Kabbalah and the Politics of Inauthenticity: The Controversies over the Kabbalah Center

Abstract

This article examines the controversies and polemics against the Kabbalah Center, and probes the cultural significance of the denunciations of thekcas “inauthentic.” The study shows that the accusation of inauthenticity is directed both at thekc’s modern features, which are perceived as incompatible with “authentic” Kabbalah, as well as against the kabbalistic practices and doctrines of thekcwhich are perceived as incompatible with “authentic” modern Western values. It argues that the hostility to thekcis stimulated to a large degree by the postmodern features of thekcand its transgression of the fundamental cultural boundaries of modern Western culture. Furthermore, it shows that the indictment of inauthenticity is used to amplify the cultural power of competing Kabbalists and academic scholars of Kabbalah, who present themselves as experts on “authentic” Kabbalah.