Editing Philip Berg (section)

==Biography==
Berg was born as Shraga Feivel Gruberger in 1927 in [[Brooklyn]], to an [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jewish]] family.<ref name=Radar>Udovich, Mim. "Kabbalah Chronicles: Inside Hollywood's hottest cult", ''Radar Online'', June 15, 2005. (Copy at {{cite web |url=http://www.radaronline.com/web-only/the-kabbalah-chronicles/2005/06/inside-hollywoods-hottest-cult-ii.php |title=Inside Hollywood's Hottest Cult II : Radar Online |accessdate=2006-08-05 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071024131751/http://www.radaronline.com/web-only/the-kabbalah-chronicles/2005/06/inside-hollywoods-hottest-cult-ii.php |archive-date=October 24, 2007 }})</ref> His father, Max Gruberger, immigrated from [[Nadvirna|Nadvorna]], [[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria|Galicia]] (now in [[Ukraine]]), and worked as a clothes presser in [[Williamsburg, Brooklyn|Williamsburg]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/dec/11/religion.uk|title=Elena Lappin investigates Kabbalah: part one|last=Lappin|first=Elena|date=2004-12-11|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-02-24|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> In his youth, Berg underwent [[Talmud]]ic education at [[Beth Medrash Govoha|Lakewood Yeshiva]] under Rabbi [[Aharon Kotler]].<ref>28 Questions and Answers About Kabbalah - Kabbalah Learning Centre 1992</ref> He later returned to Williamsburg, where in 1951 at age 22 he received ordination from [[Yeshiva Torah Vodaas]].{{sfn|Myers|2007|p=34}} Berg went into the business world and worked as an insurance agent for [[New York Life Insurance Company|New York Life]]. He also became involved in real estate, and by 1962 it is claimed he was a [[millionaire]].<ref>{{Cite news|title=The Kabbalah Centre|last=Csillag|first=Ron|date=18 March 1993|work=The Canadian Jewish News}}</ref> It is likely that he began to be called Philip during this time, as it is not unusual practice among Jews with [[Yiddish]] names to use an English equivalent while working in a secular environment.

Berg's first wife, Rivkah Brandwein, had an uncle named Yehuda Brandwein, whom Berg first met on a trip to [[Israel]] in 1962. Brandwein, a [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidic]] rabbi from the [[List of Hasidic dynasties|Stretiner Hasidic dynasty]] and a close student in the Kabbalistic circle around [[Yehuda Ashlag]], would become Berg's Kabbalistic mentor. Brandwein was the head of the Religious Department of the Israeli national workers union, [[Histadrut]], and established Yeshivat Kol Yehuda (named after Ashlag) as a continuation of his mentor's yeshiva/publishing house "Beit Ulpana Itur Rabbanim". The uniqueness of Kol Yehuda was that students focused on kabbalistic study. The students would receive a salary to cover their living expenses so they could devote themselves to full-time learning. However, Brandwein faced difficulty in finding funds for the [[yeshiva]] and publishing. Berg had become Brandwein's book distributor and fundraiser in the United States, and it is likely he was encouraged by Brandwein to establish the National Institute for the Research in Kabbalah in New York in 1965 to aid the yeshiva.{{sfn|Myers|2007|p=35}}

After Brandwein's death in 1969, Berg returned to the United States and began working again with his former secretary (and future wife) [[Karen Berg (writer)|Karen]], on the condition that she let him teach her Kabbalah, a discipline he claimed was reserved exclusively for men. In 1971, Philip and Karen married and traveled to Israel. It was there that they changed their surname from Gruberger to Berg, as it was a common practice to shorten a European Jewish surname upon [[Aliyah|moving to Israel]].{{sfn|Myers|2007|p=51}} In 1973, the Bergs returned to [[Queens]], New York, where they established their full-time headquarters during the 1980s.<ref name=Radar/>

[[File:Rav Berg Tomb.jpg|thumb|Philip Berg's grave in the [[Safed]] Jewish Cemetery|177x177px]]
Berg, who had been ill since suffering a stroke in 2004, died on September 16, 2013. He was generally reported to be 86 (although the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' reported that according to public records he was 84). He is survived by his wife Karen and two sons, [[Yehuda Berg|Yehuda]] and Michael,<ref name="Ryan"/> who have led the Kabbalah Centre since his stroke.<ref name="Telegraph"/> Besides these two children Berg also had eight children from his first marriage that renounced Berg and his teachings.<ref name="nyt">{{cite news|title=Rabbi Philip Berg, Who Updated Jewish Mysticism, Dies at 86|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/21/us/rabbi-philip-berg-who-updated-jewish-mysticism-dies-at-86.html?pagewanted=all|work=[[The New York Times]]| date=21 September 2013 |accessdate=22 September 2013| last1=Fox | first1=Margalit }}</ref>{{not in source|date=March 2024}}