Why kabbalah is satanic

And just how does she think? I got to know more Kabbalah devotees by volunteering to set up Shabbat dinner. I'd ask the students what drew them to the Centre and several mentioned Madonna.

They'd tell their specific story - an epiphany they had reading one of Berg's books, a serendipitous glimpse of one of the Centre's ads in the paper - then mention Madonna as an afterthought. Few of them gave her sole credit with bringing them to Kabbalah, but just about everyone mentioned her and most said they had heard about it in the first place because of her.

Only one credited her without hesitation. One evening, when I had just reported for duty, another volunteer asked me, 'Do you have your tickets yet? And all the proceeds go to the Spirituality for Kids programme! Celebrity Kabbalah followers like Elizabeth Taylor get private tutoring in their mansions.

Every time you speak lashon hara ' - talking about someone behind his back - 'you might get one. There are other lessons, too. For example, "I want to buy a Zohar , but maybe in two weeks" - then it will never happen! According to the rabbi, the process of making Kabbalah water is 'more complicated than that of making Coca-Cola'. As I leave a class with Jane not her real name , we walk past posters advertising a few of the Centre's other classes - 'How to Find Your Soulmate', '12 Steps to Everlasting Love' - with stock photos of couples kissing and kids on swings.

Jane tells me that she works in public relations and that 'it's not very Kabbalistic'. We walk past piles of tapes for sale on 'Divine Sex' and 'Kabbalistic Astrology'. Please update your billing details here to continue enjoying your access to the most informative and considered journalism in the UK. Accessibility Links Skip to content. Menu Close. Log in Subscribe. The other is in the Book of Job , where Satan has a central role in the story as an angel in the divine court.

According to the biblical narrative, Satan — here too commonly translated as the Adversary — seems to urge God to create hardship for his righteous servant Job, arguing that Job is faithful only on account of his wealth and good fortune.

Take those away, Satan claims, and Job will blaspheme. The Book of Job is sometimes cited to support the claim that the Jewish view of Satan as an agent of God is different from the Christian view, which sees Satan as an autonomous force opposed to God.

Satan makes many appearances in the Talmud. A lengthy passage in the tractate Sanhedrin accords Satan a central role in the biblical story of the binding of Isaac. According to Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, it was Satan that caused the Jewish people to despair of Moses returning from Mount Sinai by showing them an image of the prophet on his deathbed. A p assage in the tractate Megillah says that Satan dancing at the party of the Persian King Ahasuerus is what led to the killing of Queen Vashti in the Purim story.

Maimonides , the medieval Jewish philosopher, endorses this position in his Guide for the Perplexed. Maimonides seems not to believe Satan actually exists, but rather that he is a symbol of the inclination to sin. The entire Book of Job, he writes, is fictional, intended merely to elucidate certain truths about divine providence.

Open Access for Librarians. Open Access for Academic Societies. About us. Stay updated. Corporate Social Responsiblity. Investor Relations. Review a Brill Book. Reference Works. Primary source collections. Open Access Content.

Contact us. Sales contacts. Publishing contacts. Social Media Overview. Terms and Conditions. Privacy Statement. Login to my Brill account Create Brill Account.