| 词条 | Philip Berg |
| 释义 |
| honorific-prefix = Rabbi | name = Philip Berg {{Hebrew|שרגא פייבל}} | image = | image_size = | caption = Rabbi Philip Berg | title = | synagogue = | synagogueposition = | yeshiva = | yeshivaposition = | organisation = Kabbalah Centre | organisationposition = Dean | began = | ended = | predecessor = | successor = | rabbi = | rebbe = | kohan = | hazzan = | rank = | other_post = | birth_name = Shraga Feivel Gruberger | birth_date = August 20, 1927 | birth_place = Brooklyn, United States | death_date = September 16, 2013 | death_place = | buried = Safed Jewish cemetery, Israel | nationality = | denomination = Orthodox | residence = | dynasty = | parents = | spouse = | children = | occupation = | profession = | alma_mater = | semicha = | signature = }} Philip S. Berg (original name Feivel Gruberger) (August 20, 1927 – September 16, 2013)[1] was an American rabbi and dean of the worldwide Kabbalah Centre organization. Rabbi Berg was a great populariser of Ashlagian Kabbalah. Having written a number of books on the subject of Kabbalah, Berg expanded its access to a greater audience than traditionally permitted, one which included secular Jews, non-Jews and women.{{sfn|Myers|2007|p=33}} Berg initially aimed at returning alienated Jews to their heritage through the teachings of Yehuda Ashlag,{{sfn|Myers|2007|p=51}} however he later adopted a more universalitic approach. There is disagreement about whether Berg's teachings, as relayed through the Kabbalah Centre, have sufficient grounds and/or genuine authority according to Jewish law, as they include some dogmas and translations differing markedly from those of more-traditional Kabbalists. Some Jewish scholars emphatically reject such teachings, deeming them as foreign to both the Kabbalah in particular and to Judaism in general.[2] In poor health following a stroke in 2004, he died on September 16, 2013.[3] BiographyBerg was born as Shraga Feivel Gruberger in 1929 in Brooklyn, to an Orthodox Jewish family.[4] His father, Max Gruberger, immigrated from Nadvorna in Galizia, a town now in Ukraine and worked as a clothes presser in Williamsburg.[5] In his youth, Berg underwent Talmudic education at Lakewood Yeshiva under Rabbi Aharon Kotler.[6] He later returned to Williamsburg and in 1951 at age 22 he received ordination from Torah VaDaat Yeshiva in Williamsburg.{{sfn|Myers|2007|p=34}} His first wife was named Rivkah Brandwein with whom he had eight children. Berg went into the business world and worked as an insurance agent for New York Life. He also became involved in real estate and by 1962 it is claimed he was a millionaire.[7] It is likely that during his career in the business world he was called Philip as it is usual practice among jews with Yiddish names to use an English equivalent to be more comfortable in a secular environment. It was Rivka's uncle, Rabbi Yehuda Brandwein, dean of a Yeshiva named Kol Yehuda, whom Berg first met on a trip to Israel in 1962, and who would become his Kabbalistic mentor. Brandwein was a Hasidic Rabbi from the Stretiner Hasidic Dynasty and a close student in the Kabbalistic circle around Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag. He was also the head of the Religious Department of the Israeli national workers union, Histadrut. Brandwein established Yeshivat Kol Yehuda, named after his Rebbe Yehuda Ashlag, as a continuation of Ashlag's yeshiva-publishing house "Beit Ulpana Itur Rabbanim". The uniqueness of Kol Yehuda was that students focused on kabbalistic study. The students would also receive a salary to cover their living expenses so they could devote themselves to full-time learning, however Brandwein faced difficulty in finding funds for the yeshiva and publishing. Berg had become Brandwein's book distributor and fund raiser in the U.S and it is likely he was encouraged by Brandwein to established the "National Institute for the Research in Kabbalah" in New York in 1965 to aid the Yeshiva.{{sfn|Myers|2007|p=35}} Berg was also studying with another American student of Yehuda Ashlag who was living in Brooklyn, Rabbi Levi Krakovsky, and Krakovsky was interested in publishing his books through the National Institute, however Brandwein did not agree. In Brandwein's letters to Berg, he clarifies that he did not encourage seeking or accepting funds from non-Jews for the Yeshiva as this was forbidden according to Jewish Law.[8] Eventually Brandwein allowed Berg to teach one student Kabbalah and in 1966 Berg received an additional rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Brandwein which acknowledged his knowledge of kabbalah, conferring him to the highest rabbinical rank.{{sfn|Myers|2007|p=39}} After Brandwein's death in 1969, Berg returned to the U.S. and began working again with his former secretary and future wife, Karen, on the condition that she let him teach her Kabbalah, a discipline he claimed was reserved exclusively for men. In 1971 Philip and Karen married and traveled to Israel. It was there that they changed their surname from Gruberger to Berg as it was a common practice to shorten a European Jewish surname upon moving to Israel.{{sfn|Myers|2007|p=51}} In 1973 the Bergs returned to Queens, where they established their full-time headquarters during the 1980s.[4] Berg had been ill since suffering a stroke in 2004. He died on September 16, 2013. He was generally reported to be 86 (although the Los Angeles Times reported that according to public records he was 84). He is survived by his wife Karen and two sons, Yehuda and Michael[3] who have led the Centre since his stroke.[11] He also had eight children from his first marriage.