They come to fill the cracks. \nLiz Lintott, like so many generations of Jews, crossed an ocean to press her fingers against the only stones left of the original Temple in Jerusalem. It's an age-old tradition that when Jews make a pilgrimage to Israel, they scribble a few thoughts on a scrap of paper and crimp the message into one of the Western Wall's crevices, where either nature has weathered away the mortar or a history of warfare has split into it with veins. \nAfter Lintott had her chance to touch the wall, she touched on another Jewish tradition: She gave tzedakah, or charity, to a rabbi collecting donations near the ruins. In exchange for her goodwill, he knotted a thin red string around her left wrist. Tied with old superstition, the bracelet serves as a good-luck charm for protection and safe traveling. More than a month after Lintott's return to the United States, the bracelet still rides along the bottom of her shirt sleeve. \n"Everytime I look at it, I can smile and remember Israel," said Lintott, a senior majoring in Jewish studies. \nBut while Lintott says she wears her bracelet to remind her of her religious heritage, red string bracelets are making a revival in the mainstream of fashion accessories. Celebrities such as Madonna, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher and Britney Spears don the red string in connection with their recent infatuation with Kabbalah, the study of ancient mystical writings by Jewish scholars.\nWhile Madonna and her husband have been spotted studying the philosophies of 15th century Jewish mystics at the Kabbalah Centre in Los Angeles, others acculturate Kabbalah's symbols, using them as mere accessories. Last month, Spears tattooed the nape of her neck with a Kabbalah symbol, despite the fact that Judaism is staunchly opposed to tattooing; people with tattoos are not allowed to receive burials in Jewish cemeteries. \nIt's a fad that is permeating pop culture, causing a mixture of reactions. Some Jews are pleased with the newfound popularity because it brings positive attention to the folklore of Jewish culture; others are disturbed by the separation of Kabbalah from its Jewish context as it tends to oversimplify the philosophy and classify it with yoga or horoscopes. \n"I think it's fine if their intentions are to be more spiritual," Lintott said. "Great for them, but a red string is not what Judaism is all about. There are a lot of laws that go along with (Kabbalah), and wearing the red string is not representative of the religion." \nScholars and practicing Jews continue to argue whether the trend is a form of appreciation or sacrilege of tradition, but the fact is most people still don't know what Kabbalah really is.
The crack between human and God\nA more than 500-year-old philosophy, Kabbalah was said to be so complex, only the wisdom, patience and life experience of a married Jewish man above the age of 40 could prepare a student for the intellectual challenge Jewish mysticism would present. After an adolescence and adulthood devoted to the study of Torah, the Old Testament, Jewish men could proceed with their philosophical study under extreme caution. \nThe threats involved in the study of Kabbalah were said to manifest in two ways: psychological or social danger. The fear was that full submersion into Kabbalah could cause the student to become too introverted or cut the student off from normal human interaction. \nThe literal meaning of the Hebrew word "Kabbalah" is "that which is received." Though this terminology might seem to suggest the reception of gifts from God, Rabbi Shaul Magid, IU associate professor of Jewish studies, suggests it probably derives from the way in which the early Kabbalists intended the philosophy to be studied. \n"Kabbalah was never supposed to be an independent study, but a transmission of esoteric knowledge from a teacher to a student," Magid said. "So the concept of receiving something is actually the intimate passing down of the tradition." \nOne of the dominant ideas Kabbalist teachers try to instill in their fellowships is the notion of a universe divided into three realms: God's divine world, the Earthly world and an intermediate layer. \nBecause God is an invisible, abstract concept, Judaism often refers to God's divine impact on the human world with a metaphor of "light." Like light, God is an intangible object, but God's "radiance" is both seen and felt. \nThe intermediate layer is a sort of "cosmic plumbing," Magid said, so the "light" that passes through it fills the crack between God and human beings. \nThis realm supposedly bears 10 channels through which communication and the "covenant" can permeate. For instance, some of the "channels" are justice, kindness and beauty. God's light filters through these channels, and reciprocally, humans can connect with God through the embodiment of those traits. Because Judaism strives to maintain the covenant with God, Kabbalah offers a sort of recipe for achieving that goal.\nWhile Jews consider the Torah the "divine word of God," without proper analysis and interpretation, its morals could be rendered useless. Aside from its focus on the covenant, much of Kabbalah seeks to fill the cracks in the Bible's "logic" with deeper meanings. \n"It's like the clothes a person wears," Magid said. "You can try to infer things about a person by their clothes, but clothes don't actually tell you anything about that person. (In Kabbalist thought) You can think of the biblical stories as the garments, but to actually know the Torah -- Kabbalah shows you how to probe into its core."
Kabbalah, California style\nKey chains, red string bracelets and "Kabbalah-infused" water are just a few of the mystical trinkets one can purchase from www.kabbalah.com, the official Web site of Rabbi Yehuda Berg's Kabbalah Centre in Los Angeles. But while some are selling the products, others are trying to donate them. A month ago, celebrities of the center held fundraisers to ship crates of Kabbalah water to tsunami victims. \n"We know from science and (the main writings of Kabbalah) that water absorbs energy," said Yehuda Ashkenazi, an instructor of the Manhattan branch of the Kabbalah Centre. "Basically, more than 70 percent of our body is water, and our brain is 99 percent water, so we know that water has a powerful healing effect on us, but it is not holy water."\nWith the knowledge of Kabbalah, humans can change the composition of water with their minds and use it for energy, Ashkenazi said. The water comes from a mountain spring, he said.\nSkeptics of the new movement believe Kabbalah water and other practical applications of this tradition take away from the theoretical study of Kabbalah philosophy. \n"Some Jews have a problem with it because it reduces Kabbalah to magic and not the philosophical study," Magid said. "They feel they need to protect it from being manipulated or misunderstood as superstition or demonology." \nAnd in the advent of Kabbalah's commercial explosion, some are simply opposed to its easy accessibility. \n"Kabbalah has often been very elitist. When a student is inducted into the schooling of Kabbalah, (he or she) is essentially a member of an exclusive club," said Magid. "It was never meant to be exposed to the masses of humanity ... With the Kabbalah tradition comes this whole notion that it's so sacred, it's forbidden." \nBut according to the Kabbalah Centre's Web site, "Kabbalah's spiritual power is universal. It's for Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews; and above all, everyone is entitled to happiness and a productive life, free of chaos." \n"To me, I don't see it being open to everyone as a huge problem," Magid said. "I guess some people don't like that it's being presented as an outgrowth of Judaism, but not limited to Judaism. \n"Yes, Kabbalah is being commercialized, and people find that distasteful," Magid admitted. "But what the celebrities are doing is really just holding up a mirror to everyone else. It's commercialized, but it's at the fault of the consumer, not Madonna. Madonna is just the vehicle. That's capitalism." \nMagid believes this is a unique movement for Judaism. In many cases, Jewishness, the cultural folk traditions of Judaism, has found its way into American culture, such as in Vaudevillian or Woody Allen's humor, but Kabbalah is an exception. \n"This is an interesting chapter of the Americanization of Judaism," said Magid. "How often does an aspect of Judaism become pop culture?"\n-- Contact Opinion Editor Elisha Sauers at esauers@indiana.edu.
