Local Kabbalah Cult?
Kabbalah Center or Cult?
Cross-posted on DovBear.
“So who is moving into Kiryat Matalon as the older people die out?” I ask the woman I met in the park (let’s call her P). P has just explained that Kiryat Matalon, her upscale neighborhood at the western entrance of Petach Tikvah, no longer has enough kids to justify its own elementary school.
“The private houses are expensive,” P answers. “So the survivors divide them up into rental units. Do you know that storefront on Jabotinsky Street, Kabbalah La’am? The members of that group snatch up all the available rentals.”
“Really?” Whenever I go by the place seems deserted.
“Yes. If you go out at 3am, you see thousands of men headed there, from my neighborhood, Tel Aviv, and other cities. Many are celebrities—singers, models. . .”
This conversation is starting to ring a bell. A year or two ago I saw a response by Rav Aviner to a question about learning kabbalah. He warned the writer about a group claiming to teach kabbalah that is really a cult. His reponse included a former member’s testimony, which appears here. If the testimony is accurate Kabbalah Laam, also known as Bnei Baruch, has all the characteristics of a cult: late-night brainwashing, a charismatic leader, large charitable “contributions,” gradual initiation into an inner circle, secrecy, and ostracism of members who leave.
From the outside it seems to resemble Orthodox Judaism. The page I linked to mentions Shabbat, kashrut, niddah, modest dress for women, and kippot for men. On Sukkot and Pesach they hold huge festivals with large numbers of overseas visitors.
Nana10 has an interview with other former members of Bnei Baruch. One couple was attracted to it because, unlike others offering Jewish studies, the group didn’t object to her Italian-born husband’s non-Jewish status. (The article appears to no longer be available.)
Men are allowed to visit with their families only fifteen minutes a day. When a husband mentioned that his wife objected, his comrades told him to divorce her and get a new wife. They said “It’s like switching one cow for another.”
The woman in the park added more details, which I have no way of verifying. The newspaper article (from 2005) mentions an emphasis on skirts for women. The women in P’s neighborhood wear skirts or pants, and married women cover their hair. They stay with the kids all day through the evening; P doesn’t see fathers with the children. The men volunteer or study at the center during the evenings, and again from 3-6 AM. During Pesach and Sukkot, the men don’t see their wives at all. The women and children attend meals on Shabbat but eat separately.
Once P noticed some of the women eating on Yom Kippur. When questioned the women told her that the Jewish Torah is “shtuyot (nonsense).” They explained that they follow the kabbalah, and come from a lost tribe that had left Egypt with the Jews but never made it to Eretz Yisrael. P claims that the kabbalah center houses scrolls that look like a sefer Torah but contain a different text.
One woman from the group noticed that P’s daughter is overweight. She looked intently at P and said, “There’s nothing wrong with your daughter. It’s you. You have a sickness.” Still, all in all, P. says that the influx of young couples is good for the neighborhood. The kids attend a separate school in a different city, but enroll in local preschools and afterschool activities.
Leader Michael Leitman responded to the claims in the Nana article saying, “We take 10% tithe like every community synagogue in Bnei Brak.” This is disingenuous. Jewish sources recommend donating at least ten percent of income to charity, but no one expects the shul to get all of it. Former group members report that real numbers are closer to 20%.
Blogger Hezi Amiel writes that the kabbalah center has a sophisticated web presence and high ranking in search engines, making it difficult for potential members to find information critical of the group.
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therapydoc Said,
April 1, 2009 @ 1:21 PM
I studied cults rigorously. This is a cult. It was an accident waiting to happen. It has all the features of coersion, persuasion, an unattainable goal, separation, taxation, secrecy. Next will be sexual exploitation.
I suggest you folks in Petach Tikva actually infiltrate, find a volunteer to become a “member” and sabatage. Let’s say your husband wanted to do this. He would hang out around there, peek inside. Someone will grab him. He should dress well. He says he’s having marital problems, feels the religion isn’t meeting his spiritual needs.
That sort of thing.
Your shul might want to invite someone like me (me!) to come in and talk about it. Lend me someone’s miles
Ilana-Davita Said,
April 1, 2009 @ 10:48 PM
It certainly seems a strange bunch.
Marie Said,
July 24, 2009 @ 12:59 AM
We are most certainly a strange bunch, but we most definitely do not pay anything we don’t feel like paying, or are unable to pay, and this does in no way affect the treatment of anybody towards anybody else. We have very rich and powerful people, famous people, unemployed people, recovering addicts, sick people… Everybody is equally treated, and nobody is denied any “service”. Those who do not have resources are aided if they need so in order to procure their advancement. Regarding the “unattainable” goal, well, that may be the case for those who can’t attain it. The goal is certainly attainable, and has been so for many, or our group wouldn’t keep growing and growing and growing… But of course those who feel is not for them, will find it “unattainable”. That’s ok. It is those people who help us grow, and to whom we are most grateful.
therapydoc Said,
July 29, 2009 @ 4:18 PM
And that goal is what, exactly? I’m as tolerant as the next guy (woman) except when it comes to taking advantage of those who are down on their luck, who are perhaps in recovery. Suppose it’s all about the definition of advantage.
Marie Said,
July 30, 2009 @ 7:34 AM
Well, you sound like quite a reactionary folk here, doc, I wonder if you make a living with recovery therapy and you are afraid that Bnei Baruch is going to take away your patients (just kidding, word playing with your name, I hope you appreciate the humor). Actually, that is part of the goal, to have nobody that needs any therapy. The goal itself is quite simple. Bnei Baruch is the only interest free and below non profit organization that aims to provide people with all the tools they need to reach their fullest potential in life. Bnei Baruch not only believes but realizes the idea of freely giving to others, without any expectation of benefit for itself, and ideally that is the kind of world they aim at. The key word here is “freely”, which you seem to be missing, by calling them a “cult”. I can promise you that there are thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of Bnei Baruch friends all over the world, and as much as many would like to live in proximity to one another, Bnei Baruch encourages all to remain rooted in their traditions and geographical place, including religious, social and political associations, professional careers, and any private personal life that they may have prior to joining the “goal”. They never force or convince anybody by any means to remain associated with them, and as a matter of fact I have good friends that were originally in the group, and are no longer there.
Anybody that wants further information, may post further questions here if they please. I will try to answer them as best I can.
Thank you, and sorry to see you feel so defensive and hostile about the unknown.
Marie
Dmitry Said,
October 22, 2009 @ 10:55 PM
If you know another stories were family relationship were destroyed by Bnei Baruch, please e-mail me dsmelyanskiy@yahoo.com
Your information would really help me a lot to expose this cult and try to prevent my son from going to Bnei Baruch.