Kabbala confab to bring the world love

Event’s activities to be broadcast via Internet and television, roaming cameras will allow attendees to share impressions with global viewers.

By JONAH MANDEL
The sixth World Kabbalah Convention will open on Tuesday at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds, drawing a projected 7,000 people from 54 countries and a variety of religions and speaking 38 languages, for three days of learning about Kabbala.
“Kabbala is popularly mistaken as religion or mysticism, but the people attending this convention have delved deeper into Kabbala and understand that it is a method with the sole aim of developing connections of love among people,” convention manager Avihu Sofer said.
“The need for love is a point all people share, no matter what their faith, nationality, age or gender,” he went on. “Those attracted to Kabbala are those who found it increasingly difficult to fulfill this need in modern society, and the convention will serve to express this need.”
Among those giving lessons will be Dr. Michael Laitman, founder and president of the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education & Research Institute, under whose auspices the convention is taking place. The lessons will be followed by workshops, activities and cultural events aimed at bringing “the deepest level of connection among people to life,” the organizers said.
In addition, participants will be given a sneak-peek at a pilot from a new movie in the works about the Zohar, the mystical book that serves as the Kabbala’s chief text.
The film, initiated by Laitman, will be shot this upcoming year by award-winning Israeli filmmaker Semyon Vinokur, and will present the great kabbalistic figures of past generations in a historic epic starring Moshe Ivgy, Sasha Demidov and Henry David.
The event’s activities will be broadcast via the Internet and television, and roaming cameras will allow convention attendees to share their impressions with tens of thousands of worldwide viewers in a nonstop three-day broadcast on www.kab.tv and on Israel’s Channel 66.