Part 56 >

Jewish law and the Kabbalists explicitly forbid the teachings of Kabbalah to people who do not have a good knowledge of basic Jewish law, and who are not meticulous with the observance of Jewish law and tradition. (See Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah, section 246, par. 4, and the commentators there. Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, Or Ne'erav, part I, ch. 6 and part III, ch 1-4; Rabbi Chaim Vital, Introduction to Eitz Chayim; Sidur of Rabbi Isaac Luria, ed. Rabbi Shabtai of Rashkov, sect. Kavanat Halimud, p.130.) In the same context, Jewish law and the Kabbalists state that teachers of Kabbalah must themselves be Torah-scholars of unimpugnable character, people of the highest moral standing and religious observance. (See Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah, sect. 246, par. 8; and the Kabbalah-texts cited above.)

Jewish law forbids the teaching of Torah, let alone Kabbalah, to non-Jews. (See Maimonides, Hilchot Melachim, chapter 10, par. 9. Zohar, vol. II, p. 111b and vol. III, p. 73a.)

Berg recently published a Jewish prayer-book according to the rite of Rabbi Isaac Luria. The basic text is no more than a reprint of earlier such prayer books. Berg, however, added footnotes which copy various gimatriyot (numerical equivalents) of words or phrases etc. which appear in numerous texts. In order to fool naïve people, he tricked a number of prominent Israeli rabbis to write approbation's for this prayer-book. The fact that he tricked them is obvious from the texts of these approbation's: they refer to him as "Rabbi Berg, Rosh Yeshivah (dean) of Yeshivah Kol Yehudah in the USA" In truth, of course, this is a fictitious title and a fictitious school! In America, Berg claims to be the dean of a Yeshivah Kol Yehudah in Jerusalem, and in Israel he pretends to be the dean of a Yeshivah Kol Yehudah in the USA Berg and his disciples parade these approbation's as evidence that he has the support and respect of these rabbis for himself and the work of the Kabbalah Centre. In truth, the approbation's merely recommend the publication of a prayer-book of the rite of Rabbi Isaac Luria. They make no reference to the "personality" or work of Berg, his cult, or his activities. Moreover, these rabbis obviously never saw or examined Berg's prayer-book. They simply gave an approbation for a seemingly innocuous publishing effort. If they had seen Berg's work, they would had no choice but to condemn and ban his prayer-book; for Berg there commits the fatal error of attributing Divine quality to idolatry: In the first paragraph of the Aleinu-prayer there is a verse which reads: "for they [the heathens] bow to vanity and emptiness and pray to a god which helps not." In a demonstration of crude ignorance, Berg understood the word el (god) in that phrase to be a reference to Divinity, and thus attributes to it a gimatriya which applies exclusively to G-d (see his prayer-book, p. 280, note 9; and this fatal error is repeated on pp.359 and 405). We have here a typical example of a Midrashic interpretation on the verse "The fool proclaims his guilt" (Proverbs 14:9), namely, that "A fool proclaims his guilt with his own guilt with his own mouth!" Attention has already been drawn to this blasphemous stupidity, and chances are that Berg will soon reprint his book to hide his ignorance.

Berg's "Prophetic Powers"

