[MakkabI]
August 8th, 2004, 06:15 AM
The Kabbalah Center has reserved 950 rooms and a huge ballroom to serve as a synagogue at the Tel Aviv Intercontinental and Dan Panorama hotels starting from September 15, Rosh Hashanah eve, until September 26, the day after Yom Kippur.
Some 2,000 tourists, headed by Madonna, Demi Moore and U.S. designer Donna Karan, are scheduled to be descending on Tel Aviv next month as part of an 11-day program by the Los Angeles-based Kabbalah Center, a program organizer reported.
The itinerary by the center includes traditional prayer services for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and trips to popular tourist sites, and the graves of famous kabbalists. The director of the Israel Kabbalah Center, Osnat Youdkevitch, reported that the Israeli government and security forces have been "very helpful" in assisting the program organizers.
Youdkevitch said that approximately 1,200 people, mostly Jews, have already registered for the trip through the Kabbalah Center's Los Angeles office, but could not confirm whether the group would in fact include Madonna and Moore.
The participants hail from 22 countries, Youdkevitch said, including Venezuela, Poland and the Ivory Coast. More than 800 Israelis have also registered for the religious services of the program, reported Youdkevitch, an Israeli who turned Orthodox after developing a relationship with Kabbalah Center founders Rabbi Philip and Karen Berg 24 years ago.
According to Youdkevitch, the prayer ceremonies for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur will be conducted with all the trappings of Orthodox Jewish practice. The synagogue being prepared in the grand ballroom of Tel Aviv's David Intercontinental Hotel - which seats up to 2,800 people theater style - will include a bimah (podium) from which a cantor will lead Hebrew prayers, a traditional ark for Torah scrolls,and a partition between the separate seating sections for men and women, Youdkevitch reported
The difference between an Orthodox holiday service and the kabbalah service, she said, is that each Hebrew prayer and each ritual, such as the blowing of the shofar (ram's horn), will be preceded by an explanation of the act's spiritual meaning according to kabbalah and "a chance to meditate on your actions."
"It says in the Zohar that someone who reads the words of Torah without thinking about their meaning is like someone who eats straw," Youdkevitch said. "The Torah is not just stories, it's a code. The Zohar deciphers the code. The Torah itself doesn't do anything. Without the Zohar we cannot understand the Torah."
Revealing ancient wisdom
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur provide "the highest level of meditation for the year," Youdkevitch said. "We call the synagogue a war room. You fight with your negativity, with your thoughts. It's a fight to bring in light and connect to God. When the day ends, you are exhausted from working on yourself." She predicted that the morning Rosh Hashanah services will take until around 3:30 P.M.
Kabbalah is an ancient form of Jewish mysticism, considered by many traditional Jews to be so holy that it may be studied in its original form only after years of Talmudic study and spiritual refinement. A Talmudic sage, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, is attributed with having authored the kabbalistic teachings over 1,800 years ago; they are recorded in a mostly-Aramaic book called the Zohar.
The Kabbalah Center, which boasts 24 locations in 12 countries and claims to have millions of followers, aims to "make accessible the ancient wisdom and tools of Kabbalah in order to illuminate the minds and hearts of individuals, groups and organizations-regardless of faith, political belief, or race," according to the organization's Web site. The institution, which recently distributed 12,000 copies of the Zohar, at $400 apiece donated by American kabbalah devotees, to Jewish and Arab residents of the occupied territories in an effort to promote peace, has garnered extensive media attention because it has attracted celebrity adherents and fans including Elizabeth Taylor, Britney Spears and, most notably, Madonna.
However, the organization has also been accused of using cult-like tactics to retain members and raise funds. Some mainstream rabbis have also criticized the Kabbalah Center for teaching a "pop" version of Jewish mysticism and offering "Judaism Lite" without demanding serious textual studies or religious observance.
A lot of chickens
During the week between the two holidays, the visitors will be offered tours to common vacation spots such as Lake Kinneret, as well as trips to Rachel's Tomb, the gravesites of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the revered 16th-century kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria and Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag, who in the mid-1900s wrote an interpretive 21-volume Hebrew translation of the Zohar.
Youdkevitch has also arranged for the Kabbalah Center devotees to use live chickens to "do kaparos," as she called it. The ritual, meant to symbolize the removal of sin from oneself and inspire inner reflection and repentance, is common among Orthodox Jews on the day before Yom Kippur, and involves rotating either coins or a live chicken over one's head while reciting special prayers. The chickens are then slaughtered and given to the poor. If money is used, it is given to charity.
