Quantcast


Advertisement

The God Blog

Email | Print | Text - Text +

October 2, 2008 | 4:13 pm

Kabbalah Centre sues alternative community

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Photo

Madonna

When Shaul Youdkevitch and his wife left the Kabbalah Centre in February, after nearly three decades living and working at the now-celebrity-rich religious center, they didn’t want to give up the esoteric teachings of Jewish mysticism too. So they started their own kabbalah community, and because Youdkevitch had been a higher-up at the Kabbalah Centre, his organization quickly got the attention of his former employer.

Now he’s being sued for allegedly stealing trade secrets and leading people astray.

Details of the lawsuit, which I wrote about for this week’s Jewish Journal, are after the jump:

The lawsuit, which seeks damages in excess of $100,000 as well as any profits, accuses Universal Kabbalah Communities of unfairly competing, of stealing “trade secrets,” of setting up a Web site and using an acronym (UKC) that people could confuse with the Kabbalah Centre (TKC), of trying to steal the center’s members and of claiming to be intellectual successors to the teachings of Rabbi Philip Berg and his predecessors.

The 23-page suit cites numerous cases in which their activities allegedly violated California law. Among them, that their Web site, www.livekabbalah.org, is too similar to the center’s, www.kabbalah.com, and that Universal Kabbalah Communities invited members of the Kabbalah Centre to a celebration on the anniversary of the death of Rabbi Yehuda Brandwein, who led the center before he handed the reins to Berg in 1969.

Aviv Tuchman, an attorney for the Youdkevitches, called the lawsuit “groundless.”

“The word kabbalah is not trademarked; the observance of the rabbi’s yahrzeit is certainly not some proprietary right, the observance of Jewish holidays is not some proprietary right,” Tuchman said. “The sole purpose of their lawsuit is to harm Shaul and Osnat—it is to intimidate them and deter them from freely practicing Judaism and kabbalah.”

Youdkevitch and his wife are not the first people to start an alternative to the Kabbalah Centre; they just might be the highest-profile former employees to do so. Because of that, their activities have drawn the attention of many active members and employees of the center.

Across the United States and, particularly, in Israel, countless individuals and organizations teach various forms of kabbalah, said Jody Myers, chair of Jewish studies at Cal State Northridge and author of “Kabbalah and the Spiritual Quest: The Kabbalah Centre in America” (Praeger, 2007). The most significant of these, she said, is Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education & Research Institute, which started in Israel in 1991.

That someone who left the Kabbalah Centre would start their own kabbalah community should be no surprise, Myers said. But that the center would file suit is.

“I find it problematic,” Myers said. “We have First Amendment rights here. People are going to keep teaching kabbalah.”

Calls to the Kabbalah Centre’s media office were not returned. Janet Grumer, an attorney for the center, declined to comment.

The lawsuit is presented not as a religious matter but a business dispute. Repeatedly referenced is how the Universal Kabbalah Communities are cutting into the profits and economic advantage of the center. (Although the Kabbalah Centre is a nonprofit religious organization, its revenues fluctuate like those of a for-profit business.)

Youdkevitch’s attorneys claim the suit is a vain attempt to skirt constitutional protections of freedom of expression and religious exercise.

“Couching its allegations under the guise of a business dispute cannot dodge the First Amendment dagger and review the corpse that is plaintiff’s complaint,” they wrote in a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

Read the rest here.

7 Comments — Leave your comment

Share this post: del.icio.us Favicondel.icio.us Digg FaviconDigg Facebook FaviconFacebook Google FaviconGoogle Reddit FaviconReddit StumbleUpon FaviconStumbleUpon Technorati FaviconTechnorati YahooMyWeb FaviconYahooMyWeb

COMMENTS

We welcome your feedback. Comments may not exceed 700 characters.

Privacy Policy

Your information will not be shared or sold without your consent. Get all the details.

Terms of Service

JewishJournal.com has rules for its commenting community.Get all the details.

THe Kabbalah Center in Los Angeles is the biggest running scam! It is a business not a Judaism based teaching! STAY AWAY FROM THERE OR YOU WILL BE BRAINWASHED>>>TRUST ME<<<<

Comment by anonymous on 10/03/08 at 2:21 am

Kabbalah center in New York is a SCAM too. they are a MONEY-HUNGRY cult.

Comment by Rachel on 7/02/10 at 11:33 am

The word kabbalah is not trademarked; the observance of the rabbi’s yahrzeit is certainly not some proprietary right, the observance of Jewish holidays is not some proprietary right..

