Cult Bnei Baruch Kabbalah

This is an email that was sent on Fri 27/04/2012 from BB’s infamous “spiritual directorate”…I will exlude names of this women, simply because I care about their right for privacy, but I will say that it is six of them :
“Announcement from the spiritual directorate…. Dear friends,

We thought it appropriate to notify you of the details of a social issue that has come up here, as well as our mode of dealing with it so that it would be of assistance to you in similar cases:

For some time now, several women who were members of the society decided not to respect the expected rules of conduct of friends in the society.

They created for themselves and for their children a separatist closed group within the society with total disregard of the goals of the society and the general customary rules of conduct within it.

In addition, several of these women made a tradition of waking their young children up every night to watch the lessons, in spite that it is clear beyond any shadow of a doubt that this is unacceptable behavior, none normative, invalid and harmful to the children as well as to the image of the society.

This behavior warrants condemnation and should be rooted completely.

Therefore, it was decided to not allow the continuing activity of these women and of their children in the societal and community activities without any exceptions. This also goes to any physical participation in the center, participation in lessons, meals, conventions, trips, dissemination activities of any sort and so forth.
The appropriate notification was delivered and accepted with the mentioned women already on Friday.

It is important to emphasize that there is no restriction on the continuation of the activities of their husbands in the society.”
So is BB a cult…it is !!!!!

Stay in line girls or get the boot!!!

"All the new methods that seemingly resemble Kabbalah are given to us by Pharaoh or by the Creator through Pharaoh. It is written: “I have hardened his heart,” and this is in order to sift, to sort out, the people who may be a burden on our groups.

So we shouldn’t feel sorry about the many people who come and later 90% of them leave. The wisdom of Kabbalah chooses only those who belong to the Creator, those who can really mediate between Him and the rest of humanity. The spiritual world is built on quality not on quantity.

We are happy about every person who arrives, but everyone is free to choose. We don’t underestimate anyone in any way, but if a person leaves, it is his free will. This means that he still has to work on himself on other levels and he isn’t ready to come yet. He received something from us; he will later process it, and after a while will return to us. If he doesn’t, then he has his own way and he will end it in his next life, while we want to finish it in this life."

Source:

[link to www.laitman.com]

This is the Charles Lease or "Charlie" every one keeps talking about. I did make that post on the Rick Ross forum, however I did not on here.


Who the fuck are you asshole? When were you my friend ever? Who called me when I needed help? Who talked to me online or in person when I needed help? My username is slaytaniccyco you retard.

Anyhow who are you and tell me how you've been such a great friend to me? I'm waiting.....


Well it wasn't me who wrote the post, but i am your friend... was, from the very beginning, still am now. I think you're a fucking idiot who's way too into himself! but i will still always love you.

Sharon Pius

Well it wasn't me who wrote the post, but i am your friend... was, from the very beginning, still am now. I think you're a fucking idiot who's way too into himself! but i will still always love you.

Replies like these shows the instability of the people in BB. Call someone your friend and in the same sentence call him an idiot. Keep posting BB people- shows your true colors with every post. Lets people decide if they what to get involved with this group.

let me explain about true love. it's unconditional, and loves - doesn't think nor consider attributes or actions such as idiocy, it just loves.

According to Laitman there is no Love(bestowal)on Earth. So what are you talking about?

Besides, there are plenty of parents who think their children are idiots, or acting idiotically; and vice versa.

Are these good parents? You reap what you sow.


Another thing, there is no such thing as a stable individual. Stability is found in connection with others. C'mon, you know all this. it wasn't that long ago you were a student of the Bnei Baruch cult!

You don't see the difference between a person who murders someone and Gandhi- I can do nothing to change that view. I would only say it is the view of Laitman. In an interview in early 2000 he was quoted as saying Israel should nuke Palestine. Unity? Interesting.


so what happened to you, you didn't receive all the riches and unbound pleasure that you were promised as a result of all your hard work? everything but the actual work! & when when things couldn't possibly get shittier for you was when you should have done the one thing within your power to do - turn to the group for help (raise M"N), "wah wah wah poor me, well if i can't have it all the pleasure for myself, then no one can. i know, i'll spread slander upon the entire organization".

