21 Facts About Philip Berg

Philip S Berg was an American rabbi and dean of the worldwide Kabbalah Centre organization.

Philip Berg initially aimed at returning alienated Jews to their heritage through the teachings of Yehuda Ashlag; he later adopted a more universalistic approach.

In poor health following a stroke in 2004, Philip Berg died on September 16,2013.

Philip Berg was born as Shraga Feivel Gruberger in 1927 in Brooklyn, to an Orthodox Jewish family.

Philip Berg later returned to Williamsburg, where in 1951 at age 22 he received ordination from Yeshiva Torah Vodaas.

Philip Berg went into the business world and worked as an insurance agent for New York Life.

Philip Berg became involved in real estate, and by 1962 it is claimed he was a millionaire.

Philip Berg had become Brandwein's book distributor and fundraiser in the United States, and it is likely he was encouraged by Brandwein to establish the National Institute for the Research in Kabbalah in New York in 1965 to aid the yeshiva.

Philip Berg, who had been ill since suffering a stroke in 2004, died on September 16,2013.

Philip Berg is survived by his wife Karen and two sons, Yehuda and Michael, who have led the Kabbalah Centre since his stroke.

Besides these two children Philip Berg had eight children from his first marriage that renounced Philip Berg and his teachings.

In July 1965, Philip Berg was initially involved in the founding of a publishing house called "The National Institute for the Research in Kabbalah" along with Ashlag's American student Levi Krakovsky, who died the following year.

The institute was most likely a fundraising branch of Brandwein's Yeshiva Kol Yehuda, as books published by the institute have Brandwein named as the senior figure, while Philip Berg was listed as its president.

Philip Berg wrote his own English introductory books to Kabbalah, and in the 1930s established his own yeshiva in the United States for the purpose of teaching Kabbalah in English.

In 1970, Philip Berg legally changed the name of the National Institute to "The Research Centre of Kabbalah", establishing it as an independent centre and publishing books of his own.

Philip Berg's writings ranged from a basic introduction and explanation of Lurianic and Ashlagian Kabbalah to astrology and reincarnation.

In 1971, Philip Berg moved to Israel where he strengthened the centre, gave lectures and disseminated his books.

On his return to the United States in 1984 with a number of Israeli students called the Hevre, Philip Berg expanded the centre to more locations.

Philip Berg, who believed Judaism was being taught dogmatically, was determined to show inquisitive soul-searching Jews that the answers could be found in Kabbalah.

Philip Berg has claimed to have replaced Brandwein, his ex-uncle-in-law by his first wife, in that role; that claim was disputed by Brandwein's son Avraham, who served as dean until his death in 2013.

The Los Angeles Task Force on Cults and Missionaries claimed Philip Berg was not affiliated with the yeshiva, although a letter sent to him by Brandwein in July 1968 indicated he was President of the yeshiva.