Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Kabbalah, a major school of thought in Jewish mysticism.
Kabbalah
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The Schmooze Leonardo DiCaprio Is Embracing Kabbalah (Maybe)
Is Leonardo DiCaprio jumping on the Kabbalah bandwagon? The New York Daily News reported today that the actor was seen at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood donning a red string on his wrist during a Q&A for “The Revenant,” his latest film about a frontiersman who’s attacked by a bear and left for dead….
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Fast Forward Ashton Kutcher’s Kabbalah Rabbi Ordered To Pay $177K in Sex Suit
A woman who brought a sexual misconduct suit against the former co-director of the Kabbalah Centre, a spiritual group whose brand of Jewish mysticism has drawn many celebrity devotees, was awarded $177,500 in damages by a jury on Tuesday. The Los Angeles County Superior Court jury found Yehuda Berg, 43, known in Hollywood as “a…
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Fast Forward Ashton Kutcher’s Kabbalah Rabbi Faces Abuse Suit
A former executive of the Kabbalah Centre, a spiritual group rooted in Jewish mysticism and known for its celebrity devotees, went on trial on Tuesday in a lawsuit brought by a follower who says he plied her with alcohol and drugs, then groped her. Yehuda Berg, 43, son of the late rabbi who founded the…
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Culture This Is Your Brain on Kabbalah
Kabbalah: A Neurocognitive Approach to Mystical Experiences By Shahar Arzy and Moshe Idel Yale University Press, 216 pages, $50 Eight hundred years before Oliver Sacks started poking around patients’ brains to see how they produce hallucinations, another Jew, Abraham Abulafia, was doing similar research on himself — by purposely inducing his own hallucinations. Except, he…
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Culture Searching for My Indian Jewish Family, From Kabbalah to Bollywood
MUMBAI — On my first morning in India, I found myself staring at an egg. That and a cup of coffee was all my hotel’s “free continental breakfast” amounted to, but I didn’t feel cheated. I felt vindicated. After all, I’d come to India because of an egg. I cracked the hard-boiled shell and peeled…
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The Schmooze Ariana Grande Talks Kabbalah
Getty Images And so, another pop star jumps on the Kabbalah bandwagon. Move over, Ashton and Madonna — this time, it’s Ariana Grande’s turn to spill the beans on her connection to the Jewish mystical practice. The former Nickelodeon darling told the Telegraph that though raised in a Catholic home in Boca Raton, Florida, she…
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The Schmooze Gwyneth Paltrow Is Converting to Judaism
Getty Images Gwyneth Paltrow is reportedly converting to Judaism, the Daily Mail reports. Sources say that the 41-year-old actress has developed an interest in Kabbalah and that her desire to raise her kids in the Jewish faith may have contributed to her split with Coldplay singer Chris Martin earlier this year. In 2011, Paltrow appeared…
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The Schmooze Down the Mystical Rabbit Hole
“Kabbalah Me” is a fascinating and inspiring story about a man’s spiritual journey into the complex world of Jewish mysticism. But on another level, it is also a sad and revelatory documentary about how faith and religious observance are marginalized in our society. Steven Bram is a successful filmmaker and chief operating officer of a…
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