Things posted here are facts from some of the experiences of the 90 percent that left your Cult.

Bnei Baruch is currently the only place-a desire, that exists in this world which leads us to the Truth - Complete Perception.

This is your main problem. Perhaps if 90 percent stayed in your group ...

And this is not speaking of an organization located in Petach Tikva, Israel, & derived of people formed into groups all around the world, but about a collective ideal where the vessel for the attribute of bestowal is created. A persuit ended in happiness. Of this i can testify! So let's just say that regarding your quest to destroy Bnei Baruch, or bring it down, or whatever.... I'm confident you will not succeed, but who am i to stop you; besides, nothing exists without a purpose... go crazy.

This thread was not started to destroy anyone just to present the facts about BB, you know from the 90 percent that leaves. Let the reader determine for themselves. Yes, there is free will.

Take Care.

I read this whole list. I think it's obvious what is up here. If you think unity is bad, you think BB is a cult. If you think unity is good, you will probably like BB alot. Done.

P.S. I am going to state my qualifications. You have no idea if I'm telling the truth but here we go: I have a BA in History and a BA in Political Science. Within those two fields I specialized in History of Ideas and Political Philosophy. I have studied with great care the schism in political theory b/t the Idealist and the Realists. Democracy was founded within the Realist school that gave birth to the British Liberal Tradition. The Realists are founded on Relativist view of reality, summed up in Protagoras' "Every man the measure". The relativists/realists argue that society developed because of everyone acknowledging the EQUALITY of SELF-INTEREST. The Idealist school, most nobly represented by Plato in The Republic, Phaedo, and Theatetus (among all the dialogues), believes that the foundation of society is INTERDEPENDENCE. If you examine BB's political philosophy it is close to Plato's. Both Plato and BB explain that stages of egotistical relativism are stages of exponential growth, but are not sustainable. so altruism founds society, it then meets it's basic needs, expands through luxury and war, then realizes the interdependence of society with humanity and returns to altruism. BB = Plato = not in fashion in democracy. The Republic is a criticism of democratic government blindly following short sighted appetites (Athens had just been brutally defeated in the Peloponesian war, a war that only benefited the makers of weapons and ships SOUND FAMILIAR?) BB's account of humanity is the same thing, it is Platonic. BB does claim that Kabbalah influenced Plato. This is historically accurate as the Judaic tradition came to Greece and influenced Pythagoras and so on down the line. So simply put, BB is not a cult, it is a Platonic view of society, a view that is against the British Liberal Tradition. BB has a spiritual element, but so does Plato, who claims that the corporeal world has a beginning, middle and an end, whereas the 'realm of forms' which give us the ideas of complete abstractions, like NUMBERS, is eternal. Last time I checked 1+1=2 for eternity.

Excuse me I was unclear on one item. MODERN Democracy was founded on the Realist school through the British Liberal Tradition. There are many names to be dropped, but primarily I am talking about Hobbes and Locke. Locke you may know was a huge influence on THE FEDERALISTS. The Realist philosophy is represented in the Federalist papers.

However ancient Democracy is also founded on relativism. It is system of public debates where political power is awarded through persuasion and not necessarily truth. If the voters are educated, democracy can work well. If the voters are easily persuaded, it is simply whoever can win a public debate that will be elected to political power. Relativism - realism = RIGHT IS MIGHT.

Plato criticized a political system that awarded persuasion over ability to seek truth. Therefore he believed that the ruling class, THE GUARDIANS, should be qualified as those who were not afraid to die for the truth. The Guardians would also make up the military, as to only enter into wars which were required to defend truth and altruism, as opposed to expand in order to finance luxury. How could you determine who would die for the truth? By creating "noble lies" (religion) that only the guardians would rally against.

Plato is not a cult. He is a philosopher that has serious criticisms of the philosophy behind those seize power by means other than truth. His criticisms, about 2500 years old, apply today.

I thought of one more item worth considering...

According to relativists, those who do not preserve themselves at all costs are CRAZY, as in ABNORMAL. Hobbes states this quite clearly, and it passes right up through hobbes and even develops in capitalism/consumerism where the goal is to accumulate for one's self. It is NATURAL to desire things for your self up until the day you die.

