ELLECONTROVERSY

SEEING THE LIGHT

LIKE MADONNA1 DEMII ROSEANNE1 ET AL'l MANY CENTRE REGULARS SAY THEIR LIVES HAVE BEEN IMPROVED. BUT SOME OF ITS MORE VULNERABLE FOLLOWERS TESTIFYTO EMPTY PROMISES AND AJOURNEY DARKENED BYDESPAIR.BYKENNETH MILLER

he Beverly Hills Kabbalah Centre on Shab- , the Bergs' most famous acolyte, has called their bat Eve-the start of the Jewish sabbath-is teachings "a manual for living"; after writing three children's a power spot in every sense of the term. On a books whose proceeds benefit the center's kids' program, she recent Friday night, the congregation recently adopted the spiritual name Esther. Veteran A-listers includes , , and such as , Bat'braStreisand, Mick Jagger,and Liz rising star Monet Mazur (Torque). As in an Taylor have frequented the center, as have Brimey Spears and Orthodox , the sexes are divided, . Capitalizing on the celebrity stampede, the but here the separation seems to amp up the electricity.The center has amassed an estimated 200,000 followers and now faithful-men in white, women in designer splendor-belt has 50 branches worldwide; its tax-free annual revenues out Hebrew prayers like fans at a Rolling Stones concert. reportedly total in the tens of millions. Not bad for a group They raise their right hand and utter a collective whose precepts are based on a form of Jewish mysticism "Oooooooooooh!" There's a brisk commerce in ecstatic traditionally reserved for male scholars over age 40. hugs and knowing grins. ~t-.-,- But the Kabbalah Centre's successhas also At the altar, Rav Philip Berg chants bless- aroused a chorus of naysayers. Some ings, flanked by his wife, Karen, and their religious authorities object to the group's grown sons, Yehuda and Michael. Berg, 75, decidedly unorthodox theology; others -is a portly man with a scraggly beard and a decry its commercialism, with courses cost- faraway stare; his offspring, who help run ing up to $270 and bookstores stocked with the organization and write its literature, are private-label bottled water, candles, scented plump and balding; and Karen, in her puBY oils, meditation stones, and jewelry. wig, would fit in among the pious matrons Most disturbing, perhaps, are charges of nearby Hancock Park. Yetwhen follow- that the center exerts a harmful influence ers speak of the Bergs, it's usually with awe. over some of its most vulnerable followers. "They're the most inspirational family I've Groups such as the Jewish Board of Family ever met," Mazm says."It's undeniable how and Children's Services in New York and much energy they have, this amazing ability the international for (which to transform people's lives." counters recruiting efforts by cults and

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missionaries) have received dozens of calls about the center, For Lindsey, the voyage began in April 2001, after The claiming that it encourages devotees to break with unbe- Poor and Hungry, an indie flim in which she costarred (play- lieving spouses and family, pressures them to donate sums ing a very un-Panlike lesbian street hustler), won an award beyond their means, and says that Kabbalah water can cure at the Hollywood Film Festival.Eager to make more movies, cancer. The center has consistently denied such accusations, she left Memphis for L.A. But auditions led nowhere and but "across the globe, these issues keep coming up," says her encounters with fellow hopefuls left her disillusioned. Michael Skobac ofJews for Judaism in . Lonely and adrift, she found a job as a tour guide at LA.'s Is the Kabbalah Centre a place to find onesel£ lose onesel£ Museum of Tolerance. There she developed a crush on a or just try for a glimpse of Madonna? Many followers-and handsome coworker, Alex, a fellow aspiring actor 16 years not just celebs-say the center's ethical teachings have helped her senior. Alex had been raised in a Muslim household but them to become better, more generous, more effectivepeo- for the past three years had been studying at the Kabbalah ple. But trouble may await those who take its promises (to Centre. After they started dating, he invited her there. "He unlock "allthe secretsof the universe"and "allthe solutions to said, 'If you'd known me before, you'd never have wanted to your problems," as one text trumpets) too literally. "The be with me. I've changed a lot because of the center.' " problem with the Kabbalah Centre right now is in distin- Lindsey was raised as a Christian, but she'd begun to guishing between a and a superstition," says Rabbi question her faith in recent years. "You can't tell me that Shmuley Boteach, the author of several popular books on everyJewish person who died in is in hell right Judaism, noting that some of his Orthodox friends admire now," she says. She considered herself a skeptic, leery of the sect. ''A religion empowers you, but a superstition weak- organized religion. Still, the introductory lecture at the

