Under the Bergs’ leadership the Kabbalah Centre has become both enormously wealthy and world famous. Its products—the red strings, the scented candles, the holy water—are on display everywhere from the counters at Sephora to the pages of Us Weekly. The Centre’s website does a lucrative business selling $280 crib sheet sets featuring protective Hebrew lettering; the diamond necklaces bearing symbols for healing, happiness, love, and prosperity are so popular they’ve sold out. No less a luminary than Britney Spears has been photographed toting a volume of the Zohar, the Kabbalists’ bible, which sells at prices up to $415 for a set. The star-studded seder in Florida shows how far the Bergs have come, from the outer boroughs of New York City to the global stage. [...] But a close look reveals an organization more committed to questionable financial deals and celebrity wrangling than to advancing an ancient Jewish mystical approach to life.
Part Three: Madonna lifts the Kabbalah Centre to a higher ground (upcoming)
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