According to the Idealist, one who desires ceaselessly without hope of ever being satisfied is UNSUSTAINABLE. A society which desires ceaselessly is UNSUSTAINABLE. Not necessarily unnatural, but temporary.

One view has an ingroup-outgroup theory which will never cease (class warfare), one has a unifying identity described in stages.

016527007 Thanks for the History and philosophy lesson. There are many distortions and each distortion must be worked out by the entity or group.( [link to www.lawofone.info] Unity yes is the answer. The question is whether BB achieves this end with its communist agenda.90 percent of people leave BB with a bad taste in there mouth I will let the numbers speak for itself.

Interesting to note that Laitman has achieved his wealth and continues to through Capitalism. But now he wants a society where one only takes what he needs Communism- does he need his millions? Indians would say that he speaks with fork tongue.

I like how you scoff at history and philosophy and then drop the word communism. "90% of ppl leave" ... where do you get that info? "laitman uses capitalism" ok i thought he was communist. you really don't know anything about history or political philosophy. that's ok you don't have to unless you are trying to talk about the correct political system that should be in use. you are not arguing from any sort of consistent stance on the correct form of government, or social organization. you are just criticizing a group that didn't bring you what you wanted it to. They say themselves 'even a fool can figure out to love one another as himself'. My point is that the philosophy of unity is inevitable. There are several groups 'preaching' the same kind of message. Inevitably all of these groups will become one if they truly have a philosophy of unity. I can't tell you if BB is successful, but they themselves ask you to question everything they teach and see if it matches your experience. Every single complaint you have had about them, they told you would happen, you chose to do it, and now you're mad that it happened. What does separate BB is that they are the only group as of right now that has a specific method of uniting ppl spiritually. Every other group says we have to do it, but doesn't actually say what to do. BB simply says you have to change your desire to love one another as thyself. Ok, that is in every single holy text. Take what BB is saying. Read the entire Bible and Qur'an and see the agreement. THEN look up SPIRIT SCIENCE, or Nassim Haramein. It's new agey stuff, but their explanation of what human history is, and how science came from religion matches, independently of each other, as well as with BB. You don't need BB at all. As they say, it is only for ppl that desire the message in this specific way. If you want to know what is true, i would suggest studying logic, ontology, and epistemology so at least you have a consistent system of analyzing information, instead of just searching for any excuse possible to discredit something. Bc even if you're correct, your argument is shitty, and any person with an education will see that immediately.

[link to azureworld.blogspot.com]

Thats a good link. I shouldve known better than thatto drop his name since I knew so little about him. However that proves nothing about BB, only that I made a mistake. My main argument is the similarities bt BB n, Plato, n that I dont know if BB is an authority on truth, but whatever it is, it's not a cult.

What does separate BB is that they are the only group as of right now that has a specific method of uniting ppl spiritually. Every other group says we have to do it, but doesn't actually say what to do.

So you have experienced all groups on this planet? Its absolute statements like this that shows your CULT personality.


Thats a good link. I shouldve known better than thatto drop his name since I knew so little about him.

So you make statements without research? Interesting.

I dont know if BB is an authority on truth, but whatever it is, it's not a cult.

In your opinion. Everyone has an opinion. Some do do diligence some just make statements and throw out names.

Its understandable that you defend your Cult .

Thanks for your contribution to this thread.

Ok you win.

What is the definition of a cult?

What is the definition of a cult?

What are the warning signs of a dysfunctional Cult or Group?

By Rick Ross, Expert Consultant and Intervention Specialist

Ten warning signs of a potentially unsafe group/leader.

Absolute authoritarianism without meaningful accountability.
No tolerance for questions or critical inquiry.
No meaningful financial disclosure regarding budget, expenses such as an independently audited financial statement.
Unreasonable fear about the outside world, such as impending catastrophe, evil conspiracies and persecutions.
There is no legitimate reason to leave, former followers are always wrong in leaving, negative or even evil.
Former members often relate the same stories of abuse and reflect a similar pattern of grievances.
There are records, books, news articles, or television programs that document the abuses of the group/leader.
Followers feel they can never be "good enough".
The group/leader is always right.
The group/leader is the exclusive means of knowing "truth" or receiving validation, no other process of discovery is really acceptable or credible.
Ten warning signs regarding people involved in/with a potentially unsafe group/leader.

