In recent years there is a remarkable resurgence of interest
in Kabbalah and an unprecedented revival of Kabbalistic practices. The
emergence of the New Kabbalah in the last decades of the 20th century
coincides with the emergence of New Age movements, and many New Age themes
appear in various contemporary Kabbalah movements. In this presentation, I
will examine the revival of Kabbalah, especially in Israel, and will
investigate the relation between contemporary Kabbalah and the New Age. I
will demonstrate that central characteristics of New Age culture appear not
only amongst contemporary Kabbalists who explicitly use New Age themes but
also amongst Kabbalists who are perceived of as presenting more traditional
forms of Jewish mysticism. I will argue that the similarities and relations
between Contemporary Kabbalah and New Age are dependent on the postmodern
nature of both these phenomena. Following the observations of Fredrik
Jameson and other theoreticians of the postmodern condition, and using an
expression coined by Hugh Urban, I will argue that the New Age of Kabbalah
reflects the spiritual logic of late Capitalism.
[1]
The recent revival of Kabbalistic doctrines and practices follows a
period in which Kabbalah was rejected from mainstream Israeli and Jewish
cultures. Kabbalah, that occupied an important place in late medieval and
early modern Jewish cultures, was vehemently attacked by the Jewish
enlightenment movement, and lost its centrality in modern hegemonic Jewish
cultures. Although various forms of Kabbalah were still practiced in
traditional communities in the modern era, and notwithstanding the
neo-romantic interest in Kabbalah in late 19th and early 20th century,
Kabbalah occupied a peripheral place in Jewish and Israeli cultures during
most of the 20th century. Israeli hegemonic culture, as well as the dominant
Jewish movements in America, did not find much interest in Kabbalah, and
marginalized the traditional circles – ultra orthodox and Mizrahi
communities, in which Kabbalah was still revered and practiced. The Academic
study of Kabbalah, founded by Gershom Scholem was highly regarded, yet, it
was limited to philological-historical research, practiced by a small circle
of scholars.
Starting in the late 70's and early 80`s of the last century a major
shift occurred in the place of Kabblah and Jewish Mysticism in Israeli
society, in American Jewish communities, and in Western Culture. In recent
years, numerous Kabbalistic Yeshivot, institutes and study groups operate in
Israel, America and Europe, in which thousands of people study and practice
Kabbalah. Thousands of books about Kabbalah were published in the last
decades, and hundreds of Kabbalistic internet sites can be found on the Web.
The contemporary revival of Kabbalah in Israel is a wide ranging
phenomenon. The interest in and practice of Kabbalah appear in all segments
of Israeli Jewish society – Ashkenzim and Mizrachim, Ultra orthodox,
National Religious, and Secular, native Israelis as well as new immigrants,
low income sectors as well as the rich and the famous. It is difficult, if
not impossible to try and chart contemporary Kabbalah according to
sociological or ideological parameters. Indeed, it seems that contemporary
Kabbalah defies classifications according to social, ethnic or ideological
criteria. Most contemporary Kabbalistic movements are eclectic, and combine
practices and doctrines taken from different Kabbalistic traditions. The
social composition of the Kabbalistic movements is hybrid and there are only
partial correlations between social or ethnic groups and the Kabbalistic
ideologies they adopt. Thus, for instance, the Kabbalah of Rabbi Yehuda
Ashlag, the 20th century Kabbalist who emigrated from Warsaw to Palestine in
the 1920's, and developed a highly complex communist-kabbalistic system, is
studied today in Ultra Orthodox circles, by new immigrants from the former
Soviet Union, as well as by secular Israelis. In National Religious circles
there is interest in the mystical aspects of Rabbi Kook writings, as well as
in the Kabbalah of R. Isaac Ginzburg, the American born charismatic Ba'al
Tehsuva who became a Habad Hasid, and developed an ultra-national Hasidic
Kabbalah. Interestingly, amongst his students, one finds not only radical
right-wing settlers from the occupied territories, but also secular Jews
from the geographic and social center of Israeli society. R. Yakov Ifargan,
known as the X-ray (ha-Rentgen), a young Israeli Kabbalist who operates in
the southern development town Netivot, and is best known for his prognostic
and healing powers, draws to his midnight Tikkun ceremonies and private
interviews a mixed crowd of low in-come Mizrahi admirers from Netivot and
other peripheral areas, well-to-do ashkenazy professionals, including high
profile business men, politicians and celebrities, as well as a group of
Braslav Hasidim. The eclectic and hybrid nature of the New Kabbalah is, as I
will soon argue, one of its post-modern characteristics. But, before turning
to examine contemporary Kabbalah as a postmodern spiritual phenomenon, I
would like to discuss its connection to the New Age movement.