ens you. A superstition makes you very dependent on the Kabbalah Centre captured her imagination. Her teacher group--you need to take their comses, ask them allyom pri- described Kabbalah (Hebrew for "that which is received") as vate questions. You can't stand without them." an age-old set of techniques for harnessing the laws of the "I'd say the majority of people go there for a few weeks or universe. This knowledge, said to be codified around the months and then leave,"sayscounselor and cult expert Steven second century in a book called the , was now avail- Hassan, the director of the Freedom of Mind Resource Cen- able to all-thanks to the center and its founder, Rav Berg. ter in Somerville, Massachusetts. "But depending on where Most historians in fact date the Zohar and Kabbalah to the an individual is in life,it can be a very different experience." thirteenth centmy, when a Spanish ,Moses de Leon, spun a thousand years of spiritual tradition into a multivolume III WANrED SOMETHING TO MAKE SENSE IN MY UFEII combination of biblical commentary and mystical allegory. On a backstage wall in a Memphis theater, one autograph (He attributed the text to a second-century rabbi.) De Leon carries a bittersweet double meaning for the woman who began with the premise that the Torah-the first fivebooks of scrawled it fiveyears ago: "Lindsey Roberts, forever in Never- the Bible-is written in code, and that its deepest meanings Never Land." Lindsey was 21 then and playing the title role can be revealed only through meditation, numerology, and in Peter Pan, her first lead in a professional production. Just creative interpretation. He described a with male and 5'2", her delicate fearmes framed by an auburn-tinted pixie female aspects and a world in which spiritually informed cut, she projects a stadium-size personality. Storming about human action can alter the very fabric of reality. the playhouse in jeans and John Fluevog combat boots, she Later Kabbalists added their own twists, including a touch greets colleagueswith a stream of patter-"You comin' to the of astrology.They all agreed, however, that the discipline was party tonight?All right!"-and a guffawknown asthe Lindsey too sacred, too difficult, and too psychologically hazardous laugh. Friends and family are happy to hear it again after a to be attempted by anyone not firmly rooted in Jewish law. two-year absence during which Lindsey chucked her career, To hold otherwise, renowned Judaic scholar and Zohar made herself a stranger to those who loved her, and married translator Daniel Matt says, "is a bold and controversial a man she barely knew. "Sometimes," she says,"I'm like, Did departure from Kabbalah." that happen to someone else?Was I there?" The Kabbalah Centre is willing to make that departure,

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and others. Its doctrine-"a blend of Kabbalah, New Age, Kabbalah Centre in , in 1977. (Brandwein's family and self-help," says Matt-seems to rest on two central has long denied that Berg is his spiritual heir, though Berg tenets. The first is a vaguely karmic code of ethics rooted in counters that letters fi'om Brandwein prove his legitimacy.) Kabbalist cosmology: God is embodied in a primal energy The Bergs came to in 1984, but it was force, or Light, whose natme is infinitely giving; the universe their move to L.A. in 1997 that would make Kabbalah a is filled with a desire to receive. Since we are fashioned in household word. Sandra Bernhard was the first Hollywood God's image, however, sin1plysatiating this desire can never macher to discover the center; she brought along her friends bring fulfillment. The key is to accept om hunger for riches, Madonna and Roseanne, and a trend was born. For these glory, power, sex-but only so that we may emulate God by hip celebs, Kabbalah's affirmation of God's female side is an giving to others. Like God, we should be "proactive" rather obvious draw, as is the center's take on the mechanics of fate than "reactive."Instead of following om impulses, we should and the perils of self-centeredness. "What people in Los practice "restriction": Stop, take a breath, and proceed from Angeles do for a living can make for a very misleading life," a position of divine calm. Though Satan (in the form of Monet Mazur says."Ego gets in the way of everything." selfishinstincts) may tempt us, self-interest requires unselfish For ordinary foll

three-letter "names of God"--can help bring health, wealth, her that she had to pass through the center'sstore,with its slick happiness, even world peace. So powerful are these units of displays,to get to class.That didn't stop her from buying a $26 cosmic DNA that knowillg how to read them is unnecessary; to ward off the "evileye" or a $415 Zohar. She was just scanning the text yields results. unnerved by the chevra, or full-time volunteers, who badgered At first this "scanning" notion struck Lindsey as absmd. her to tal

