Thank you for this site and the information on warning signs of a potentially unsafe group/leader, most helpful for me were these--

The group/leader is the exclusive means of knowing "truth" or receiving validation, no other process of discovery is really acceptable or credible.

“In our generation the source of knowledge and the method of correction is here, in the central Bnei Baruch group. If any person thinks that he is able to lead himself or the group to the goal correctly, he is deluding himself due to misunderstanding the structure of the system of souls upon which our world is clothed.”

Individual identity, the group, the leader and/or God as distinct and separate categories of existence become increasingly blurred. Instead, in the follower's mind these identities become substantially and increasingly fused--as that person's involvement with the group/leader continues and deepens.

“However, if one person or group decides to act independently, they would be preferring the externality to the internality. They will thus replace the upper with the lower, in which case it would be necessary to immediately correct them or remove them from the common system. From studying the structure of the worlds we see that there is no “democracy,” but a strict subservience to the Upper Level, to the Upper One’s (the Creator’s) example.”

See above quotes at full article [www.laitman.com]

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focus123
Hi MellowChuck so you must have known Montie? Also how do I access Team Talk do you have a username and password?

I have answered your questions in Private Messages.

Letter from the cult leader himself-


"Dear friends!



I am addressing you personally and on behalf of the “Bnei-Baruch” directorate. To my students, friends and everyone who will find it possible to help us. We have been in existence for 20 years. In this time a lot has been done, we have developed on the Internet; our site today is recognized as one of the largest in the world, we hold daily lessons in the morning as well as throughout the day and they are being translated into tens of languages, we opened a television channel, which broadcasts 24 hours a day, a learning center where thousands of people have already completed courses, we write and disseminate newspapers, books, brochures, we film films, hold conventions in Israel and all around the world. We openheartedly aspire to disseminate the higher knowledge about the unity of the world.

In these 20 years we have grown from 10 people into many thousands, into groups and centers around the whole world. From a small apartment we have moved into a two-storey building, which we have been renting for the past 10 years.
Our enterprise for the creation and dissemination of Kabbalah materials is located here; the studio and TV center, the daily Kabbalah lessons and their editing, the broadcast of the daily lessons and their translation to many languages is done here.
However, a moment has come when we are forced to leave this building. It has long ceased to meet our requirements and safety regulations. Following pressures from organizations responsible for fire and electrical safety and the ministry of health (kitchen etc.), we no longer have the right to stay here; the building must be demolished.



When calculating the cost of relocation, the set up of communication and settling into the new place, we found that we will spend around 3 million NIS only on the move, and the rent of a new building for the next 10 years would cost an additional 14 million NIS.
However, if we would have to move at least once during the coming 10 years, then considering the expenses of the move and re-equipment, a thought arises about the economic necessity of purchasing a permanent place.
This way, we would all acquire our own world center. For those who work here, who come here to study, who travel here for short periods of time, who have training here, even for those who do not have the opportunity to come here, we would like everyone to be able to say: “I have a home.”

We are not shy of this appeal because we are talking about a home for everyone. We are starting the collection of capital for the purchase of our home. Each one will contribute as much as they can. We need to collect this capital in a very short time. Due to the pressure of local authorities we must move to a new place by the end of 2012. Let’s celebrate the opening of our new center, which will truly become the center for dissemination of knowledge about the unity of the world.
I am addressing everyone, who understands the necessity of the dissemination of the science of Kabbalah and mutual guarantee in the world, to help all of us acquire our home.



Thank you in advance for your participation, this will unite us!

Dr. Laitman"

[www.kabbalah.info]

Wow now he wants people to pay for his new palace. I hear he is worth millions but does he use his money? No, get it from the people who can barely afford it. Can't really blame him, if people are that gullible. I guess that is how the rich have always taken advantage of the poor- use that collection scam.

What a scam!!! Maybe I will organise some group…do some “self-glorifying” and get them to pay for it…and all of that in the name of G-d…SHAME!!!!!

Here is a story told me the other day. It may illustrate how some persons get and then stay rich.

Met a fellow with a metal detector and during our chat, he told me that he was contacted by a man who wanted help in finding a silver family heirloom that had been lost in a yacht harbor--fallen overboard.

My informant said the guy who made the request drove with him to the spot where the item had been lost. The guy was a member of a posh boating club, had a very expensive car and offered $100 USD if the fellow with the metal detector could find the lost item.

After 5 hours of hard work the man found the lost item--a silver cup.

