Metaphysics where we would least expect to find it
If you are Jewish, or interested in Judaism, and have found your way into New Thought or the Fillmore teaching, you may find Chabad or Chabad-Lubavitch and it's website https//chabad.org inspiring, for several reasons.
1. Chabad's Daily Dose of Wisdom is is filled with metaphysical insights. It is much like Daily Word, but rooted in Judaism and Torah. For example, take a look at The Inside Story on Passover, emailed to me on April 7, 2025:
"In each one of us there is an Egypt and a Pharaoh and a Moses and Freedom in a Promised Land. And every point in time is an opportunity for another Exodus."
Friends, metaphysical Bible interpretation doesn't get any better than what was packed into those 32 words.
2. Chabad is grounded in Kabbalistic teaching. New Thought and Fillmore teaching has drawn from Judaism's mystical teaching found in Kabbalah, particularly the original Kabbalah as it surfaced in the early 20th century. I brought this out in December 2024 with "Was Paul a Kabbalist Mystic?" I have lost my reference to Ed Rabel declaring that early Bible interpretation by Charles Fillmore's teachers studied Kabbalistic texts that were being translated into English, but it's true and perfectly aligned with Charles Fillmore's declaration that
We know that Emma Curtis Hopkins, then living in New York, and her collaborator H.B. Jeffery produced High Mysticism and inspired John Rankins’ audio presentation, Mysticism of Emma Curtis Hopkins. Mildred Mann drew from “Cabalah” in A Metaphysical and Symbolical Interpretation of the Bible. Finally, we have the common focus of Fillmore teaching on the Twelve Powers and Kabbalah teaching on the ten Sefirot.
Chabad teaches that Kabbalah cannot be properly comprehended outside of understanding of Torah. Here is a class recently taught at the Chabad center near me. There is likely a Chabad center new you. If you wish to attend a class, first call he Rabbi. He will almost certanly welcome you. Wikipedia says, about Chabad, "Unlike most Haredi groups, which are self-segregating, Chabad mainly operates in the wider world and caters to nonobservant Jews."
3. Sabbath services at a Chabad center may be the closest thing we have today to the synagogue services at the time of Jesus. Do we ever stop and think about what Jesus experienced in his hometown synagogue? Was it a song, a reading, a prayer, and a sermon? What was it? To help me find out, my friend Harold Goodman DO, an osteopathic physician, took me to a Chabad Shabbat service a few months ago. To say the least, the service was not what one would experience in a Reform or Conservative Synagogue service, which are greatly modeled after the format of Protestant services.
The experience is quite different, with one exception. It may be that what we know as Holy Communion is modeled after the Jewish Kiddush, the common meal held after the Shabbat service. Jewish communities are tightly knitted. We can learn much from our spiritual elders, the Jews. Agan, if you would like to attend, contact the Rabbi ahead of time. Try to walk to the center, turn off your phone, and, if you're male, wear a kippah.
Last night, April 12 2025, Jews began their celebration of Passover, which runs through April 20. I walk by a Chabad center most days when I take my long walk. I celebrate with them, in spirit.
Palm Sunday, April 13, 2025
