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Let me explain. There has been a resurgence of
late in the ancient Jewish mystical practice of
Kabbalah as a result of many Hollywood types, some
Jewish and some not, falling into this spiritual
delusion. Don't be fooled, dabbling in this type
of endeavor can have serious consequences on you
and your children's lives. I am not going to quote
scripture to you or give you an intellectual
argument for avoiding Kabbalah. I am going instead
to tell you a real story about one person's
descent into the spiritual arrogance of Kabbalah
and hope that it scares the hell out of you. That
person was me!
While I was brought up in a more or less
traditional Jewish household and went to an after
school Cheder (Hebrew School) from ages 9-13 to
prepare for my Bar Mitzvah, I was always
interested in way out things. I loved science
fiction and fantasy novels and as a young teen
even tried to write a story for Analog Science
Fiction Magazine about life on Mars. My interests
gradually moved into study of philosophy,
religion, and mysticism. I became what the Bible
speaks of as a Gnostic. I wanted to commune
directly with God. Forget the traditional
religions and their outdated legalistic,
moralistic practices. I was trying to find
personal knowledge (gnosis) of God. I meditated,
studied astrology, numerology, the paranormal, the
supernatural, UFOs, Hinduism, Buddhism,
Zoroastrianism, and death and dying research. I
studied my dreams, alternate states of
consciousness, and gradually found myself studying
Jewish mysticism. I was excited to find that the
Zohar (23 volume Kabbalah bible) spoke of
astrology, reincarnation (gilgul), spirit guides,
and many other subjects that I loved. Now, I could
be so called New Age and Jewish as well. I loved
it.
When I was an undergrad student in the sixties,
my university was closed for a semester because of
the anti Vietnam and inner city rioting and they
instead offered free classes. I took one on Edgar
Cayce, the Sleeping Prophet, which would influence
my life for the next twenty years. As a grad
student, I bought the multivolume copy of the
Zohar. One was supposed to be Jewish, married,
forty years old, male, and learned in Torah and
Talmud before one was allowed to study Kabbalah
(which means to receive or accept-tradition). I
was Jewish, male and married but still in my
thirties and not that conversant in Torah and
Talmud. I was told that it could drive you mad if
studied without these restrictions. I laughed, but
in a way it did drive me mad. How Madonna and
others can be told that it is all right for them
to study Kabbalah is beyond me. It is literally
playing with hell fire.
Thirty years ago, while I was a Professor at
the University of Arizona, I wrote a paper for a
feminist journal, Anima, entitled "Adam:
Male, Female or Both". It spoke of the
androgynous nature of Adam according to Genesis as
well as described the Kabbalistic character of
Lilith. Lilith was supposedly the first wife of
Adam in the garden created from dust like him and
therefore his equal. She was the first feminist
and refused to lie beneath him when they made love
and screamed some ungodly obscenities and flew off
to the netherworld where she continues to kill
newborn babies and wrack other havoc on
unsuspecting males. I had glorified her.
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