The Kabbalah Renaissance: How Jewish Mysticism Found Modern America

A decade ago, Kabbalah was best known as the religion celebrities adopted for a season, accessorised with a red string bracelet. Today, it is the subject of serious academic inquiry at Harvard, Yale, and Oxford — and of genuine spiritual practice in communities across America.

The shift reflects a broader hunger for spiritual depth in a secular age, but it also reflects something specific to the current moment in Jewish life. As many American Jews drift away from institutional affiliation, some are finding their way back through the mystical door.

"People are looking for meaning that goes beyond the social," says Rabbi Sharon Brous, whose congregation in Los Angeles has seen significant growth among Jews in their twenties and thirties. "Kabbalah offers a cosmology, a way of understanding the structure of reality. That is compelling to people who grew up with nothing."

Academic Revival

The scholarly revival is led by a generation of academics who have moved Kabbalistic studies from the margins to the centre of Jewish studies departments. Professor Moshe Idel of Hebrew University, whose career spans five decades, says he has never seen more interest from non-Jewish scholars.