"MADONNA IS COMING UNDER ATTACK for preaching her new religion to children. The singer has penned a much-hyped kiddie�s book 'The English Roses,' a tale about the hazards of jealousy." (MSNBC).

Horrors, no! Teaching children religion! Next they'll be teaching them about magic and wizardry. Oh, wait . . .

By the way, Binah is the Hebrew word for "understanding," not "wisdom." (The latter is Hokhmah.) (The article above is via the Yada, Yada, Yada Blog.)


This guy, however, gets a little carried away with his claims for Kabbalah:

The Luckiest Generation on Earth (PRWeb/eMediaWire)

Excerpts:

Tel Aviv, Israel (PRWEB) September 23 2003 - For thousands of years, the secrets of the universe were passed down to a chosen few from generation to generation. Ours is the first generation on earth to have complete access to the sacred sources that explain every phenomena in the world.

[...]

According to the Israel-based Kabbalist Michael Laitman, a bio-cyberneticist by profession, Kabbalah is not about researching an ancient mystical body of knowledge, but is rather the most modern science closest to man. It is the science of the 21st century that researches the forces that we do not see, forces that govern our world and influence every moment of our lives. This is a science that will change the future of each and every individual, and all of mankind. The sources explain very clearly that once this process is underway, the entire world will gradually elevate itself to a higher state of being.

[...]

Since a Kabbalist is a person who has attained the spiritual realm, they are completely aware of the processes influencing our world. They essentially hold the key to safeguarding the future of the entire human race. Yet only people who have reached a certain stage of development will feel drawn to studying the construction of the universe, and are doing the work for the rest of humanity.

Sorry, but Kabbalah is about researching an ancient body of mystical knowledge and, as such, it's kind of cool. And, as I've said before, if people get something out of it today, good for them. But as someone who's an expert on early Jewish mysticism and who knows a good bit about Kabbalah, I can assure anyone who is in doubt that Kabbalah is not science and it doesn't explain every phenomenon in the universe. Physicists are working on that but they have a long way to go. Still, their work and its technological benefits are pretty exciting - much more exciting than bogus New Age science. If Michael Laitman really thinks Kabbalah can do everything he claims, he needs to go home and unplug his refrigerator for a reality check.