The filmmaker Steven E. Bram, a sports documentarian and the star of “Kabbalah Me,” was about to turn 50 and “hungry for a deeper spirituality,” he says. So he delved into kabbalah, a centuries-old mystical interpretation of the Torah. His film likens kabbalah to dessert: something to consume after internalizing the fundamentals of Judaism. Among many philosophical ideas, kabbalah embraces reincarnation and a kind of psychic teleportation into the past.
Mr. Bram’s investigations take him to a feast with long-unseen Hasidic cousins; to the Kabbalah Center in Manhattan; to a gathering at MetLife Stadium to celebrate the end of a cycle of Talmudic study; to a Purim celebration (“the Jewish Mardi Gras,” in Mr. Bram’s words) in Brooklyn; to the Western Wall in Jerusalem; and to many rabbis and scholars. He also mentions — perhaps overstates — kabbalah’s popularity with celebrities like Madonna.
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