by Natasha Horvath
The first Kabbalah Centre was set up in Tel Aviv by the founder "Dr" Philip Berg and his wife Karen. The BBC documentary hosted by investigative reporter John Sweeney reveals the outrageous claims made by the Centre and also Berg’s background.
Undercover reporters went to the London Kabbalah Centre to investigate the high-pressure sales techniques utilized by the group. The probe revealed that the centre promotes its own brand of beliefs, part ancient Jewish mysticism and part pseudo-science.
A representative of the Centre, Eliyahu Yardeni claimed bottles of "healing" spring water sold by the group could help cure cancer - and how they sold a batch to a sufferer for hundreds of pounds.
Moreover, Yardeni said "Just to tell you another thing about the six million Jews that were killed in the Holocaust: the question was that the Light was blocked. They didn't use Kabbalah."
Genuine scholars of Kabbalah reject the Kabbalah Centre as an opportunist offshoot of the faith with charismatic leaders who try to attract the rich and the vulnerable with the promise of health, wealth and happiness.
The Zohar is also said to have special powers which followers can benefit from by running a finger over the text as if reading Braille.
A second investigator, who worked undercover as a Kabbalah Centre volunteer for four months, was told how the Kabbalah water worked, with a devotee explaining: "We start with the purest artesian water and then we do the various meditations, injecting energy into it."
The investigation discovered the water actually comes from CJC Bottling, a bottling plant in Ontario, Canada, which was the subject of a public health investigation in 2002 into how its water was tested.
Money-spinning market
The sect's founder, "Dr" Philip Berg is known to followers as the Rav. He enjoys a millionaire's lifestyle in Los Angeles.
The source of Berg's "doctorate" is not clear, but it is known that he was born Feivel Gruberger in New York. He is trained as a Rabbi and worked as an insurance agent. Philip deserted his first wife and seven children.
Philip Berg and his second wife set up their first Kabbalah Centre in Tel Aviv. The profitable marketing operation for the water, Zohar books, videos, and red string bracelets worn by followers came later.
