Talk on Kabbalah draws the faithful, the curious

A sellout crowd of 115 hears about practical uses in modern life.

A lecture about Kabbalah, the ancient form of Jewish mysticism, drew an overflow crowd to the Chabad Jewish Center on Monday.

Among them were longtime Kabbalah students, as well as the merely curious, people who wanted to learn more about the movement that has gained a controversial footing in pop culture.

“The Kabbalah movement is not necessarily one that is discussed or talked about in the Jewish religion, but with all the press it has been getting… I was just curious. I really wanted to find out about this segment of Judaism, which I knew little about,” said Barry M. Alpert, a member of Temple B’nai Israel in Clearwater.

Treasure Island resident Robin Perlman has studied Kabbalah for more than 10 years. On Monday she eagerly awaited the evening’s program, a talk by Rabbi Laibl Wolf, an author and worldwide lecturer on Kabbalah.

“I have always been interested in Kabbalah. Hopefully, I’m going to learn something,” she said, as the center at 6151 Central Ave. rapidly filled.

Wolf’s 21/2-hour lecture and meditation session was punctuated by humor, stories and ideas for practical, positive living. He spoke briefly about what he referred to as the exploitation of Kabbalah for commercial purposes, with the sale of items like red strings – purported to ward off evil – and Kabbalah water. The teachings of Kabbalah, he said, date back to Moses, when God gave him the Torah. Moses shared the Kabbalah, the deepest knowledge of the Torah, with a very select group, Wolf said and the knowledge was passed down secretly for centuries. It took the Chabad Lubavitch movement, part of the Hasidic branch of Orthodox Judaism that arose during the 18th century, to convert the esoteric teachings into systematic study and practical application, Wolf said.

The Australian rabbi promised he would help audience members regain their “composure amid the buffeting” in today’s chaotic world.

Carol Ehrenkranz, owner of Rent-A-Hand Inc., which supplies services to the elderly, was in the audience.

“I’m a student of mysticism,” she said. “I do believe that there are so many things we don’t know and have been hidden from John Q. Public. We’ve been living in a cloud and now everyone wants to do away with the cloud and see the rainbow and know where the rainbow came from. When people question things, they want answers.”

During his lecture, Wolf cautioned against anger.

“There is no redeeming quality in anger,” he said, going on to discuss the mind-body relationship between anger and health.

“Angry people tend to get sicker. Anger is an attempt to control or dominate . . . If someone is yelling and screaming, you have a choice,” he said, adding that the correct response is to act with understanding and compassion.

A lawyer and educational psychologist, Wolf uses the Kabbalah to teach personal growth and emotional mastery to diverse groups, regardless of religion.

Perlman said she likes the universal appeal of Kabbalah. “What I thought was really wonderful is that I could have brought my friend who is Buddhist and my friend who is Christian and they wouldn’t have felt uncomfortable,” she said.

The marketing director for Tampa Bay Orthopaedic Specialists in Pinellas Park added that she learned a lot Monday night.

“When I left, there was a lot of food for thought. One, that we are responsible and in control of our thoughts and actions, but that our thoughts and actions affect others and the world. We are our brother’s keepers. We’re all connected,” said Perlman, who bought the last of the Practical Kabbalah books that Wolf, the author, had shipped ahead.

Wolf also spoke about the need to live “in the now” instead of replaying the past or fast forwarding to the future. He also advocated “vertical living,” meditation, prayer and a positive attitude. Exercise choice wisely, he told his audience.

The advice resonated with Alpert, 64, who attended Monday’s talk with his wife, Judith. “It’s interesting. All religions have this way of getting in touch with your inner self, and that’s not mystical at all. I think that makes you a better person. And that’s what Kabbalah is about,” Alpert said. “We have choices and everything we do pertains to a choice. You can choose to be angry or you can choose to understand. You can choose to be a better person.”

Alpert, 64, managing director of investment banking at Raymond James, praised the local Chabad center for organizing the program. Rabbi Alter Korf, who heads the 3-year-old center with his wife, Chaya, said the response to the Kabbalah program exceeded expectations.

“We were hoping for participation from about 60 people,” he said.

Instead, 115 showed up. “Actually, had we had a larger facility, we would have had about 250 people. We were sold out more than a week before the event,” he said.

Korf and his wife are emissaries of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, based in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The St. Petersburg center is among more than 3,000 centers worldwide headed by couples who reach out to local Jewish communities.