QUESTION BOX:

IS KABBALA KOSHER?

Dear Mr. Chamberlin,

I am a Messianic Congregational Leader in Kalispell Mt. I have a special request from you. I have a brother-in-law who is the chief of police in Libby Mt. and he and his wife were good solid Messianic people. But now, through Dr. James Trimm and Avi ben Mordecai he has moved into the arena of Kabbala and Seferot and all. This couple loves your magazine and respect it and the wife has stated that if we could show her articles refuting this from Petah Tikvah, that that would be of assistance. Could you sir mail the back issues that you have concerning this? And bill me for them, as this hopefully will be a catalyst to conquer this heresy in their minds.

Cliff Robertson, MONTANA

Our reply:

I regret that I haven't done any articles on Kabbala. I have studied it, both privately and under local rabbis. However, I have only scratched the surface; there is so much to it. I do not recommend it. Some is biblical, perhaps even good meditation. Some of it is quite frankly very boring. But much of it is occult. Some might call it Jewish occult, but that would be a misnomer, since it borrows so heavily from Hinduism, with the doctrines of reincarnation, transmigration of the souls, etc. Tacking "Jewish" onto it doesn't make it kosher. Karl Marx was Jewish, but what he did was very un-kosher. Advanced students of Kabbala even throw “curses” on others.

We had friends years ago who got involved in Kabbala quite deeply. They began having strange things happening, like cars driving into their living room, etc. They decided it was because of the occult activities of Kabbala, and quit the practice.

More recently, another friend got involved with Tanya, which is also Jewish occult. He ended up denying Yeshua, which is a logical route when someone puts more credence into what the Rabbis say than in what the Bible says.

As you may know, many if not most Chassidic Jews dabble in Kabbala. The Chassidic Jews are often called "Ultra-Orthodox," another misnomer, since so much of what they believe comes from Kabbala, and is contrary to Judaism and Torah, and closer to Hinduism than Judaism. I hope this helps. RAC