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counseled that they could resolve any problem by following all scientific knowledge as well as the past and the future; its the center's principle of emotional restraint and jointly leaders have absolute power-there are no clerics or lay scanning the Zohar. When it became clear that Lindsey's committees to rein in their authority. parents disliked Alex, Chaim explained that friction with Not all unhealthy cults are as aggressiveor systematic as the family was a signal that a couple was joined by destiny.The Moonies, Hassan says. Some modulate the level of control center also taught that "negative thoughts" could do material to fit individuals' susceptibilities and life circumstances. harm, and Lindsey, fearing family and friends would bring At the Kabbalah Centre, most followers never experience bad vibes to her wedding, didn't invite them. "I felt apart anything close to mind control. But those least capable of fi-omthem," she says,"but a part of the center and this life." resisting-followers dealingwith fanUlytroubles, for example, Lindsey and Alexwere matTied by Chaim at the Kabbalah or the stressof moving to a new city-"are going to be more Centre on May 26, 2002. "I remember standing under the manipulable and exploitable," he says. huppa," she says, "and as Alex walked in my first thought The center insists it doesn't control anyone. "Spiritual was, Run!"The event was worlds apart from the big church discoverycan elicitpowerful devotion," Yehuda Berg, 32, says wedding she'd always envisioned, and she found herself via e-mail. "This bespeal

A MAnER OF CONTROL about meditation," she says,"and it ismeditation that changes SteveHassan knows how me emotionallyvulnerablecan be led your life, not groups of people or .If-you're weak and down dangerous spiritual paths.He was at Queens College in vulnerable, you should not join any group. There are 1974, a 19-year-old junior reelingfrom a rough breakup, when ignorant, controlling people everywhere you go." But a trio of pretty girlsapproached him with a dinner invitation. Hassan has seen some center followers change in ways that It turned out to be a recruiting session for the Unification he believes meditation alone cannot explain. That's why he Church-al to diet support networks, use you like that,'" she recalls. "He said, 'You go out and fight some degree of cognitive suggestion. But in an unhealthy for her'-and fight I did." cult, according to Hassan, everything from getting dressed At Hassan's urging, Donna flew to for the to communicating with loved ones maybe subject to belated reception the couple held that June. She went with group control. Severe restrictions on sleep or diet foster Lindsey to a class at the center and was struck by the altered mental states and weaken resistance. Members are instructor's evasiveness. "Every time someone asked a ques- taught to banish unsuitable ideas and feelings by means of tion," she says, "the teacher would work around it or say, "thought-stopping" techniques-meditation, chanting, 'That's a wonderful question. We'll cover it next week.' " formulaic prayer. To ensure discipline, phobias are planted Donna enlisted Lindsey's oldest friend, Tracy, who was in members' minds, such as the idea that disobedience or equally concerned. "She'd always been outgoing, boisterous, error will cause disaster. The cult claims to have the key to freethinking," Tracy says."Now she (Continued onpage 528)

