I like the tofu kind, surprisingly, and I'm not even really a tofu guy.

feh. I'm always disappointed when people aren't so interested in what's there (in any philosophical school) to be gained, as they are in seeking to seem clever in denying there is anything to be learned. Pride in willful ignorance is a vice indeed.

It's a medieval Jewish tradition that some Christians briefly got interested in, and then got mined in the 20th century by nutjobs like Crowley and exploited by the hucksters at the Kabbalah center. Read Daniel Matt or Arthur Green if you're interested in a scholarly treatment about the real history and not a bunch of mumbo-jumbo.

Kabbalah derives from an ancient gnostic branch of Judaism and probably has pagan/occult roots before that. Look up gnosticism if you want to understand the general philosophical underpinnings. My personal feeling is that it's complete BS. They are obsessed with numerical spellings. They use a different system based on a Hebrew alphabet, but here's an analogy… let's say that we assign numbers to the letters in Buzzfeed… 2 21 26 26 6 5 5 4, right? So we add those up and get 90. Now let's just say that 'merecat' also adds up to 90 (I am too lazy to spend all night trying to find a word that actually does). This would mean there is a deep mystical link between buzzfeed and merecats. If you were going to, say, sacrifice an animal to atone for your sins, a merecat might be the ticket. And a really powerful kabbalistic magician could actaully turn buzzfeed into a merecat. The sad things is I am barely exaggerating here.

It is a mapping of the form and evolution of individual human consciousness to the form and evolution of the world/universe.

There are three flavours - The Judaic Kabbalah, the Christian Cabala, and the Hermetic Qabalah. I prefer the third as most inclusive. For serious students, Aleister Crowley's writings are accessible outside of tight Judaic circles. Also, Dion Fortune's “The Mystical Qabala” is a solid primer.

When I first moved to LA I went to a session where Madonna was there. I wrote about it for the UK press and it's on my blog if you care to read.
http://lalasisterhood.blogspot.com/2003/08/freaks-geeks-and-gefilte-fish-shes.html

Oh Jenny you are pulling my leg.

Kabbalah is a branch of Scientology. It was founded in 1682 by Mary Todd Lincoln, mainly as a rebellion against her roommate, who brought home a cat without asking any of the other ladies who lived in the house.
Kabbalah involves doing yoga, drinking bottled water, and adopting foreign babies. You can tell if a person is a follower because they CAN'T NOT talk about it, it's almost like a tick that way. Every now and then a Kabbalah follower, (or, Kaballer, if you will) will suddenly just shout- “Kabbalah!”
That's how you know.
Non-Jewish people love it because then they get to tell Jew jokes without feeling bad, and they still get to celebrate Christmas.

Evil

I know it is old. But WHY? What is the appeal? Is it good or evil? And can you tell if someone is a follower of kabbalah just from a short conversation?

Hey BuzzFeed, ever heard of Madonna…or Britney…or how about GOOGLE? Kabbalah is OLD NEWS. :(

Basically: Don't feel guilty if you're obscenely rich—it's the will of G*d.

its a religion thing. don't do it.

All I know is that Madonna is the deity and she controls people through chintzy red bracelets.

I know it is old and I know it is Jewish mysticism. But why are all these non-Jewish celebrities talking about it? And how does it effect their personalities and world view?

OMG. Kabbalah is SO OLD.