Rav Berg

Karen Berg, the Shechinah and YouTube

Discussing the Kabbalah on YouTube, Karen Berg, co-director of the Kabbalah Centre with her husband Philip Berg, explained the role of the shechinah in creation and the meaning of the story of the Garden of Eden.

The shechinah, according to Karen Berg’s explanation, is the feminine aspect of spirituality, or godliness. This is the aspect of god that flows into the world, nurturing and supporting it. When God created the world, and placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the tree of life represented the part of the spiritual world which is whole, unified and consistent. But there was also the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This is the tree that Adam and Eve ate from. This tree represented the world of duality, inconsistency and human influence.

Karen Berg then went on to add that we are born innocent, but as we mature we learn of the world’s shortcomings and develop many of our own inconsistencies. It is the job of adults to teach their children about the spiritual nature of the world and instruct them in how they can contribute to Tikkun Olam.

Karen Berg Opens the Kabbalah to Women

Karen Berg, along with her husband Rav Philip Berg, has been a guiding force in the growth of the Kabbalah Centre for the past thirty years. Due to Karen Berg’s untiring efforts, the Kabbalah has gone from being an ancient, esoteric wisdom taught by men to only a selected few students who were also men, to a discipline open to all who seek its wise counsel, whether men and women, young and old, rich and poor.

Since Kabbalah is much more than a philosophy, but is rather a blue print for how to live your life, Karen Berg’s efforts at making the Kabbalah accessible to all, especially to women who are the nurturers of the world, will help bring the final, long awaited result of tikkun olam.

Rav Berg - From Teacher to Student to Teacher

Rav Berg with his wife Karen has been spreading the wisdom of the Kabbalah to their students through the many Kabbalah Center facilities which are found worldwide. Rav Berg has been pursuing this objective relentlessly ever since Rav Berg's own teacher, Rav Yehuda Brandwein confessed to him his desire to pass on the great mission of disseminating the message of the Kabbalah to all those seeking spiritual path through life through Rav Berg. In a heartfelt request which is found in Rav Berg's memoir "Education of a Kabbalist" Rav Brandwein said to Rav Berg, "I've been waiting for someone to appear who would explain Kabbalah completely and perfectly-so perfectly that everyone would at last be brought back to spirituality. And I have decided that this person is you." This is the goal of the Kabbalah Centre and the dream of Rav Berg.