By Janis Siegel, JTNews Correspondent
The awesome task of revealing a millennia-old secret tradition is now incumbent on the rabbis who are heir to it. Rabbi Yehuda Berg, along with fifty instructors at The Kabbalah Centre in Los Angeles and thousands of worldwide volunteers, is the latest in a long line of those Kabbalistic rabbis who received the closely guarded teachings.
Kabbalah means “receiving” in Hebrew, but in his new book, The Power of Kabbalah, he gives something back.
Famous and renowned historical Kabbalists like Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai in the First Century and Rabbi Isaac Luria in the 16th Century, kept this esoteric wisdom within a select few, fearing that their respective generations weren’t ready to absorb it. Within it, say the rabbis, the “secrets of life are revealed.”
Berg is the son of Kabbalist Rav Berg, and the associate director of communications for The Kabbalah Centre. He is a graduate of the Yeshiva Rabbinical Seminary of America and he received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshiva Knesset Israel in Jerusalem. Some regard him as the international authority on Kabbalah, Torah and Talmud. The Kabbalah Centre, with 50 international centers around the world, is the largest non-profit, educational institution that teaches Kabbalistic knowledge.
Scholars of Kabbalah agree that the teachings were originally received and transmitted by Abraham in the Book of Formation or the Sefer Yetzirah. But Berg teaches that the system of knowledge is universal laws that have earlier roots than organized religion.
“The name Kabbalah was given to the ancient teachings in the 12th Century,” Berg said to a gathering at Temple B’nai Torah in Bellevue co-sponsored by Tree of Life Judaica & Books. “It pre-dates all known religions and spiritual teachings. It’s the seed of all wisdom. The time has come for the knowledge to be revealed.”
In his book, Berg outlines an introduction to basic principles of the laws of the universe. He explained Kabbalistic concepts of the one percent/99 percent reality and Light. According to Berg, a person has to begin with their thought processes. A person has to go through an initial, personal transformation.
“One percent of the world we see is purely physical,” Berg said, “and the other 99 percent is more than physical. The challenges in our lives are actually opportunities. When something surprises you, don’t immediately react. You should shut down your reactive system. No matter what life throws at you, remember it’s an opportunity. When we make the best of these challenges it can bring so much light (in the world). We can look back and say, ‘That made me a better person.’ If I got angry 9,999 times today instead of one thousand times like yesterday, then I’ve gotten better.”
Sir Isaac Newton, Plato, Muhammad and Pythagoras studied Kabbalah. Today, mega-stars like Madonna, Mick Jagger, Roseanne, and Sandra Bernhard have further popularized this spiritual path.
“When he talks about the light and the 99 percent, it’s definitely a kind of general approach,” said Michelle Yannow, owner of the Tree of Life bookstore. “It’s as though he was talking to people of no particular background. It makes it easier to include everyone. Some people who come into the store are searching for something. It makes it easy for people to find a community if they don’t have one.”
The Kabbalah Centre does its best to teach and write to a wide audience. People of all ages and all backgrounds study at the Kabbalah Centres around the world. They have a Web site, Kabbalah.com, books, CDs and audiotapes. The curriculum includes the basic principle of the laws of the universe, health and healing, success in business, improving the quality of relationships, reincarnation, Astrology, creating miracles as well as other courses.
The Kabbalah Centre has recently completed the first English translation of the Zohar, which is a 24-volume set that decodes the spiritual system the Kabbalists say is described in the Torah.
This, says Berg, marks a turning point in the accessibility of this once-hidden information. But Berg also reminds his students that it all begins with the simplest of changes in your outward personality, to begin a personal transformation.
“Everything that’s in our lives is there for a reason,” Berg said. “Don’t blame others for things that happen in our lives. A person has to start working on his ego and his anger. When we blame an outside force, then we get stuck. We have to take responsibility for the life we have over and over again.”