Comment by nosesmaller on 8/21/10 at 6:18 am

neither the books nor the studies withing this cult or that cult will ever bring you a better understanding..just to the contrary..I have been to the Bnei Baruch and such is my experience.
it is whatever it is but It is NOT harmless. This simply means that you will get harmed. You are never enough aware of what will happen to you if you ever join with their lessons. Simply because they dont tell you that..ever…not in the start, not later.. You will have no clues while you begin your reading and study. you will have your same good old innocent mind with you. Later during thr study You will be feeling from paranoid to schizoid and you will even have suicidal attempts.You wont be able to go to work and do your daily tasks most of the time. You will want to hurt yourself and will never feel like yourself again. Your bodily and mental health will be at least temporarliy lost..if only you are lucky.
They will always have front players and wont let the suffering and screaming be heard. They have a very controlled sharing boards system, you will never have your voice heard to the new comers. You will totally be isolated and pushed around.
What I will advise you is to go back to your houses and play with your own pets, get along with what you have, have a friend or family share with you and to converse..if you are feeling really stuck with where you are in life, just try to good old ways, read a noval or a magazine,or even bible (I am a muslim btw, whichever suits you) go to a movie or even go to a doctor working in a professional licensed hospital..why not? or they will play with your sanity or physical health.It is never about choice once you are in there. Stay away if you dont want to get hurt. Dont lose your time and get your mind hurt and aching with reading their materials..read a couple of poems instead.
Most of their materials and lessons are free simply because noone in there wants the courts to be filled with cases against them. This is the only explanation. Dont get deceived by their smiling outer face. You dont know what it feels to be inside and this is what I know. I hope that helps.

Comment by Damla Şahin on 11/11/10 at 8:18 am

What’s the difference between Scientology and the Kabbalah Center as far as how they prey on people for their money?

Comment by Curious KabbalahChick on 11/11/10 at 3:51 pm

I stared with Level I at the Kabbalah center & by the time that ended, I was distraught needing additional support that they couldn’t or wouldn’t give me.

I didn’t realize until shortly after that, that this company may ONLY be in it for the money.

I wasn’t sure though, so I didn’t want to make any kind of accusation since I only know what I experienced & there was a fine line.

I just paid someone to research online & find me other students who had something negative to say about the Kabbalah Center, since everything online seems to be ONLY positive & not just positive, but RAVE REVIEWS.

While that’s great, how can any one company exist for soooo long & have NO negative reviews from students?

I didn’t want the bullying from Rabbis or other religious people, ONLY reviews from students.

My researcher didn’t find me much, so if you are a student & you had a similar experience to mine or even something different that clearly shows that they are controlling, only in it for the money, etc., I’d like to hear about it.

I will remain very discrete, as there seems to be (I’m still not 100% sure) bullying on the part of the Kabbalah center to remove all negative reviews from the net. From a biz perspective I understand that, but only if they aren’t true, not if they are.

Thank you

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Comment by Won't divulge on 9/12/11 at 10:16 am

I enjoyed the classes at the Boca Raton Center.
The classes and ALL related additions came with a fee and were Very expensive.

There was an ever growing and ever increasing suggestive influence about purchasing more. This was soon replaced by stronger suggestions to donate $$$$ to serve the ‘light’. I had been awaiting a property settlement in a lawsuit which had reached a standstill. It was suggested many times, each more assertive by my “mentor” that by committing 15% of whatever the settlement would be, would result in the lawsuit coming more rapidly to a better conclusion.

Of course, I sensed this pressure and gradually withdrew from my interaction with the Kabbalah Centre.

I was also appalled by the Kabbalah Water scam,
the TWENTY DOLLAR Red String scam and
the $425 Zohar Scanning Scam.

Looking back, truthfully, it is laughable and also tragic.

I think it is safe to assume that the K-Centre is really the K-$-Centre.

Think Kabbalah Centre and think RETAIL…. Lol!

If I had to characterize this statement with a title,, I would say!

I got off the bus on stop short of circumcision !

Comment by Pistachio on 2/25/12 at 5:13 am

Post a Comment

Name:  
Email:  

Type the word you see below:

Comment:


About this Blog

Blog Home
About the Blogger(s)
Contact

RSS


Blog Archive






Newspaper

Serving a community of 600,000, The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles is the largest Jewish weekly outside New York City. Our award-winning paper reaches over 150,000 educated, involved and affluent readers each week. Subscribe here.

© Copyright 2012 Tribe Media Corp.
All rights reserved. JewishJournal.com is hosted by Nexcess.net. Homepage design by Koret Communications.
Widgets by Mijits. Site construction by Hop Studios.

counter fake hit page