There has been a resurgence of late in the ancient Jewish mystical practice of Kabbalah as a result of many Hollywood types, some Jewish and some not, falling into this spiritual delusion. Don't be fooled, dabbling in this type of endeavor can have serious consequences on you and your children's lives. I am not going to quote scripture to you or give you an intellectual argument for avoiding Kabbalah. I am going instead to tell you a real story about one person's descent into the spiritual arrogance of Kabbalah and hope that it scares the hell out of you. That person was me!

While I was brought up in a more or less traditional Jewish household and went to an after school Cheder (Hebrew School) from age 9-13 to prepare for my Bar Mitzvah, I was always interested in way out things. I loved science fiction novels and as a young teen even wrote a story for Analog Science Fiction magazine about life on Mars. My interests gradually moved into study of philosophy, religion, and mysticism. I became what the Bible speaks of as a Gnostic. I wanted to commune directly with God. Forget the traditional religions and their outdated practices. I was trying to find knowledge (gnosis) of God. I meditated, studied astrology, numerology, UFOs, Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, and death and dying research. I studied my dreams, alternate states of consciousness, and gradually found myself studying Jewish mysticism. I was excited to find that the Zohar (23 volume Kabbalah bible) spoke of astrology, reincarnation (gilgul), spirit guides, and many other subjects that I loved. Now I could be so called New Age and Jewish as well. I loved it.

When I was an undergrad student in the sixties, my university was closed for a semester because of the rioting and they offered free classes. I took one on Edgar Cayce, the Sleeping Prophet, which would influence my life for the next twenty years. As a grad student I bought the multivolume copy of the Zohar. One was supposed to be married, forty years old, male, and learned in Torah before one was allowed to study Kabbalah (which means to receive or accept-tradition). I was male and married but still in my thirties and not that conversant in Torah and Talmud. I was told that it could drive you mad if studied without these restrictions. I laughed, but in a way it did drive me mad. How Madonna and others can be told that it is all right for them to study Kabbalah is beyond me.

While I was a Professor at the University of Arizona, I wrote a paper for a feminist journal, Anima, entitled "Adam: Male, Female or Both". It spoke of the androgynous nature of Adam according to Genesis as well as described the Kabbalistic character of Lilith. Lilith was supposedly the first wife of Adam in the garden created from dust like him and therefore his equal. She was the first feminist and refused to lie beneath him when they made love and screamed some ungodly obscenities and flew off to the netherworld where she continues to kill newborn babies and wrack other havoc on unsuspecting males. I glorified her.

Then, a couple of years later I wrote a novel, "The Other World" where I glorified Lilith and her cohort Samael (Satan). I read from this at a loft in Greenwich Village in New York. Thank God it was never published but I was in the midst of Kabbalah. People loved it. I even taught Adult Bible Classes for young Jewish married couples on Kabbalah. I was leading the masses astray not to speak of thousands of my students. I even taught a grad class on "Alternate Conceptions of Reality" where I spoke of reincarnation (Kabbalistic gilgul), karma etc. One of my students committed suicide and everyone he knew wanted me at the funeral because he loved my class best. I led this poor guy to hell with Kabbalah.

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