378 EUE 'M'VW.EUE.COM SEEING THE LIGHT to Judaism, so she began learning Hebrew and warned her that she would be cutting herself off (Continued .from page 378) keeping kosher. Her teachers, she says, told her from the group and from the Light-from was calm, but in an eerie way" Donna also con- that her mother, who was increasingly dis- God-if she went. She left anyway, taking a tacted Lindsey's beloved mentor at the Uni- tressed by X's devotion to the center, was supply of Kabbalah water ($78 per case) to aid versity of Memphis (which she had left before "manipulauve and controlling." her father's healing. When she ill-opped by the graduaung to act in Peter Pan), Judaic Studies Then in 2001, her rabbi told her that Karen local center and confessed her growing discon- professor David Patterson. Berg, on a visit, had been impressed by her tent, she says, the rabbi told her, "You didn't give In November 2002, Donna invited her friendliness and dedication and thought she 100 percent, so you didn't get 100 percent." daugh ter to Memphis for a birthday cele- would make a fme chevra. X was so excited that Soon after, X's mother asked if she'd meet bration. She would treat Lindsey; her sister, she walked out in the middle of a crucial exam: Hassan. The intervenuon was followed by two Lesli; and three friends to a spa weekend. "I "I was thinking, Why am I doing this when weeks at a cult rehab center and a year of ther- said,'Yeah, I'm there!'" Lindsey recalls. On the I'm going to be doing bigger things?" apy. By the time she met Lindsey, she was back second day, Donna told her a man wanted to No one at the center quesuoned her quitting in college and was about to become engaged. share some informauo~ with Lindsey about the school; she told her parents only that she was The Kabbalah Centre refused to comment Kabbalah Centre. Ifshe didn't care to listen he'd going to L.A., where she soon found herself on the details of her stOlY, but Yehuda Berg go away, but if she did, she might learn a few working in the center's bookstore. In exchange writes that X "was already alienated from her things that would surprise her. "I was mad," for food, a one-bedroom apartment shared family before she became involved with the Lindsey says. "But looking back on it, if I were with four other girls, and a stipend of $35 a center. How many of the other allegauons are her, I would've done the san1e thing." Besides, month, she worked seven days a week, often manifestations of prior conditions? Should we she was growing weary of the gap between the £i.-ommorning till past rnidnight. On , refuse to minister to these individuals?" He center's promises of fulfillment and the reality the day of rest, she once even did the Bergs' notes that X was one of 40 chevras there: of her Ilfe. She accepted, and Hassan came into laundty-a task she regarded as a privilege. "While we regret that we were not able to the hotel room. When a follower she'd begun dating proposed assuage her mental anguish and make her com- Hassan showed her reports that were criucal marriage, she was advised to avoid any close fortable within the group, is the center to be of the center and a stack of news clip- relauonships till she'd completed her conversion blamed for an experience at odds with that of pings-fi-om journals as far-flLU1gas and and "received her Jewish soul." 39 other individuals in exactly the same Tel Aviv-documenting ex-devotees' allega- Around this time, a center teacher began position?" Indeed, a cmrent LA. chevra, Alison uons. There were stories (all denied by the cen- paying her special attenuon. He pressed her for Cohen, 26, calls her life at the center "amazing, ter) of followers being told their marriages were details about her past, she says, including her completely rewarding, fulfilling," and says her "spiritually unsuitable" and given new parmers, sexual history, and recommended a special long workdays are entirely voluntary. or being pressed to donate large sums of money cleansing. Under Jewish law, a ritual bath, or For Lindsey, though, X's tale struck a reso- Although Lindsey was shocked, she mikvah, culminates the conversion process; if nant chord. "I wanted to ClYfor her," she says. responded that she was not a hard-core believer. the convert is female, she must be covered by a "I was so sorty." Over the next three days, in Hassan suggested otherwise: She'd already sheet, and another woman must be present. fact, Lindsey did plenty of crying. Patterson, her married under the center's influence. She took One night, however,X recalls, she met the former mentor, talked with her about Kabbal- daily precauuons against the and bad teacher alone at the center's mikvah for an ist theology. She spoke with Hassan about her karma-examples, he said, of induced phobias. improvised preconversion rite. He turned his abandoned ambitions and how she could begin He argued that the subsutuuon ofZohar scan- back as she approached the shallow pool to reclaim them. She was ready to end her ning for analytic problem solving, as well as bans wrapped in only a towel. Once she was under- romance with the center. But she was not pre- on "negauve thoughts" and "evil-speak," were watel~ she says, he faced her and began to pray pared to say goodbye to Alex. ways of pre-empting criucal thinking about the "He could see everything," she says. Lindsey flew back to LA and asked him to center itself The group's habit of shurming apos- The incident didn't strike X as unwhole- go with her to a marriage COunSelOl~butit soon tates was further evidence of control. some until long afterward; indeed, it only became clear to both of them that their rela- heightened her euphoria. But other things at tionship was irreparably broken. Alex, who THE STORY OF X the center began to trouble her. There was the hasn't been to the center in nearly a year, But Hassan's strongest testimony came £i:om a pressme to take on more work and the persis- remains loyal to its principles."If you live yom former Kabbalah Centre follower we'll call X tent exhausuon. There were the endless post- life according to what you learn there, you're (she requested that her name be withheld to ponements of her conversion, supposedly on going to see improvements," he says. "It's easier protect her privacy), whom Donna had flown astrological grow1ds. X hated the push to sell said than done, but that's the whole point." in to tell Lindsey her story. X was a college courses and books and to make sure wealthy In May 2003, a year after her wedding, sophomore in 2000, when she discovered her worshippers never had to pray alone. (She Lindsey left Alex, and in August she went back local Kabbalah Centre. At the time she was remembers guiding Marla Maples through the to Memphis. Almost immediately she won feuding with her parents, questioning her service on one holiday.) She was dismayed back the part of Peter Pan, then roles in other , and struggling with her studies; when one center leader, having scored a big plays and short films. She resumed her studies she had just endured surgery and a bad contribuuon from a rock star, pranced around and was soon earning straight ill. She found a breakup. She heard that Kabbalah could cure the office giving high fives. Still, she told herself new boyfriend-a ill'ummer in a rock band- illness and "remove the chaos" from people's she was happy, and when her mother made an who has no objection to red nail polish. lives, and the chevras who approached her were unannounced appearance at the center, X Nonetheless, she's keeping her Zohar as a effusively welcoming. "It sounded," she says, informed her that she planned to stay. reminder of where she's been. "For some "Wzeeveryclung I was looking for." But during X's third month as a chevra, she reason," she says, "I think I needed to become X became a fixture at her center, taking learned that her father was seriously ill, and she aware of the feeling ofloss. Yom freedom, yom classes and helping cook Shabbat dinners and asked permission to go see him. Her supelvi- sense of who you are and what your goals clean up aftelward. She had grown up admiring sors, she says, advised her to work harder are-I needed to lose all that to realize just her Jewish neighbors and was eager to convert instead, to send more Light his way.They how precious those things are." 0

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