Extreme obsessiveness regarding the group/leader resulting in the exclusion of almost every practical consideration.
Individual identity, the group, the leader and/or God as distinct and separate categories of existence become increasingly blurred. Instead, in the follower's mind these identities become substantially and increasingly fused--as that person's involvement with the group/leader continues and deepens.
Whenever the group/leader is criticized or questioned it is characterized as "persecution".
Uncharacteristically stilted and seemingly programmed conversation and mannerisms, cloning of the group/leader in personal behavior.
Dependency upon the group/leader for problem solving, solutions, and definitions without meaningful reflective thought. A seeming inability to think independently or analyze situations without group/leader involvement.
Hyperactivity centered on the group/leader agenda, which seems to supercede any personal goals or individual interests.
A dramatic loss of spontaneity and sense of humor.
Increasing isolation from family and old friends unless they demonstrate an interest in the group/leader.
Anything the group/leader does can be justified no matter how harsh or harmful.
Former followers are at best-considered negative or worse evil and under bad influences. They can not be trusted and personal contact is avoided.
Ten signs of a safe group/leader.

A safe group/leader will answer your questions without becoming judgmental and punitive.
A safe group/leader will disclose information such as finances and often offer an independently audited financial statement regarding budget and expenses. Safe groups and leaders will tell you more than you want to know.
A safe group/leader is often democratic, sharing decision making and encouraging accountability and oversight.
A safe group/leader may have disgruntled former followers, but will not vilify, excommunicate and forbid others from associating with them.
A safe group/leader will not have a paper trail of overwhelmingly negative records, books, articles and statements about them.
A safe group/leader will encourage family communication, community interaction and existing friendships and not feel threatened.
A safe group/leader will recognize reasonable boundaries and limitations when dealing with others.
A safe group/leader will encourage critical thinking, individual autonomy and feelings of self-esteem.
A safe group/leader will admit failings and mistakes and accept constructive criticism and advice.
A safe group/leader will not be the only source of knowledge and learning excluding everyone else, but value dialogue and the free exchange of ideas.

How many of those criteria need to be met? How many does BB meet?


For the record, I don't consider myself to be a member of bnei baruch. Im a Platonist. If u want to attack my premises, attack Plato. If BB is truly a cult I want to know. Either way I enjoy studying all belief systems, whether genuine or contrived. Part of the fun is trying to figure out which they are.

As BB presents itself, they do not meet the critetia. So it seems, AND CORRECT ME IF IM WRONG, that your argument is that they operate in a different way than they present themselves. That could be true, I have no experience with any members. All my experience is from the texts n interpretations they offer openly. So my next question is, 'Is the information they provide publicly cult like, is it they way they operate, or both?'

Last question(s)... Why do cults exist? How do they come to be?

How many of those criteria need to be met? How many does BB meet?

Read the whole thread- [link to forum.rickross.com]

For the record, I don't consider myself to be a member of bnei baruch. Im a Platonist. If u want to attack my premises, attack Plato. If BB is truly a cult I want to know. Either way I enjoy studying all belief systems, whether genuine or contrived. Part of the fun is trying to figure out which they are.

Nothing to attack also read the Republic in my youth. Nothing wrong with studying and learning. To find out if BB is a cult get involved- go to conventions and continue to ask questions.After reading Ross's thread you should be able to determine for yourself.Free will is paramount all things have distortions until the final perception is perceived.

As BB presents itself, they do not meet the critetia. So it seems, AND CORRECT ME IF IM WRONG, that your argument is that they operate in a different way than they present themselves. That could be true, I have no experience with any members. All my experience is from the texts n interpretations they offer openly. So my next question is, 'Is the information they provide publicly cult like, is it they way they operate, or both?'

They have a hierarchical chain of command very doubtful you would find the truth unless you get in the inner circle. Charles had 4 years experience with them -again read Ross's thread.

Last question(s)... Why do cults exist? How do they come to be?

[link to topdocumentaryfilms.com]

For me there were many signs. One was when Laitman sais that humans are the only beings in the universe. He claims that he is high up in the light but has no information that the universe is filled with other beings. My personal experiences show that that statement is laughable.

