (mostly males) only after age 40. Therefore, some traditionalists had seen the Kabbalah Centre as a perversion of Judaism's ancient and secretive mystic tradition.
The Kabbalah Centre was founded in the United States in 1965 as The National Research Institute of Kabbalah by Rav Philip Berg (born Feivel Gruberger) and Rav Yehuda Tzvi Brandwein. Brandwein in turn was the dean of Yeshivah Kol Yehuda in Israel (a precursor of the US Kabbalah Centres) which was founded in 1922. After Brandwein's death, and after several years in Israel, Philip Berg and his wife Karen Berg, re-established the U.S. Kabbalah Centre in New York City.
The Kabbalah Centre in Los Angeles was opened in 1984. After the death of Rav Berg, Karen and Michael act as directors and spiritual teachers of the organization. The organization is a registered non-profit with over fifty branches worldwide, including major ones in Los Angeles, New York City, London and Toronto.
The Kabbalah Centre's approach to teaching is to start students with teachings of Kabbalah that do not make previous knowledge of Hebrew and Jewish texts a prerequisite for understanding.
According to its views, all widely held spiritual or religious belief systems are merely specific branches of a universal wisdom. The effect of this is a resemblance of religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Buddhism, as well as new-age teachings, to Kabbalah. In accordance with this belief, the Kabbalah Centre does not present itself as an alternative to any religion in particular, but rather, as a supplement to it.
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Wikipedia