Hello, I have found this forum today and am very well impressed by it. Good luck to all those involved.

I have seen links regarding Kabbalah Center and Bnei Baruch. I am very well informed regarding both these institutions, the leaders behind them, and the systems through which they operate.

Depending on the situation, I believe my knowledge and contacts can help those of you who are in doubt regarding these institutions, or wish to help your loved ones distance themselves from them.

If you need help or have any questions, my name is Jaim, I live in Israel, but might be able to help people in the USA, Europe and South America.

Good luck to everybody, and please, do not study "Kabbalah" without first thouroughly researching the people that wish to teach it to you.

Unless you include an email address within your profile no one can contact you yet.

Private messaging on this board only begins after 10 completed and approved posts.

Thank you for this information.

Hopefully I have correctly updated my profile so that my email is available. If not, please let me know.

Jaim, please share with us your experiences with B'nei Baruch. As you know we talked about it a lot but very little was uncovered due to the information available not being in english.

Hello Skip,

You ask me to share my experience, and this, again is such a general request. Literally, I could write an entire book about it. Also, personally, I have a problem with reading long posts, and on the other hand, I myself have a tendency to get carried away when writing. So...

I will use the moderator's experience, and will use his list of "red lights" one by one. If my comment to the first two seems interesting or helpful to you, then you could ask me more specific questions. One note though: I was impressed with how little is known, apparently regarding Bnei Baruch.
(it will now take you "only" an half hour to read...)

[b:8db9897c45]Absolute authoritarianism without meaningful accountability.[/b:8db9897c45]

Bnei Baruch means: Sons of Baruch, a reference to Rav Baruch Shalom Ashlag, a very highly regarded Orthodox Jewish Rabbi that passed away 15 years ago. It is very important to understand that Orthodox Judaism is a closed society that likes and encourages privacy and discretion regarding their way of life. For example: Rabbi Baruch was the head of the Ashlag movement for 40 years and he never spread Kabbalah. One of the reasons being: according to Jewish costums, one should not teach Kabbalah to non Orthodox Jews or non Jews; neither to men who are not married, and definetly not to women. So you can only teach it to Orthodox Jewish married men. (Note: please do not take my words out of context, I am trying to be very precise throughout. For example: It is permitted for women to study Kabbalah, I did not write that is forbidden.) Also, many sectors within the Orthodox community abide to another costum that states that only men elder than 40 who have enough knowledge of Jewish law can study. That being said, who are you going to spread it to?

How is this related to "Absolute authoritarianism" you may ask? According to Orthodox Judaism, the pupil should relate to his Rabbi, or mentor on a relationship of complete trust, which we could translate to absolute aothritarianism. So as to avoid the obvious problems that arouse from this, the Jewish Orthodox society built a system of "certifications", if you will, aiming at, among others, certifying that Rabbis do not use the power they have on their communities so as to take advantage of this. (This is very roughly similar to Kosher food certification).

Now, what Laitman did was take with him the concept of "complete trust", which as we said can become "absolute authoritarianism" real fast, and then distanced himself of the Orthodox community, thus avoiding the certification process.

Since no one controls him, he chooses to teach only that part of the text that explains to what extent the pupil should abide to the Rabbi. (completely). You will find in Orthodox Jewish literature endless material as to this concept.
He omits completely the part of the text that explains to the pupil how to be aware of the danger envolved in this procedure, and the explanation of how to avoid this potential danger. You will find endless material about this as well in Orthodox Jewish literature, but non in the Bnei Baruch sites or books.

I hope this basically covers that 1st point.

2nd point:
"No tolerance for questions or critical inquiry"

What I just explained is true here exactly in the same whey:

BB rely on Orthodox Jewish law or costums. According to it, one should avoid criticism and judge all fellow people positively. One should look only at the positive aspects of those around him and use criticism upon himself.

So, you would ask, how does a society survive without criticism?

Obviously, those same laws and costums state you should criticize and thoroughly admonish those around you, etc.

