Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis Attend Funeral of Kabbalist Rabbi
Ashton Kutcher and girlfriend Mila Kunis attended the funeral of Rabbi Philip Berg, who founded the Kabbalah Center in Los Angeles more than 40 years ago. He died at age 86.
The Kabbalah Center in Los Angeles is the center that high-profile Kabbalists such as Kutcher, Kunis, Demi Moore, Madonna and Sandra Bernhard attend. Berg founded the center for the practice of Kabbalah, a sect of Judaism, 40 years ago. Attendees wore white to the funeral, which is common because of a belief by Kabbalists that white "attracts positive energy."
Berg's death was a loss for the Kabbalah Center and the religion he founded. His funeral was very well attended and even live-streamed on the Kabbalah Center's website for those unable to attend. Many believers traveled from distant countries to pay their respects to the Rabbi. The funeral consisted of several eulogies and the singing of "Ani Ma'amin," which is a Hebrew expression of faith in the coming Messiah.
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Kutcher and Kunis, as well as designer Donna Karan traveled to Israel for the funeral, and after the service, Rabbi Berg was buried in the City of Safed. Judaism teaches that the body of a deceased believer should be buried as soon as possible after death.
Berg's family has taken the reigns after the Rabbi suffered an illness in 2004. The Kabbalah Center has grown in recent years and with the popularity of Hollywood believers, both Jewish and not. The once secretive sect of Judaism has come into the mainstream, even though other groups have condemned the Kabbalah Center in Los Angeles.
"We have become aware of a group of young men promulgating the sale of so-called kabbalistic literature and of their establishment of classes in this topic," a group of rabbis in Toronto wrote in 1990. "We categorically state that the group known as the Center for Kabbalah Research is not approved nor endorsed by the undersigned rabbis."
Berg's family will continue to run the center in the wake of his death.