For a seeker of the truth (not that Kabbalah is not one way back to the Creator) I would suggest:

[link to www.monroeinstitute.org]

[link to www.lawofone.info]
[link to www.scribd.com]

Good Luck.

I appreciate the links and will investigate more thoroughly. I noticed that there is some association with 'A Course in Miracles'. That's funny bc the only reason I even gave that program/teaching/whatever the time of day is because it agrees with Kab as presented by Bnei Baruch. On the other hand I don't have much experience, although not none, with Kab outside of BB. My main approach as I have already intimated is that I compare all the different belief systems. Over time there is a pattern of similarity between all of them, and it always comes back to identity - whether to identify with the particular individual or the collective. I determined this in college studying political philosophy first, then quickly realized its applicability to religious societies, specifically when a society originates. There seems to be a general pattern of a society that identifies in the collective, threatens the contemporary political system (which is based on individual identity), and then the political system as a last resort makes the spiritual society a 'religion' by making it official. Whether on purpose or over time the interpretation of these spiritual teachings shifts back to identifying in the individual, and we get fundamentalists we know today. We get holy texts that make no sense and are littered with contradictions. As soon as we read these texts with collective identity as the premise, these contradictions dissolve, and the texts lack any kind of moral teaching (morality is produced by a society with all it's basic needs met, and is based on individual identity), but are rather scientific explanations of relationships within the microcosmic individual that are also expressed in the macrocosmic individual. Adam and Jesus both fit this pattern as both represent a particular individual that existed in space and time, but more importantly (in my opinion, but perhaps equally importantly) are really names for the collective humanity. (Both the NT and Quran explicitly stat that Jesus is in the pattern/image of Adam). The Mahabharata is written in the same way. The Brothers Panduva may have been historical figures, but they are also psychological states or desires withing every human. Everything I learned in Kabbalah fits this pattern perfectly. This pattern of interpretation makes the OT, NT, and Quran agree with a shocking level of precision. And these text also then agree with my foundation, Plato. This is why I have a hard time thinking BB is a cult, unless by definition all belief systems with a collective identity are cults. The information that I have gained from their lessons and materials makes perfect sense to me. My main concern about BB has always been that they have what I call "a leader guy". As they have presented themselves in their open lessons, Laitman does delegate authority, at least logistically. There is no question that he is the spiritual authority. However, I clearly remember him being asked if there were other Kabbalists in the world and he said that there definitely were. I have said before, as far as I have found, it is the only group that makes this method the main area of concern. "A course in Miracles" has this concept, but it seems to be about perception more than uniting (as opposed to BB which seems to argue that you can't change perception until unity is achieved). I actually attended a few 'A Course in Miracles' meetings. I like the people i have met very much, but to me, the course (again, very little do I know so far, grain of salt) seems to be more about feeling better. On the one hand I do think that it agrees with the concept of prayer in Kabbalah, that we can only ask for ourselves to understand why 'bad' things happen, rather than ask for these 'bad' things to stop happening. This idea makes the book of Job a very clear story of justice. This idea that bad events like wars are periods of transformation that are against our choice, but necessary and good, I learned from Hegel. This is perhaps a better connection than Marx (who was a Hegelian originally), but they (BB) do often refer to Marx. I like Marx. I'm not a communist. I think Marx was absolutely correct that capitalism will supply it's own demise. However, his fault is that he wished to speed up the process through violence. Why? Because Marx did not actually have a premise of collective identity. His view of competing economic classes institutionalizes conflict in society as natural. Machiavelli makes this rhetorical move simply by dividing society into 'those who wish to oppress and those who wish to not be oppressed'. Plato's classes are analogous to organs in a body, in harmony (ideally) and when not in harmony 'feverish' or diseased. Kab agrees with that. In my view, Marxism is an extremely capitalist critique of capitalism. He subscribes (more like he wrote the book) to the economic (and therefore atomic) worldview that is at the foundation of capitalism. It seems, on the surface, that BB also wants to speed up the process, but through love rather than violence. I digress a bit maybe, but my main point is that I have a hard time believing it is a cult if I agree with the material so much. [I guess it's my cult personality!!] I agree with the material because it agrees with other spiritual groups too. All philosophies of unity should perfectly agree on world view, and what I am finding is that they do. What is astonishing, and perhaps this lends credibility to the possibility that it is a cult, is that OTO, AA, and similar Occult societies also agree. "The method of science, the aim of religion" i have a very hard time disagreeing with that statement, but that is also from the Occult.

