general

The knowledge of Kabbalah, usually presented as a profound and so difficult wisdom to understand for the layman, has finally found its way out to the mass. Yehuda Berg succeed where most of the kabbalists failed, he presents the rules of life to us in a simple manner yet so enlightning. After you read this book, your vision of life switch totally to a complete new one, you understand that happiness is in your hands. This book brings not only an awsome knowlegde, it also brings hope...

I've read a number of self-help books in my life. And I've read quite a few books on Kabbalah. This is the first book that has managed to make it all so clear and simple. I read it in about 90 minutes. Then i read it again 2 more times. This books lucidly explains who we are, why we are here, and where we came from. If world leaders and the world's religions lived by the extraordinary principles presented in this book, the corruption of religion would cease and people would be empowered to transform their lives and truly change this world. Like the books says, this wisdom is the seed of all wisdom -- the true secret teachings of life. I recommend it to anyone who desires personal peace and joy!

A couple of thousand years ago, when Rabbi Hillel was asked to summarize what the Torah was all about, he said, "That which is hateful to you do not do to others. All the rest is commentary." While this comment represents a remarkable summary of Jewish law, reading this quote is not the same as reading the Torah.

Although the Kabbalah is an ancient part of Jewish teaching, the author chose to make this subject accessible to readers of all backgrounds. It is free of religious dogma and preaching. Just as Hillel tried to give the essence of Jewish teaching in a concise phrase, the author tries to deliver the essence of Kabbalistic teachings in a brief book. But it is not the Kabbalah, nor is it a translation of the Kabbalah.

Through straightforward teachings and analogies, the author does an excellent job (in most cases) of conveying information that will help you lead a more fulfilling life. This book teaches principles that can make you a better human being and treat others better. Regardless of your background, you can apply these principles for self-improvement.

This book compares everything from quark and string theory and the Big Bang theory to Kabbalistic teachings with remarkable analogies and writings that predate these discoveries. Other analogies are not so clear. His comparison of Kabbalistic teachings to our DNA is a bit tenuous. And his light bulb analogy is just plain backwards. Those who studied electricity know that it flows from negative to positive and that when a bulb burns out, it's an open circuit, not a short circuit.

The author tries to decouple this philosophy from Judaism by telling us that these writings are older than Judaism itself. That's true, but so is the Torah. Hillel's quote became that of an anonymous teacher and was rewritten to be closer to the Christian version of the golden rule. This does not, however, make the teaching any less valuable.

If the author truly believed in all these principles, I expect he would be less concerned about his ego, take the Madonna quotes and his picture off the jacket, and put the book on the Internet for free. I've found other books that way, which I later purchased, and I suspect that if he did the same, his sales would be higher.

In summary, it's a good new age self help book, but is not what you would get with a detailed study of the Kabbalah, which normally comes after four decades of intensive Judaic study. Nevertheless, the latter would not be appropriate for most readers, while this book is full of valuable information. It does, however, admonish you not to believe a word of what you read. That would have to include this review, and this very sentence.