Starting today, Radar's ace reporter Mim Udovitch unleashes what is probably the most in-depth investigation of the Kabbalah Centre yet.
Radar�s findings include:
� The Centre�s solicitation of freelance ghostwriters on the website Craigslist, to help the Bergs write �scholarly� books on Kabbalah, some of which the writers are encouraged to model on new-age best-sellers.
� The Centre�s penchant for lending money to companies owned by close friends and associates of the Bergs, including more than $2 million in loans to a company with a P.O. Box address that flips investment properties in such Los Angeles neighborhoods as Compton and Watts.
� The Bergs� luxurious lifestyle, in stark contrast to the bleak four-to-a-bedroom conditions and $35-a-month stipend they offer the full-time volunteers who cook and clean for them.
� The Centre�s use of cultlike techniques to control members, including sleep deprivation, alienation from friends and family, and Kabbalah-dictated matchmaking.
� The bizarre scientific claims made by the Centre�s leaders on behalf of Kabbalah Water, ranging from its ability to cleanse the lakes of Chernobyl of radiation to its power to cure cancer, AIDS, and SARS.
Totally crazy, right? I mean, everyone knows Craigslist is only useful for anonymous sex.