How is this not a contradiction? Well, should a lawyer ctiticize a judge in the middle of a trial? Of course he shouldn't! Of course he should! You will find law texts explaining both this situations. The problem is, BB will only allow its students access to the material that will discourage criticism.

Yet, I will provide you with some historical data as well:

Until approximately 4 and a half years ago the Bnei Baruch Hebrew forum, as well as all other Bnei baruch forums, were completely open and uncensored. This was until a rival Kabbalistic cult attacked the forum with a system of endless entries questioning their methods, showing their contradictions and lack of knowledge (Bnei Baruch do not teach kabbalah at all. Nor does the KC. This is a misconception. They only use Kabbalah texts as a means to transmit their "beliefs" so as to achieve their real goals).
The final result: the Hebrew forum, a huge forum of many tens of thousands of entries, was shut down and never reopened. All forums in the mainstream languages (English BB, French BB, etc.) were reajusted to a model of complete censorship, much like the one used here, were the moderator decides what post to accept or not, and will ban, or even technically block unwanted visitors. At times, the forums are shut down and reopened after being "cleaned" from unwanted posts.

The rules of the forum were changed and reajusted, not permitting forum members to raise questions that do not directly relate to the information inside the site (this perfectly fits what I explained about omitting information). Since their translations are misleading, omitting parts of the text or changing the order of others, that really leaves people with a very limitted space to maneuver. (Note: Just for the sake of curiosity. Baal Hasulam, the author of most of the books spread by BB and KC strictly stated that he his books not be translated. Also, after his death (some 55 years ago) there was a legal battle for publishing rights of his books, and since then those rights belong to a certain Orthodox Jewish family. Neither BB nor KC ever requested permition to use any of the material published, sold, distributed and downloaded by them).
Also: it is strictly forbidden it the BB forums to criticize BB in any way. If you do that, you will be banned from the forum. Obviously it is forbidden to criticize Mr. Laitman, since he is the leader to whom all pupils should show reverence and complete trust.

I could go on with many examples, but this is already such a long post. I hope it was helpful.

(by the way: the Israel site that posted the story about BB belongs to the most distinguished anti-cult association in Israel. This association is very serious and does not post information without complete certification as to the veracity of the facts, using as a guideline international journalistic laws. Let alone the fact they have people constantly infiltrating into BB.)

Thank you jaim. You have been the most helpful in unraveling the BB situation. I actually want to hear more though. Stories, situations, anything (I know I'm being painfully unspecific)

Also where can someone who only speaks English learn authentic Kabbalah? Specifically what makes BB's teachings unauthentic?

I've noticed that only BB claims that you can experience a sixth sense (the spiritual realm) and that everyone else says Kabbalah has to do with our material world. So which is it and where is the proof for whichever side is right?

I'm totally okay with reading a book if you have the time :)

Hello Skip,

I will answer your direct questions. Hopefully if there is need, this will lead to more direct questions.

You ask:
"Also where can someone who only speaks English learn authentic Kabbalah?"

1st, please understand it is difficult for me to prove to you that one can only learn Kabbalah under certain conditions. In many senses, those conditions seem unrealistic and disriminatory. That considered, I must say I have a lot of personal experience with this issue. Yet that is not my answer, it is just so it becomes clear that you will either research what I write or believe me. What I write alone is not sufficient for you to form an opinion (that is how I see it).

The answer to the "authentic Kabbalah" issue is that those people who wrote the Kabbalah books, be it the Zohar, be it the writings of the Ariza"l' be it Baal Hasulam, and so many others, ALL OF THEM, set conditions. And all of them set similar conditions, though not identical. If one believes they were very special human beings that attained some level of spiritual growth that is unique, but on the other hand does not believe in the conditions they themselves set for studying their books, that is contradictory. And that is my best argument. The same people who wrote books revealing this very special knowledge, set conditions to teaching it and studying it.

