What's a Kabbalah Wedding?

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Born Feivel Gruberger in Brooklyn in 1929, the one-time insurance agent studied with the renowned Israeli Kabbalist Yehuda Brandwein, his first wife's uncle. With his second wife, Karen, and their two sons, Yehuda and Michael, Rav Berg has built the International Kabbalah Centres into a far-reaching empire, opening schools throughout the world, and selling truckloads of books, audiocassettes, red string bracelets, which are supposed to ward off evil, and even Kabbalah bottled water.

According to a recent article in the Village Voice: "Nearly 4 million people have walked through various Kabbalah Centre doors since its first course was given in 1969 on the campus of Tel Aviv University. The first U.S. center opened in 1972; there are about 40 branches worldwide, the latest in Warsaw (the largest are in Tel Aviv and Los Angeles, with about 1,000 students each; Manhattan is quickly catching up). About 20,000 people visit the website kabbalah.com each month."

In Berg's teachings, Kabbalah is a "spiritual technology" that "promises nothing less than a world wholly free of chaos, destruction, and death." The wisdom of Kabbalah, he says, is meant for all creeds--"Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews, and all humanity. After all, everyone is entitled to happiness and a fulfilling and productive life free of chaos." Many Jewish leaders have deplored Berg's version of Kabbalah as watered down Judaism, "snake oil for the soul." Others see it as a sinister cult.

So if you want to know what a Kabbalah wedding would look like, you need search no further than the Kabbalah Centre, whose invention it is. Their website explains the sort of wedding Demi and Ashton might be planning: "While many of the customs seem to be Jewish," it reads, "the kabbalistic wedding ceremony is full of understanding, wisdom, and connections that essentially sew the two soul-halves together, creating one new whole soul. There are seven blessings recited in this process, reading from the Zohar, from Psalms, and other key factors."

In other words, it would look pretty much like a traditional Jewish wedding, with some additional readings from the Zohar, the central, 13th century Kabbalistic text, and some mystical interpretations. The seven blessings mentioned on the website are direct from a traditional Jewish wedding (they're called the sheva brachot and are for wine, Creation, the Creation of humanity, human reproduction, the future of Zion, the happiness of the bride and groom, and the reign of love and peace in a restored Jerusalem).

Presumably, as she'd do in a traditional Jewish wedding ceremony, Demi will walk in a circle around Ashton (foiling any demons who might wish to spoil their union); perhaps a ketubah (a Jewish wedding contract) would be read, answering the question of whether the two stars signed pre-nups. Ashton would stamp on a wine glass.

But if there is no such thing as a traditional Kabbalah wedding, Kabbalah is downright lusty on the subject of marital relations. Indeed, the Zohar and other major Kabbalistic texts are filled with blush-inducing erotic metaphors. At the very heart of the Kabbalah are the Sefirot, the ten divine emanations by which God enters the world. As sacred as they are, the Sefirot are described in the most carnal of terms. Binah, or divine understanding, is the womb; she receives seed from Hokhmah, divine wisdom, and gives birth to the seven lower Sefirot. The Shekhinah, the immanent spirit of God, is feminine in the Kabbalah's depictions; she is the bride of Tif'eret, the glory of God, "the Holy One, blessed be He."

When human beings perform mitzvot (fulfill divine commandments), the Shekhinah is aroused with desire; she is penetrated by Yesod, the phallus or conduit through which the forces of divine creation are released into the physical world. Human lovemaking mirrors this divine union, uniting the corporeal and the spiritual realms. "When sexual union is for the sake of heaven, there is nothing as holy or pure," declares the Iggeret ha-Qodesh, an anonymous 13th century manuscript. "The union of man and woman, when it is right, is the secret of civilization." (This passage appears in "The Essential Kabbalah: The Heart of Jewish Mysticism," translated and edited by Daniel C. Matt.)

As anyone who has watched Britney's videos, or has read rumors of Demi and Ashton's public displays of affection, these stars are far from shy about flaunting their sexuality. A "top Hollywood psychologist" worries that this bodes badly, especially for Britney. "She's so consumed with sex she's neglecting herself," Dr. Lillian Glass has been quoted as saying. "She looks terrible and this is not a good thing for her own well being as well as her career. Too much sex can be hazardous to your health." But maybe Britney's just following the lessons of Kabbalah. In the words of the poet Kenneth Rexroth, "For the Kabbalist the ultimate sacrament is the sexual act, carefully organized and sustained as the most perfect mystical trance."