It seems to me that today, we humans find ourselves in an onslaught of competing world-views. Yet when we actually compare the texts of these world views, they by and large all agree. What makes this process so damn tricky is that the texts aren't going anywhere. There are competing groups that use the same texts! So is it possible to use the truth to manipulate people? Absolutely. However, it seems to me that the key to manipulation is being sold self-worship, self-identity, which is the foundation of political atomism, but also the foundation of satanism, ipso facto.

The irony that I am left with is that whether or not to find out if BB is a cult, you have to join. But if you want to extract the truth out of BB, it is all free of charge and there for the taking. Does that sound like a cult? I honestly don't know anymore. I do know that the material and interpretations BB has provided agree with different spiritual groups throughout history, and in fact dissolve the differences that so many of these groups use to keep them divided. If THAT is a cult, then my question is why are cults bad? (Not disregarding the list above, but you see that the definition of cults is not about what these groups teach but how it makes people feel according to that list). Perhaps cults are bad bc whatever threatens the current philosophical foundations of the status quo is going to be automatically labeled a cult. Christianity was a cult. Then it was able to assimilate many separate beliefs, much like hinduism. Is it still a cult? According to that list up there it is actually.

[link to en.wikipedia.org]

ok BB does not charge for it's teachings but Rick Ross charges $5,000 per individual for 'deprogramming'??? I dunno. I'm not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater here, bc I don't think the list of cult criteria is nonsense.

It think the damning of Rick Ross is that he seems to be getting considerably more rich from his efforts than Rav. Laitman. Again, I'm not trying to speak from authority. I AM NOT SAYING THAT IF RICK ROSS IS PHONY THEN AUTOMATICALLY BB IS NOT A CULT. I am saying that the criteria used to condemn BB in this particular thread is enough criteria to condemn Rick Ross, who actually has been sued,

"The defendants were found liable for conspiracy to deprive Scott of his civil rights and religious liberties and awarded $875,000 in compensatory damages, and punitive damages in the amount of $1,000,000 against CAN, $2,500,000 against Ross, and $250,000 against each of the other two individual defendants. The case bankrupted the Cult Awareness Network."

BB doesn't have that on it's record. Maybe it will someday, again i do not know!! But this might not be the best guy to use to condemn BB as a cult.

My personal opinion on Rick Ross after a 5 minute read, he's probably a decent guy with good intentions but I do not agree with his methods. I'd compare him to Marx in that way, haha.

From the video:

This from a PhD in psychiatry at harvard..
starting at 1:50
"It needs to have 3 characteristics to call it a cult. One is that the guru becomes worshiped rather than the broader religious principles... Another characteristic is that it has thought reform-like characteristics. That is, systematic indoctrination with a great focus on confession, criticism - self criticism, in a systematic way... A third characteristic has to do with heavy exploitation from above, usually the guru himself or herself and other high ranking people. And that exploitation tends to be economic and sexual."

I can't speak for the inner circles, but the first criterion does not fit BB. They are explicitly against any kind of worship at all, and they harp on this fact to differentiate themselves from religions

The second is closer, BB talks about 'the revelation of evil' that we are egoists. However they repeat over and over again that there is no guilt here, and there are no confessions that i have ever seen at all, in any shape or form.

The third criterion I suppose could exist, but again I have never given a single penny to this group. I don't like that they charge for their conventions, but if you look at the cost of any business convention, those always cost more. Ironically, in this thread there is a document exposed with intention to show economic exploitation, but to me it seems that they are distributing their economic information openly!

At this point in time I cannot sign on with BB as a cult for the reasons above. But again we are left with an interesting conundrum. Could a group, any group, present itself as based on complete unity and then once you are in 180 on those principles? At first glance, yes. That is the definition of deception. That is how rhetoric is used. That is how the Sophists operated in Socrates/Plato's time. Yet BB does not fit the mold of the Sophist, they are aligned with Plato on their philosophical foundations of integral identity. Perhaps I'm being naive. I do know that the second I see any of these signs (assuming I will continue to study Kab, which at this point it seems that i will) I will be this thread immediately.