The man did not want to pay him.

My informant, fortunately, still had the cup in his hands. When he learned that this rich man had refused to pay him for his 5 hours of successful hard work, he hurled the silver cup as far back into the ocean as he could.

"The guy had that car and the fancy clothes and the club membership. And there he was, begruding payment of $100 to that he'd agreed on as a finder's fee."

This is an email that was sent on Fri 27/04/2012 from BB’s infamous “spiritual directorate”…I will exlude names of this women, simply because I care about their right for privacy, but I will say that it is six of them :
“Announcement from the spiritual directorate…. Dear friends,

We thought it appropriate to notify you of the details of a social issue that has come up here, as well as our mode of dealing with it so that it would be of assistance to you in similar cases:

For some time now, several women who were members of the society decided not to respect the expected rules of conduct of friends in the society.

They created for themselves and for their children a separatist closed group within the society with total disregard of the goals of the society and the general customary rules of conduct within it.

In addition, several of these women made a tradition of waking their young children up every night to watch the lessons, in spite that it is clear beyond any shadow of a doubt that this is unacceptable behavior, none normative, invalid and harmful to the children as well as to the image of the society.

This behavior warrants condemnation and should be rooted completely.

Therefore, it was decided to not allow the continuing activity of these women and of their children in the societal and community activities without any exceptions. This also goes to any physical participation in the center, participation in lessons, meals, conventions, trips, dissemination activities of any sort and so forth.
The appropriate notification was delivered and accepted with the mentioned women already on Friday.

It is important to emphasize that there is no restriction on the continuation of the activities of their husbands in the society.”
So is BB a cult…it is !!!!!

Well, my first post to this forum. I read the first 5 pages, and was forced to skip ahead because it was just taking too long. I think there are 3 important things I can mention:

1) Many of the accusations I saw leveled in the first 5 pages of chat seemed to be aimed at other organizations, brought under the BB umbrella by 1 or 2 common issues. In short, as a casual outsider, many of the accusations by both the RR moderator and the user "Outtathere" I saw to be pretty overblown.

2) I will, however, point out one serious issue I have with this group, if it is true. They are doing a great disservice to the nation of Israel by tying their "mission" in with Zionism & Israel!! I find that to be incredibly hurtful. As a Jew living in Israel, it's these kind of connections, from irresponsible people, that have kept us out of our homeland for millennium. Even to this day, we barely have independence. Don't tie my future in with the strivings of your rogue Kabbalah group.

3) As for alternative Kabbalah sources, there is only one that I have found to be "kosher," that's available to an English-speaking newbie. That would be the writings of Aryeh Kaplan. Kaplan died in 1983, and his decedents have apparently resisted any efforts to continue his teachings with some sort of school. Based on the posts here, I can see why. In any case, he's an undisputed source that frees you up from being dependent on the knowledge of a "group," or leader, or any of the problems that this forum is combating. Thanks to Kaplan's writings, I was able to come out from under the thumb of the Kabbalah Centre to say "hey, I can learn this stuff on my own."

I do appreciate the efforts of the RR moderator to point people in a safe direction, but no "Jewish Federation" is going to know anything about Kabbalah, and unfortunately the other options he/she laid out will probably be unsatisfactory. Anyway, I hope I find the time in the near future to write about my experiences in this realm. Until then, I really hope BB detaches itself from being one more way to drag the word "Zionism" into the mud.

Spiritual Filter:

FYI--Jewish Federations across the United States sponsor various educational projects. Some include the study of the Kabbalah.

Under the Jewish Federation umbrella, which is a fund raising apparatus for local Jewish charities/nonprofits, there is frequently an educational bureau.

For example, the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix includes the Bureau of Jewish Education, which in turn has offered Kabbalah study courses.

Local synagogues are also an excellent and reliable resource to pursue credible Kabbalah studies.

This is all far more credible the independent groups controlled by individual families and/or entrepneurs and likely more economical in the long run.

It is best to seek out resouces within the mainstream organized Jewish community such as Jewish Federations and/or Jewish denominations (Reform, Conservative, Orthodox Union or Reconstructionist) and accredited schools (Yeshiva University, Brandeis University, Hebrew College, etc.).

The small Kabbalah groups like the Kabblah Centre and Bnei Baruch seem to be personality-driven and often appear to be "cult-like".

Rather than take a risk with such groups the mainstream Jewish studies programs offer a safe and often college accredited alternative.

Yep do as they say or get kicked out!!!