[9] The Research Centre of KabbalahBerg was initially involved in the founding of a publishing house called "The National Institute for the Research in Kabbalah" in July 1965[10] along with another American student of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag, Rabbi Levi I. Krakovsky who died the following year. This Institute was most likely a fundraising branch of Rabbi Brandwein’s Yeshiva Kol Yehuda as books published by the Institute have Rabbi Brandwein named as the senior figure while Berg was listed as its president.[11] Krakovsky was an emissary of [Yehuda Ashlag’s Yeshiva “Itur Rabbanim”[12] and had translated some of Rabbi Ashlag’s writings into English to support the Yeshiva. He also wrote his own English introductory books to Kabbalah and established his own Yeshiva in America in the 1930s for the purpose of teaching Kabbalah in English. Krakovsky’s writings were also published by the new Institute.[11] In 1970 Berg legally changed the name of the National Institute to “The Research Centre of Kabbalah” and began publishing books of his own establishing an independent Centre.{{sfn|Myers|2007|p=52}} His writings ranged from a basic introduction and explanation of Lurianic and Ashlagian Kabbalah to astrology and reincarnation. In 1971 Berg moved to Israel where he strengthened the Centre, gave lectures and disseminated his books. In 1980 he established a Yeshiva “Or Hozer le’Limud ha-Nigleh ve ha-Nistar” ("Returning Light for the study of the revealed and the concealed") in Tel Aviv which circulated various kabbalistic works. On his return to the United States in 1984 with a number of Israeli students called the "Hevre" (friends) Berg expanded the Centre to more locations.[11] The aim of the now independent Research Centre was to resolve a widespread spiritual crisis affecting Jews, where many found traditional Judaism dry and unfulfilling and large numbers of young Jews were seeking eastern spiritual practices, involving themselves in dangerous cults or resorting to atheism. Berg believed Judaism was being taught dogmatically and was determined to show the answers to inquisitive soul searching Jews could be found in Kabbalah.{{sfn|Myers|2007|p=51}} ControversyThere is some disagreement over who succeeded Rabbi Brandwein as dean of Yeshiva Kol Yehuda. Berg has claimed to have replaced Rabbi Brandwein in that role, but that claim is disputed by Brandwein's son Avraham, who is the current dean.[4] The Los Angeles Task Force on Cults and Missionaries claimed he was not affiliated with the 80-year-old Yeshiva Kol Yehuda in Jerusalem, once headed by Berg's ex-uncle-in-law by his first wife, the late Rabbi Brandwein,[13] although a letter sent to him by Brandwein in July 1968 indicated he was President of the Yeshiva.{{sfn|Berg|2010|p=343}} In 2010, the Internal Revenue Service launched an investigation, reportedly investigating whether funds were directed to the personal enrichment of the Berg family, and subpoenaed financial records of the organization and two affiliated charities connected to Madonna. The centre called the allegations “merit-less” and said it “intends to defend the case vigorously”.[14] Publications of Phillip S. Berg and The Research Centre of Kabbalah
See also
Notes1. ^Petition for Naturalization of Max Gruberger, Philip Berg's father accessed at Ancestry.com. Selected U.S. Naturalization Records - Original Documents, 1790-1974 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009. 2. ^{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10324260/Rabbi-Philip-Berg.html|title=Rabbi Philip Berg|last=|first=|date=|work=|access-date=}} 3. ^1 {{cite news|author=Harriet Ryan|url=http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-kabbalah-founder-philip-berg-dead-at-84-20130916,0,7617844.story|title=Kabbalah Centre founder Philip Berg dead at 84|work=Los Angeles Times|date=September 16, 2013}} 4. ^1 2 Udovich, Mim. "Kabbalah Chronicles: Inside Hollywood's hottest cult", Radar Online, June 15, 2005. (Copy at {{cite web |url=http://www.radaronline.com/web-only/the-kabbalah-chronicles/2005/06/inside-hollywoods-hottest-cult-ii.php |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2006-08-05 |deadurl=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071024131751/http://www.radaronline.com/web-only/the-kabbalah-chronicles/2005/06/inside-hollywoods-hottest-cult-ii.php |archivedate=October 24, 2007 |df= }}) 5. ^{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/dec/11/religion.uk|title=Elena Lappin investigates Kabbalah: part one|last=Lappin|first=Elena|date=2004-12-11|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-02-24|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}} 6. ^28 Questions and Answers About Kabbalah - Kabbalah Learning Centre 1992 7. ^{{Cite news|url=|title=The Kabbalah Centre|last=Csillag|first=Ron|date=18 March 1993|work=The Canadian Jewish News|access-date=}} 8. ^{{Cite book|title=Yedid Nafshi|last=|first=|publisher=Press of the Kol Yehuda Yeshiva|year=1997|isbn=978-1571890405|location=|pages=}} 9. ^{{cite web|title=Rabbi Philip Berg, Who Updated Jewish Mysticism, Dies at 86|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/21/us/rabbi-philip-berg-who-updated-jewish-mysticism-dies-at-86.html?pagewanted=all|work=The New York Times|accessdate=22 September 2013}} 10. ^The Kabbalah Centre and Contemporary Spirituality Jody Myers 11. ^1 2 {{cite journal|last=Meir|first=Jonathan|date=January 2013|title=The Beginnings of Kabbalah in America|journal=Aries|doi=10.1163/15700593-13130204|volume=13|number=2}} 12. ^Krakovsky, If eventually - why not now? Kabbalah Foundation (1936). 13. ^Ellin, Abby; Sacks, Adam J. "The Kabbalah Centre Wants your Heart - and your Money: The String that Binds" in The Village Voice, August 11, 2004. 14. ^1 {{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10324260/Rabbi-Philip-Berg.html|title=Rabbi Philip Berg|work=Daily Telegraph|date=2013-09-20|accessdate=2013-09-21}} References{{More footnotes|date=November 2010}}
Further reading
External links{{Wikiquote}}
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