The lesson learned here is that the development of critical thinking is absolutely essential to being able to handle all these competing world views we are caught in between. I cannot stress the importance of organized thought enough. One must be aware of one's own standards for truth, and one must constantly test his/her beliefs with these standards. I find this is especially important with any kind of skepticism. Skepticism is one of the most important philosophical tools a critical thinker can wield. Yet, the vast majority of skeptics that I interact with (and i'm mostly referring to what i call mainstream atheists, as there are plenty of respectable atheists out there as well) do not understand the hypocrisy they entrench themselves in when they over apply skepticism. Because they do not criticize their own world views with their own skepticism, they do not see that their own premises are destroyed by said skepticism. They do not see that their premises (truth exists and is testable) are actually the same premises as at least monotheism, if not all spiritual -isms.

The third criterion I suppose could exist, but again I have never given a single penny to this group. I don't like that they charge for their conventions, but if you look at the cost of any business convention, those always cost more. Ironically, in this thread there is a document exposed with intention to show economic exploitation, but to me it seems that they are distributing their economic information openly!

As you progress in there system you will be told that unless you give 10 percent of your income you can not enter spirituality- period- no exceptions.

yeah that is in many religions. tithe in Christianity, Massar or something in BB/judaism. In both cases that is SUPPOSED to be between you and god. If BB ever requires 10% of my income go directly to BB, then they are bogus. I'm pretty sure they do not require that. if you take a vow of poverty you could probably loophole that, lol. Seriously though I was under the impression that you can give that money to any charity or whatever. Feeding the poor as a requirement for spirituality makes sense to me. Again, if BB wants the money directly then that is a huge problem. Even then, and only for the sake of argument, if it is only a fixed percentage, AND you know where the money goes, is it really exploitation? Jesus said sell all you own, that's closer to exploitation!! Then again he never said what to do with that money. Think about it. Could you be a spiritual person without service to others? I don't want to over defend BB, i'm just saying what holy text doesn't require something like that? BB didn't make that up, it's already in the books. So your problem there is a wider issue with religion, not specifically with BB. AGAIN, if BB demands 10% of your income go directly to them, well I'd be worried. Even at that point, still don't have all 3 categories fulfilled. It takes more than that for the cult gloss, if we believe PhD's from Harvard instead of millionaire deprogrammers.

Also, at that point don't you get to study directly with Laitman? College cost me literally 350% of my income, and I got to study directly with a few PhD's.

c.

If BB ever requires 10% of my income go directly to BB, then they are bogus. I'm pretty sure they do not require that.

You will be disappointed and probably really mad as many were. When I started with them it took a year and only the help of someone who had progressed through the system to inform me . And yes it must go to BB not the poor.Brace yourself my friend your illusion is going to be shattered.But you must find out for yourself.

I have a little trick that I have that I would pass on to the young ones. I would tell them to be like a sprung and soak up everything but to grasp everything with a lite touch. That way when you no longer need it it is easier to let go and move on. If you hold on to tight it can be really painful.

Maaser goes directly to bnei baruch. After months of asking how much money in total I gave to them they finally told me. However, I have asked, and so has my family, where the money I donated to them has gone with no reply from any one in bnei baruch. Also in Israel they will not let you attend daily lessons unless you pay maaser regularly and they also keep a list posted in their center on who pays (even though it's supposed to be a secret according to them) They also guilt trip the "intermediate" and "advanced" students into paying maaser and intimidate them by saying you won't advance at all without paying money to them.

Also in case you don't know, Michael Laitman's son Uri Laitman publishes and sells all of their books and ALL proceeds go to him except for the book "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Kabbalah" and another book which slips my mind but trust me they sold the rights to those 2 books for a very, very nice amount of money.

Finally, where does the money go? Can they prove or do they even attempt to prove where it goes? Also they prefer cash and openly ask for cash only at their physical study groups....Put 1 and 1 together.

Also they do not provide tax write-offs as they promise to US and Canadian citizens. I am not the only one either but I will spare the names of the people who have told me.