The Fuss About Kabbalah

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Could you please comment on the difference between your Kabbalah and the Kabbalah of Rav Berg?

Answer: Even Rabash (Rabbi Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag, the eldest son of Baal HaSulam, his follower and successor) commented on this. Berg combined the Kabbalistic terms hassidut and mysticism. He created a blend that calms a person, but doesn’t change him, while Kabbalah is intended to correct human egoism.

All the advice and guidance of Berg’s school is no more than psychological comfort to make life easier, to give hope, but not to lead to correction, the revelation of the Creator to a person.

Even his definition of Kabbalah is quite different than of his “teacher” Baal HaSulam. But it’s convenient to sell this to the masses, as are the attributes that he sells, claiming that they have a higher power rather than a psychological impact.

His attitude to what is happening is the following: One needs to get comfortable in this world, to remove the bad, which, as we know, comes from the Creator so that we correct it in ourselves.

That is, instead of correcting oneself and revealing the Creator through oneself, you are advised to remove the obstacles that are sent by the Creator with the purpose of bringing you closer to Him; you are encouraged to live peacefully; it’s like any quackery or religion, but certainly not Kabbalah: the science of correcting egoism to love for the other as oneself in order to become similar to the Creator.
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From Baal HaSulam’s articles: “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose

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Kabbalah Without A Trace Of Mysticism
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