* Berg, Michael: Zohar 23 Volume Set-The Kabbalah Centre International.

In 2004, Hall studied Kabbalah, and was briefly associated with the Kabbalah Centre.

In addition to its activities in response to Christian missionaries, Jews for Judaism has also been noted for its critiques of the Kabbalah Centre.

Kabbalah Centre at 1062 S Robertson Blvd in Los Angeles, California

The Kabbalah Centre is a non-profit organization headquartered in Los Angeles, California, that provides courses on the Kabbalah online, and through its local centres and study groups.

The Kabbalah Centre includes Jewish and non-Jewish teachers and students.

Kabbalah Centre in New York City in 2008

The Kabbalah Centre was founded in the United States in 1965 as The National Research Institute of Kabbalah by Philip Berg ( born Feivel Gruberger ) and Rav Yehuda Tzvi Brandwein.

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.

The current headquarters of the Kabbalah Centre in Los Angeles was opened in 1984.

The Kabbalah Centre often cites Kabbalah as the inspiration for recent scientific discoveries, including The Big Bang, String Theory, atomic structure, and Newton's Third Law.

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.

According to the Kabbalah Centre, the Hebrew Bible is not to be taken literally, as it is wholly a code, and can only be truly understood in this context.

The Kabbalah Centre claims that its teachings, based largely on the text and understanding of the Zohar, provide the conventions to unlock and understand this code.

Kabbalah Centre teaches the Kabbalistic concept of Klippot.

It is through meditation and practice of Kabbalah teachings and Jewish law ( which the Kabbalah Centre says is early Rabbinistic construction to aid in practicing Kabbalah without revealing its secrets ) that one removes Klippot, and it is by violence and negative behaviour that one adds Klippot.

The Kabbalah Centre has a strong belief in astrology and asserts that astrology has been part of Judaism since its inception.

The Centre claims astrology was lost in Jewish tradition as part of the suppression of Kabbalah by rabbis nearly 2000 years ago ( evidence of this includes ancient synagogues with zodiac rings ).

Beside such revived currents from late Antiquity, a second major source of esoteric speculation is the Kabbalah, which was lifted out of its Jewish context and adapted to a Christian framework by people such as Johannes Reuchlin.

Alongside this, there was also a rise in interest in a form of Jewish mysticism known as the Kabbalah, which was spread across the continent by Pico della Mirandola and Johannes Reuchlin.

Meanwhile, Hermeticism and the Kabbalah would influence the creation of a mystical philosophy known as Rosicrucianism, which first appeared in the early 17th century when two pamphlets detailing the existence of the mysterious Rosicrucian group were published in Germany.

Subsets of Haredi Judaism include: Hasidic Judaism, which is rooted in the Kabbalah and distinguished by reliance on a Rebbe or religious teacher ; and Sephardic Haredi Judaism, which emerged among Sephardic ( Asian and North African ) Jews in Israel.

The rise and increasing popularity of Kabbalah, which emphasized the shechinah and female aspects of the divine presence and human-divine relationship, and which saw marriage as a holy covenant between partners rather than a civil contract, had great influence.

Early adherents of the Kabbalah portray Solomon as having sailed through the air on a throne of light placed on an eagle, which brought him near the heavenly gates as well as to the dark mountains behind which the fallen angels Uzza and Azzazel were chained ; the eagle would rest on the chains, and Solomon, using the magic ring, would compel the two angels to reveal every mystery he desired to know.

Song of Songs is one of the overtly mystical Biblical texts for the Kabbalah, which gave esoteric interpretation on all the Hebrew Bible.

Its objects were to combat the influence of the Zohar and subsequent developments in modern Kabbalah, which were then pervasive in Yemenite Jewish life, to restore what they believed to be a rationalistic approach to Judaism rooted in authentic sources, and to safeguard the older (" Baladi ") tradition of Yemenite Jewish observance that they believed to be based on this approach.

Intrinsically it includes, according to Rashbi, the foundation of Kabbalah, which is explained at length in the Zohar and in the books of Kabbalah after it.

2, page 176a ), ` Sifra diTzni ` uta is five chapters which are included in a Great Palace and fill the entire earth ,' meaning, these five paragraphs include all the wisdom of Kabbalah ... for, Sifra diTzni ` uta is the ` little that holds the much ;' brevity with wonderful and glorious wisdom.

In the Jewish view this indicates more, that the teaching of the Sod in the book of the Zohar was not invented in the Tannaic period, but rather it is a tradition from ancient times which Rashbi and his Chevraya Kadisha used and upon which they built and founded their Kabbalah, and also that its roots are in the Torah that was given by Hashem to Moshe on Sinai.

Accordingly, in the Kabbalistic view, the non-Jewish belief in the Trinity, as well as the beliefs of all religions, have parallel, supernal notions within Kabbalah from which they ultimately exist in the process of Creation.

Hassidic Judaism regards the Kabbalah, in which the Shekinah has special significance, as having scriptural authority.

These factors did not affect the Sephardi Jewish world, which retained a wider connection to Kabbalah in its traditionally observant communities.

The initial letters of the words Peshat, Remez, Derash, Sod, forming together the Hebrew word PaRDeS ( also meaning " orchard "), became the designation for the four-way method of studying Torah, in which the mystical sense given in the Kabbalah was the highest point.

