Kabbalah Workshop Offers Encouragement to Find Deeper Meaning

LONGMONT, CO — Allison Cole released the week’s frustrations on a 9-by-12-inch canvas at the Chabad Center of Longmont’s Jewish painting and meditation workshop last week.

“I came in thinking complexity, and I’ll go out thinking simplicity,” Cole said as she gingerly maneuvered a thin paintbrush to create an intricate maze.

Neria Cohen, a Brooklyn-based speaker who has been studying Jewish mysticism for more than 12 years, led the workshop’s more than 30 participants on a “guided visualization” of a serene garden. After the meditation, the participants funnel that energy into a painting — what Cohen calls “Jewish art therapy.”

Anita Hill labored over her subdued landscape with a painstakingly realistic park bench in the center.

“It means I’m too controlled,” Hill said with a laugh.

Cohen, who is originally from South Africa, leads workshops in the United States and abroad, each time tailoring the program to correspond with events in the Jewish calendar.

The Feb. 4 workshop reflected on the Jewish month of Shvat, which centers around Tu B’Shvat — the Jewish New Year for Trees.

Using Kabbalah to interpret elements from the Torah, Cohen encourages participants to seek the deeper meaning behind the colors and images in their paintings.

“Jewish mysticism is really about getting in touch with your spiritual direction and making changes in your life,” Cohen said. “It really puts people in touch with the spiritual side of their lives.”

Julie Jones’ generous strokes reaching upward spanned the length of her canvas and relied heavily on purple hues, symbolizing steady resilience.

“I just feel totally at peace,” Jones said.

Rabbi Yakov Borenstein of the Chabad Jewish Center of Longmont said he and other members of Chabad-Lubavitch — a Jewish movement founded by mystics in the late 18th century — are incorporating Kabbalah teachings into mainstream worship.

“Everyone’s embracing it,” Borenstein said. “We’re taking an absolutely lofty Kabbalah teaching and bringing it down to a practical level.”

Kabbalah is a dogma of ancient Jewish mysticism that offers an interpretation of the hidden meanings behind Hebrew words and the Torah’s letters.

The Kabbalah Centre, an international organization that spreads the ancient doctrine, has 10 affiliated Kabbalah centers in the United States and 15 in other parts of the world. There also are 23 Kabbalah study groups in the United States, including one in Denver.

Kabbalah is based largely on the Zohar, a cryptic commentary on the Torah that Kabbalists believe was written 2,000 years ago by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, according to the Kabbalah Centre’s Web site.

Because of the esoteric nature of the Zohar, Kabbalah was reserved for academics and Jewish scholars for years, Borenstein said.

But recent generations have expressed interest in the mystical side of Judaism.

Borenstein said more people are intrigued to find out “a different side of the story.”

Admittedly, part of the intrigue comes from celebrities like Madonna flaunting their faith, but Borenstein said true Kabbalah is often so shrouded in mystery that average people cannot understand its teachings without serious study.

“Kabbalah is much more than a red string and water,” Borenstein said. “Kabbalah wisdom is really for everyone.”