Editing Kabbalah Centre (section)

==Teachings==

===Approach===
The Kabbalah Centre's approach to teaching is to start students with teachings of Kabbalah that do not require knowledge of [[Hebrew]] and Jewish texts.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishjournal.com/articles/item/maybe_its_not_so_weird_after_all_20071207/|title=Maybe It's Not So Weird, After All|publisher=Jewish Journal|first=Rob |last=Eshman |date=December 6, 2007|access-date=September 23, 2016}}</ref>

===Relation to religion===
According to its views, all widely held spiritual or religious belief systems are merely specific branches of universal wisdom. The effect of this is a resemblance of religions such as [[Christianity]], [[Judaism]], [[Islam]] and [[Buddhism]], as well as new-age teachings, to Kabbalah. In accordance with this belief, the Kabbalah Centre does not present itself as an alternative to any [[religion]] in particular, but rather, as a supplement to it.

===The Bible===
Some biblical passages, such as the [[Passage of the Red Sea]], are understood to be codes to life and unseen universal laws which the [[Zohar]] and writings of the Kabbalists throughout history unravel.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.zohar.com/article/what-zohar|title=What is the Zohar? {{!}} zohar.com|website=www.zohar.com|access-date=2019-08-29|archive-date=2019-10-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002065759/http://www.zohar.com/article/what-zohar|url-status=dead}}</ref> According to Berg "The Zohar reveals the dynamic interplay and interconnectedness of our universe and man's relationship to it."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://livingwisdom.kabbalah.com/prayer|title=Prayer|publisher=The Kabbalah Centre|first=Philip|last=Berg|date=October 22, 2014|access-date=September 23, 2016|archive-date=September 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160927200644/https://livingwisdom.kabbalah.com/prayer|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Kabbalah Centre has produced a series of the Books of the Bible with Kabbalistic commentaries to each of the [[Weekly portion]] of the Torah.<ref>Kabbalistic Bible - Yehuda Berg, Research Centre of Kabbalah, 2008, {{ISBN|978-1571896063}}</ref>

===The Light===
One should primarily be concerned with their relationship with the essence of [[God]], rather than God itself, as it is beyond comprehension. The essence of God is referred to in its teachings as [[Light]].<ref>[https://archive.today/20130105075858/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119423340/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 The Kabbalah Centre and Contemporary Spirituality] Wiley InterScience Journal</ref>

===99%===
The [[sense|five senses]] supposedly provide access to a mere 1% of reality, which is the byproduct of a 99% reality that cannot be accessed by the senses.<ref>Michaelson, Jay (September 03, 2004) [http://www.forward.com/articles/5270/ "What the Kabbalah Centre Actually Teaches"] ''The Jewish Daily Forward''</ref>

===Klippot===
Kabbalah Centre teaches the Kabbalistic concept of [[Klippot]]. The idea is that everyone has a direct and clear connection to the upper metaphysical-spiritual world of the Light ([[Ein Sof]], unbounded God), but that this channel is blocked by Klippot, restricting the spiritual energy from entering the physical body. It is through study and practice of Kabbalah teachings and Jewish law (which the Kabbalah Centre says is early rabbinistic construction to aid in practicing Kabbalah without revealing its secrets) that one removes Klippot, and it is by violence and negative behavior that one adds Klippot.<ref name="sex">{{cite book
  | last = Yehuda
  | first = Berg
  | title = The Kabbalah Book of Sex: And Other Mysteries of the Universe
  | publisher = Kabbalah Publishing
  | date = September 18, 2006
  | isbn = 1-57189-544-2 }}</ref>

===Astrology===
[[File:Beit alfa01.jpg|thumb|right|[[Zodiac]] in a 6th-century [[synagogue]] at Beit Alpha, [[Israel]]]]
The Kabbalah Centre has a strong belief in [[astrology]]<ref name =daph>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/magazine/13kabbalah-t.html?_r=0|title=In Search of the Skeptical, Hopeful, Mystical Jew That Could Be Me|magazine=The New York Times Magazine|first=Daphne |last=Merkin |date=April 13, 2008|access-date=September 20, 2016}}</ref> and asserts that astrology has always been part of Judaism. Astrology was studied by Jewish scholars throughout the Middle Ages, though it was opposed by more philosophically inclined thinkers such as [[Maimonides]].{{citation needed|date=May 2012}}

There is a strong belief in the Kabbalah tradition that [[cosmos|cosmic]] forces affect everything, and knowing how to understand them can prove to be valuable to the aspiring Kabbalist. Berg, the founder of the Kabbalah Centre, wrote numerous books on astrology during his career.<ref name=nytimes1>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/21/us/rabbi-philip-berg-who-updated-jewish-mysticism-dies-at-86.html|title=Rabbi Philip Berg, Who Updated Jewish Mysticism, Dies at 86|newspaper=The New York Times|first=Margalit |last=Fox|date=September 20, 2013 |access-date=September 20, 2016}}</ref>

===Sex===
In a book written by [[Yehuda Berg]], a former teacher at the center, he recommended that men not [[masturbate]] as semen generated without loving, shared intention does not serve its purpose. He also wrote that a man should not [[orgasm]] before the woman, as it injects selfishness into the act of love making.<ref name="sex" /> Other thoughts on sex include that a man should not orgasm with the woman positioned above him, as she is then drawing energies into herself from below, instead of above.<ref name="sex" /> The most Light is derived from sex that occurs just after midnight on Saturday morning.<ref name="sex" />