" While the Kabbalah story arc, and the positive explanations of Moore's philosophy, very explicitly explain, talking-head style, the symbolism behind the details of every plane of existence, Promethea also contains critiques of materialism which are much more subtle.

Both of these Eastern European civilizations continued the theoretical interpretation of Lurianic Kabbalah, which underpins Haredi Jewish belief until today.

A similar belief in the doctrines of the Kabbalah is expressed in a sermon in which he urged early burial, because as long as the body remains unburied evil spirits have power over it.

In recent years, there has been increased interest in Kabbalah, which many Ashkenazi Jews study outside of the Yeshiva framework.

Among his teachers in Talmud were Judah ben Yakkar and Meïr ben Nathan of Trinquetaille, and he is said to have been instructed in Kabbalah ( Jewish mysticism ) by his countryman Azriel of Gerona, who was in turn a disciple of Isaac the Blind.

While it is difficult to determine which teachers had most influence on Rabbi Dessler, it is apparent that he is a child of the yeshiva world of the early 20th century, which was then influenced heavily by the ethical Mussar movement, but has similarly gained proficiency in Kabbalah and works of Hasidic Judaism and Jewish philosophy.

*" Giving and Receiving " from Kabbalah. info

The term cabal derives from Kabbalah ( a word that has numerous spelling variations ), the mystical interpretation ( of Babylonian origin ) of the Hebrew scripture, and originally meant either an occult doctrine or a secret.

Although ostensibly derived from Greek, it is largely used in Jewish texts, notably in those associated with the Kabbalah.

), astrological philosophy from Hellenistic Alexandria, early Christian mysticism, early Gnostics, the Hebrew system of the Kabbalah, The Hindu Vedas, the Chinese " Circle of the Dead ", Egyptian " Book of the Masters of the Secret House " ( Ritual of the Dead ).

New Age practices and philosophies sometimes draw inspiration from major world religions: Buddhism, Taoism, Chinese folk religion, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam ( especially Sufism ), Judaism ( especially Kabbalah ), Sikhism ; with strong influences from East Asian religions, Gnosticism, Neopaganism, New Thought, Spiritualism, Theosophy, Universalism and Western esotericism.

* Spanish and Portuguese Jews consider the Shulchan Aruch as authoritative, but differ from other Sephardim by making less allowance for more recent authorities, in particular customs based on the Kabbalah.

After a three decades or so hiatus from acting, Conant re-emerged on off and off-off Broadway stages in productions ranging from Gene Ruffini's dystopian Homeland, Anne Fizzard's back-stage comedy Good Opinions, and Tuvia Tenenbom's absurdist satire Kabbalah.

Although the Ari himself was born Ashkenazi, he borrowed many elements from Sephardi and other traditions, since he felt that they followed Kabbalah and Halacha more faithfully.

In 1803, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi compiled an authoritative siddur from the sixty siddurim that he checked for compliance with Hebrew grammar, Jewish law, and Kabbalah: this is what is known today as the " Nusach Ari ", and is used by Lubavitch Hasidim.

The Tree of life ( Kabbalah ) | Kabbalah Tree of Life derived from the Flower of Life

While the traditional majority view in religious Judaism has been that the teachings of Kabbalah were revealed by God to Biblical figures such as Abraham and Moses and were then transmitted orally from the Biblical era until its redaction by Shimon ben Yochai, modern academic analysis of the Zohar, such as that by the 20th century religious historian Gershom Scholem, has theorized that De Leon was the actual author.

There are people of religions besides Judaism, or even those without religious affiliation, who delve in the Zohar out of curiosity, or as a technology for people who are seeking meaningful and practical answers about the meaning of their lives, the purpose of creation and existence and their relationships with the laws of nature, and so forth ; however from the perspective of traditional, rabbinic Judaism, and by the Zohar's own statements, the purpose of the Zohar is to help the Jewish people through and out of the Exile and to infuse the Torah and mitzvot ( Judaic commandments ) with the wisdom of Kabbalah for its Jewish readers.

Conversely, Elijah Delmedigo ( c. 1458 – c. 1493 ), in his Bechinat ha-Dat endeavored to show that the Zohar could not be attributed to Shimon bar Yochai, arguing that if it were his work, the Zohar would have been mentioned by the Talmud, as has been the case with other works of the Talmudic period, that had bar Yochai known by divine revelation the hidden meaning of the precepts, his decisions on Jewish law from the Talmudic period would have been adopted by the Talmud, that it would not contain the names of rabbis who lived at a later period than that of Simeon ; and that if the Kabbalah was a revealed doctrine, there would have been no divergence of opinion among the Kabbalists concerning the mystic interpretation of the precepts.

Most of Orthodox Judaism holds that the teachings of Kabbalah were transmitted from teacher to teacher, in a long and continuous chain, from the Biblical era until its redaction by Shimon ben Yochai.

In any case the aim of such caution is to not become caught up in Kabbalah to the extent of departing from reality or halakhah.

* 7 brief video lectures about The Zohar from Kabbalah Education & Research Institute

In Esoteric Christianity, theurgy usually is the practice of trying to gain the knowledge and conversation of one's Higher Self, or Inner God, to teach one spiritual truths and wisdom from God that one couldn't learn from man ( see Alchemy, Kabbalah, and Theosophy ).