The current issue of the Independent in Santa Barbara has in interview with professor Richard D. Hecht about Kabbalah. He is a religious studies professor with whom I took four classes. I just kept signing up for his classes because I liked his style, his in-depth knowledge and the topics of the classes as well. I learned a lot from him, not just in terms of factual data, but also approaches, ways of thinking. In this article, prompted by a UCSB student interning at the weekly, he mostly shares his view about the Kabbalah Centre and its activities. As a sociologist of religion he recognizes and states that this Madonna-style religion is a brand new one. It has all the necessary elements of a religion, but it is not Judaism.
