Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Kabbalah, a major school of thought in Jewish mysticism.
Kabbalah
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Fast Forward Kabbalah Study Center Opens In Lebanon — But It’s ‘Not Judaism’
A center for the mystic Jewish study of Kaballah opened this week in Lebanon — but members include Muslims and Christians who see their study as removed from Judaism or Jewishness. “I have to reinforce the idea that Kabbalah is not Judaism,” a Muslim teacher in the group identified only as Sara told the Middle…
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Community A Fallen Heiress And The Theory Of Wealth
My friend Sandy is the founder and sole member of The Fallen Heiress Club. The child of a wealthy business man and a mother who was a movie star -– or at least looked like one –- she grew up in silence and boarding homes with the richest kids in the neighborhood. Today, she wears…
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Fast Forward Can Kabbalah Help ‘Broken’ Ariana Grande Heal After Concert Bombing?
Pop star Ariana Grande said she was “broken” after a suspected terror bombing killed 22 people at her concert in Manchester, England — but could she find solace in her nascent kabbalah practice? Making her first comment since an explosion detonated just outside Manchester Arena at the end of her performance there, Grande said on…
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Community Do I Have To Forgive The Terrorists Who Tried To Kill Me?
Last week, I spoke on the topic of forgiveness at the Manhattan JCC. During the Q&A that followed, a woman in the back raised her hand. “Do we have to forgive?” she asked. As I began my response, a mutual friend nudged her. “Tell her the whole story,” she mouthed. She began again. “I was…
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Fast Forward Rabbi Pinto, Disgraced Guru to Stars, Goes Free After Year in Prison
Yoshiyahu Pinto, an Israeli rabbi who has counseled such celebrities as LeBron James, was released from prison after serving a one-year sentence for bribery. Pinto, 43, was freed Wednesday from Nitzan Prison, where he served his time in the medical center. He has cancer and is in poor health. His appeal to reduce the prison…
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Life A Jewish Woman Finds Spiritual Meaning in Turning 40
I have something I have to admit, and like ripping off a Band-Aid, it’s probably best if I just come out with it: I – gulp! – turned 40 this year. Forty is the age when you are wise and mature and can learn Kabbalah, according to some sages. Or the age when you know…
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News The Kabbalist Who Would Be King of a New Jewish Monarchy in Israel
The crowd was eclectic, from stern, black-garbed ultra-Orthodox men to youths of both sexes bedecked in colorful, hippie-like clothes. They hailed from homes as far as Safed, the kabbalist center in Israel’s North, and as remote as isolated hilltop settlements in the occupied West Bank. Even a few New Age types from secular Tel Aviv…
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Culture Why I Fell Out of Love With Kabbalah
This is not a review of the new anthology by Daniel Horwitz, “A Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism Reader”; it’s about something I realized when I saw the book on my editor’s bookshelf — that I’m not in love with Kabbalah anymore. Horwitz’s anthology, part of a series from the Jewish Publication Society, is only somewhat…
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