That being said, I will now relate to your question: it is practically impossible to learn Kabbalah in another language. I have taught what I thought was Kabbalah in 4 different languages so I have a lot of experience with this. I know people that perceived this and simply stopped studying and went ahead and studied Hebrew first (they are still at it).
Yet, there is an American lady that has been studying for years by hearing tapes (in Hebrew, obviously) of Rabbi Baruch Shalom and one of his disciples, and that has been monitored by other disciples to make sure she understands correctly. If you are Jewish and practice Jewish law, she might accept the idea of helping you, since I know there are some women that study with her. Yet, since she believes in the conditions set by the authors, as I explained, she will only teach you under those conditions.

You also ask: "Specifically what makes BB's teachings unauthentic?"
The answer is: practically everything.
I will give you a simple example, then another one when I answer your next question.
Some days ago Israel celebrated its independence date. One faction of the population in Isreal is of Jewish Nationalists, (please do not translate nationalists into radicals). This is a large group forming about 7% of the entire population. At this time of the year, BB publish many texts, newspapers, etc. showing how much of a nationalist Baal Hasulam and other Kabbalistic rabbis were, hoping to lure young men and women from this sector. They also explain how the country of Israel is related to Kabbalistic terms, dividing the country's map according to these terms (sefiroth). For that they will show parts of texts, add some explanations of their own, etc.
Obviously Baal Hasulam ,as almost all Chassidic Orthodox Jews, was against the nationalist movement. The divison of the country's map according to sefiroth is ridiculous since the current map of Israel is not similar to the original country as mentioned in the Bible and other writings. How could it possibly be that a country whose boundaries were set by the UN and recent wars have anything to do with Kabbalah texts mentioning totally different boundaries? Well, it has nothing to do with it, but that does not matter to BB. And that very "convenient Kabbalah" is what they teach.

You ask:
I've noticed that only BB claims that you can experience a sixth sense (the spiritual realm) and that everyone else says Kabbalah has to do with our material world. So which is it and where is the proof for whichever side is right?

Excellent example. Ask BB to direct you to a Kabbalistic text were the 6th sense thing is explained or even mentioned. THERE IS NO SUCH THING. Therefore they will either:
1. Tell you you should first study more, following the order of study they have set up.
2. Direct you to a text of their own (something Mr. laitman said or wrote by himself.
3. Direct you to a text that has been set out of context in an extreme way.

You should try this.

As for the 2nd part of your question. Think about it: How can kabbalah not be related to our material world?! This is ridiculous, because this is the only world we know and can relate to. It amazes me how many people fall for such an empty concept. (don't take this personally).

I hope this has been helpful, and if you have more questions I will be glad to answer, but remembe the objective of the forum involves cults and not kabbalah studies.

Jaim thank you again. I asked questions about Kabbalah because there is so much interest (myself included) in authentic teachings, but no one seems to know where to go which leads to the cult issues.

As far as BB as a cult or cult like group what do you see as the dangers of BB?

From the cult site that isn't in English could you translate (or briefly summarize) the reports about BB?

There are yeshivas, synagogues and bureaus of Jewish education where people can learn about Kabbalah from credible and respected scholars without a history of controversy and allegations of abuse.

Your question puzzles me. What ISN'T dangerous about BB?
1. They lie about who they are and what their purpose is. They transmit a false initial image of themselves and their objectives.
2. They cultivate exclusivness: only they know the truth' only through their method one can develop, only their leader is special, etc.
3. They scare you:if people won't start learning Kabbalah, this that and the other will happen, the world will only solve all its problems through Kabbalah, or else!
4. They embrace you quickly and love you very much, while suggesting you should give up relationships with people who are not as "spiritual" as yourself (hence anyone outside BB).
5. They control information: reading other books that are not Kabbalah books will confuse you, you should not talk about what goes on in the group reunions with people outside the group, etc.
6. The friends that love you so much will inform their leaders if you speak your mind against something within the organization. This behaviour is seen as positive.
7. Your time is theirs. Wake up before dawn to study, you must work, you must attend all BB activities, you should contribute to spreading Kabbalah.

That pretty much sums up what a cult is, and you will find plenty of all of this at BB.