A good sample of Berg's keen mystical insights, which cannot be explained by anything but an implied status of prophecy, is to be found in that same tract, The Wheels of A Soul. In chapter 12, titled 'The Man Who Returned as His Nephew,' Berg claims to have determined that a certain individual did not violate the terrible sin of suicide but must have been murdered. His "proof" is as follows. Aryeh was born on Cheshvan 9, 5719, corresponding to the civil date of November 12, 1958. [Berg did not bother to check a calendar. The 9th of Cheshvan 5719 corresponds to October 23, 1958! In my case, no connection is ever made with his birthday.] On August 19, 1978, 'Aryeh' was found dead, and his family was deeply perturbed by the question whether he committed suicide or was murdered. Thus they called on Berg to resolve this question. Berg discovered that Aryeh's brother had a baby born on the 29th of Nissan 5739 (which corresponds to April 26, 1979), and was named after his uncle. From this, Berg concludes that the baby-Aryeh must have been conceived in the preceding (Jewish) month of Elul 5738 (thus between Elul 1, 5738, corresponding to September 3, 1978, and Elul 29, 5738, corresponding to October 1, 1978). Referring to a passage in the writings of Rabbi Isaac Luria about babies corn or conceived in the month of Elul, and combining this with the fact that the dead man and his new-born nephew have the same name, Berg concluded that this "indicates that the two Aryehs were the same" (i.e. that the baby must have been an incarnation of his dead uncle). Now, from September 3 to April 26 there are 235 days, which is 33 weeks and 4 days, or 7 months and 23 days. From October 1 to April 26 are 208 days, which is 29 weeks and 4 days, or 6 months and 26 days. Normative birth occurs in the ninth month. This clearly raises the obvious question: How would Berg know that the child "must have been conceived" between the end of the 7th month and the end of the 8th month prior to birth??? Secondly, Berg claims that there is a Talmudic interpretation that says "anyone below the age of 20 cannot be condemned to death in the event of premeditated murder." In his notes he cites "Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin, p.' - leaving the page number blank. He had to leave it blank as he could not find it for the simple reason that no such quote exists there, or anywhere for that matter. To give Berg some benefit of doubt, we may assume that he might possibly have been confused by remembering something about no punishment being meted out before the age of 20, which appears in the commentary of Rashi on Genesis 23:1, learned by little children in grade 1 or 2 of a Talmud Torah. The source for this can be found in tractate Shabbat 89b and in the Jerusalem Talmud, Bikurim 2:1. The problem however, is that this refers specifically to the punishment of karet (excision of the soul) from Heaven. Indeed, a simple study of the Torah-text, undertaken by even little children and without need of any commentaries, shows that there are several cases in the Torah itself, explicitly prescribing capital punishment for youths below the age of twenty. Berg thus again displays arrogant ignorance and distortion, and on this he bases his case that the baby must have been an incarnation of his uncle. Thirdly, from his "prophetic assumption" that the baby is an incarnation of its late uncle, Berg arrives at the stupendous conclusion that the dead Aryeh must have been murdered and could not have committed the sin of suicide. For, says Berg, if he had committed suicide he would not have been reincarnated! How convenient. First he takes for granted that there is a case of reincarnation, and thus concludes that therefore there could not have been a suicide. Even a child can recognize the absurdity of this circular argument.

Berg the "Inventor"

In his interview with the Canadian Jewish News, Berg claims, in a curious switch from his precious pronouncements on the Mitnagdim, that the Vilna Gaon said that "Kabbalah should be our first pre-requisite, before Talmud, before anything else." While now recognizing the Gaon's connection with Kabbalah, he crudely invents a quote and falsifies the Gaon's statements. It is quite obvious that he is totally ignorant of the writings of the Vilna Gaon. The Gaon clearly follows Jewish orthodox tradition and declares: "He who wishes to deal with the 'great and wondrous things' but will not first observe the laws and learn them, 'shall not be enriched;' for 'who is rich? He who rejoices in his lot' and does not walk in 'great and wondrous things' before filling his belly with the 'bread that sustains the heart of man.' Without this, it is impossible to attain the secrets [mysteries of the Torah];" Gaon's Commentary on Mishlei 21:17. Likewise, the Zohar, volume II (Book of Shemot), end of p. 115a states: "For him who makes an effort [with Torah] the merit the World to Come it is called a 'possession'Š in context of 'the Possessor of Heaven and Earth' (Genesis 14:19), 'Acquire wisdom, acquire understanding' (Proverbs 4:5). After acquiring [it] for himself, he shall have freedom. There is one who is acquired forever, and there is one who is acquired for six years.." In his commentary on this passage, Yohel Or, p. 10c, the Vilna Gaon explains: "'He shall have freedom': that is, he shall then busy himself with the 'Tree of Life', the secrets of the Torah, which is referred to as the 'World of Freedom'. There is one who is': that is, throughout his life he will never attain he secrets.' And there is one': that is, until he will study the Talmud, and thereafter the secrets of the Torah, for thence he will attain the 'inner awe' and make an effort which is not for the sake of receiving a reward. For then he shall be on the level of 'a child in Atzilut', as known. Thus it is said, 'If there is no awe there is no Torah, if there is no Torah [there is no awe: the first [phrase] refers to the external awe and the plain sense of the Torah, and the second to Kabbalah and the inner awe."

See Part 57 >