Asked how many chickens it takes to "do kaparos" for 2,000 people, Youdkevitch said "I don't know. A lot."
Some 2,000 tourists, headed by Madonna, Demi Moore and U.S. designer Donna Karan, are scheduled to be descending on Tel Aviv next month as part of an 11-day program by the Los Angeles-based Kabbalah Center, a program organizer reported.
The itinerary by the center includes traditional prayer services for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and trips to popular tourist sites, and the graves of famous kabbalists. The director of the Israel Kabbalah Center, Osnat Youdkevitch, reported that the Israeli government and security forces have been "very helpful" in assisting the program organizers.
Youdkevitch said that approximately 1,200 people, mostly Jews, have already registered for the trip through the Kabbalah Center's Los Angeles office, but could not confirm whether the group would in fact include Madonna and Moore.
The participants hail from 22 countries, Youdkevitch said, including Venezuela, Poland and the Ivory Coast. More than 800 Israelis have also registered for the religious services of the program, reported Youdkevitch, an Israeli who turned Orthodox after developing a relationship with Kabbalah Center founders Rabbi Philip and Karen Berg 24 years ago.
According to Youdkevitch, the prayer ceremonies for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur will be conducted with all the trappings of Orthodox Jewish practice. The synagogue being prepared in the grand ballroom of Tel Aviv's David Intercontinental Hotel - which seats up to 2,800 people theater style - will include a bimah (podium) from which a cantor will lead Hebrew prayers, a traditional ark for Torah scrolls,and a partition between the separate seating sections for men and women, Youdkevitch reported
The difference between an Orthodox holiday service and the kabbalah service, she said, is that each Hebrew prayer and each ritual, such as the blowing of the shofar (ram's horn), will be preceded by an explanation of the act's spiritual meaning according to kabbalah and "a chance to meditate on your actions."
"It says in the Zohar that someone who reads the words of Torah without thinking about their meaning is like someone who eats straw," Youdkevitch said. "The Torah is not just stories, it's a code. The Zohar deciphers the code. The Torah itself doesn't do anything. Without the Zohar we cannot understand the Torah."
Revealing ancient wisdom
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur provide "the highest level of meditation for the year," Youdkevitch said. "We call the synagogue a war room. You fight with your negativity, with your thoughts. It's a fight to bring in light and connect to God. When the day ends, you are exhausted from working on yourself." She predicted that the morning Rosh Hashanah services will take until around 3:30 P.M.
Kabbalah is an ancient form of Jewish mysticism, considered by many traditional Jews to be so holy that it may be studied in its original form only after years of Talmudic study and spiritual refinement. A Talmudic sage, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, is attributed with having authored the kabbalistic teachings over 1,800 years ago; they are recorded in a mostly-Aramaic book called the Zohar.
The Kabbalah Center, which boasts 24 locations in 12 countries and claims to have millions of followers, aims to "make accessible the ancient wisdom and tools of Kabbalah in order to illuminate the minds and hearts of individuals, groups and organizations-regardless of faith, political belief, or race," according to the organization's Web site. The institution, which recently distributed 12,000 copies of the Zohar, at $400 apiece donated by American kabbalah devotees, to Jewish and Arab residents of the occupied territories in an effort to promote peace, has garnered extensive media attention because it has attracted celebrity adherents and fans including Elizabeth Taylor, Britney Spears and, most notably, Madonna.
However, the organization has also been accused of using cult-like tactics to retain members and raise funds. Some mainstream rabbis have also criticized the Kabbalah Center for teaching a "pop" version of Jewish mysticism and offering "Judaism Lite" without demanding serious textual studies or religious observance.
A lot of chickens
During the week between the two holidays, the visitors will be offered tours to common vacation spots such as Lake Kinneret, as well as trips to Rachel's Tomb, the gravesites of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the revered 16th-century kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria and Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag, who in the mid-1900s wrote an interpretive 21-volume Hebrew translation of the Zohar.
Youdkevitch has also arranged for the Kabbalah Center devotees to use live chickens to "do kaparos," as she called it. The ritual, meant to symbolize the removal of sin from oneself and inspire inner reflection and repentance, is common among Orthodox Jews on the day before Yom Kippur, and involves rotating either coins or a live chicken over one's head while reciting special prayers. The chickens are then slaughtered and given to the poor. If money is used, it is given to charity.
Asked how many chickens it takes to "do kaparos" for 2,000 people, Youdkevitch said "I don't know. A lot."