# Smapti, Kabbalah, And Cultural Appropriation **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 16, 2025, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-kabbalah-and-cultural-appropriation/1019724 "2025-06-16T21:26:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-kabbalah-and-cultural-appropriation/1019724/1 "2025-06-16T21:26:56Z")
He started a thread announcing he would be undertaking a six month long Kabbalah ritual. > [@I'm going to undertake a six-month Kabbalah ritual - ask me anything](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-undertake-a-six-month-kabbalah-ritual-ask-me-anything/1016475): > > I’ve made oblique references to this in a few posts over the last few months, but since we’re now less than three weeks away from Easter, I’d like to take this opportunity to tell everyone that I’m more or less taking a six-month hiatus from this board, and from society in general outside of work, so that I can undertake an esoteric rite known as the Abramelin Operation. Seeing as I’ve been an outspoken atheist for most of my life, and apparently one of the most prolific posters on the board the… I had questions > [@I'm going to undertake a six-month Kabbalah ritual - ask me anything](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-undertake-a-six-month-kabbalah-ritual-ask-me-anything/1016475/3): > > I am also confused. First, why would a ritual based in Kabbalah have a start date based on Easter? Is it just coincidence? Say what now? AIUI the whole point of Kabbalah is true knowledge and experience of the mind of G-d. Why use an “interlocutor”? Huh? Why not do any of the vast number of secular methods? Ah, this alone tells me somebody is full of crap. The qualifications to practice Kabbalah are debatable. But -must be an adult Jew, fluent in Hebrew and learned in the Talmud, must alr… I objected to the fact that **Smapti** chose a ritual with rules he didn’t intend to follow. It also called for fasting. He is medically unable to fast. So, I asked again- why choose this particular ritual? > [@Hajaro](#): > > here’s no reason they can’t modify a set ritual to better suit their purposes There is indeed a reason. The basic tenets of Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition that **Smapti** says he is folllowing insist on strict adherence to the rules and established procedures. > [@Hajaro](#): > > and you’re being extremely uncool. Sorry. I tried to be cool and just sit back while the cultural appropriation happened. It didn’t work. [quot=Hajaro] This thread is about their journey and it’s not at all about you. [/quote] No, it is not about me. It is about an act of cultural appropriation. > [@Hajaro](#): > > It appears that they are getting a lot out of it and the rest of us are enjoying their journey. Who is being a benefitted by you trying to destroy the joy? Okay then. Cultural appropriation is not wrong as long as it is entertaining. Got it, I explain why it is cultural appropriation here > [@I'm going to undertake a six-month Kabbalah ritual - ask me anything](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-undertake-a-six-month-kabbalah-ritual-ask-me-anything/1016475/135): > > You say that, but Yeah, Kabbalah-based. We can debate which Jewish people exactly should be stuyding and practicng Kabbalah. If you are not Jewish and practicing Kabbalah, or any Kabbalah-based rituals, that is by definition cultural appropriation. Then why is it claiming to be “Kabbalah-based”? The mere fact it makes that claim and also claims that it is is cultural appropriatoon. Yes, it was mostly likely made up in the 14th century and given a phony history to make it seem authentic. … **needscoffee** is displeased with me > [@I'm going to undertake a six-month Kabbalah ritual - ask me anything](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-undertake-a-six-month-kabbalah-ritual-ask-me-anything/1016475/142): > > Guess what? You don’t own a culture. Nobody owns a culture. You practice a culture. Anyone who wants to practice any part of it and make it meaningful to themselves gets to do so without your finger-wagging. I was told to let my objections drop, or start a Pit thread about them. Since, by any sane definition this is cultural appropriation, and I personally view cultural appropriation as disrespectful and often the result of ignorance of the culture being appropriated- here we are, ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-kabbalah-and-cultural-appropriation/1019724/2 "2025-06-16T21:30:04Z")
Freedom of Religion. In this country you can worship whoever and whatever you want. Most of the worshippers of all religions seem very disrespectful to me on their own terms so this is hardly anything important in itself. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-kabbalah-and-cultural-appropriation/1019724/3 "2025-06-16T21:40:09Z")
So that any possible personal bias is clear, I need to confirm that I’m responding as an almost completely secular Jew. I’m more on @DocCathode’s side of things - if Smapti was saying he was doing a ritual “inspired” by various Kabbalah rituals, but was using it for inspiration _while creating something unique to himself_, I’d object a lot less. Saying that he was doing it with updates and changes that were provided by yet _another_ non-Jew to make it more accurate, or more appropriate to his own needs - well, that also rubbed me the wrong way. As was brought up in the thread, felt a lot like Jew-splaining a ritual to us. And the last especially makes me sympathetic to our OP. Yes, he has the right to do it. I don’t deny Smapti that. He even has the right to blog about it, though I stopped reading it (also my choice). And, giving fair criticism, DC probably should have brought it to the Pit sooner. But yeah, I do get the point that he’s bragging about doing another religion’s ritual, but somehow doing it better. Chaps my hide. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-kabbalah-and-cultural-appropriation/1019724/4 "2025-06-16T21:41:04Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Freedom of Religion. I don’t see how that is relevant. I never said it should illegal. In fact, I explicitly said it should be legal in the thread > [@Doccathode](#): > > Why not? I feel it is a bad thing. It falls in the large group of ‘I think it should be legal. But, people should not do it.’ ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-kabbalah-and-cultural-appropriation/1019724/5 "2025-06-16T21:44:13Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > I don’t see how that is relevant. I never said it should illegal. In fact, I explicitly said it should be legal in the thread It’s not just about legality, it’s an important principle. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-kabbalah-and-cultural-appropriation/1019724/6 "2025-06-16T21:49:25Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > But yeah, I do get the point that he’s bragging about doing another religion’s ritual, but somehow doing it better. Chaps my hide. Did he say he’s doing it better or did you make that part up to justify recreational anger? ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-kabbalah-and-cultural-appropriation/1019724/7 "2025-06-16T21:51:26Z")
That was how I felt about what he was doing. See earlier in the same post where I described it slightly more impartially: > [@ParallelLines](#): > > Saying that he was doing it with updates and changes that were provided by yet _another_ non-Jew to make it more accurate, or more appropriate to his own needs - well, that also rubbed me the wrong way. As was brought up in the thread, felt a lot like Jew-splaining a ritual to us. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-kabbalah-and-cultural-appropriation/1019724/8 "2025-06-16T21:52:35Z")
I barely understood his reasons for starting the ritual, in the first place. So excuse me that. I think he thinks he’ll come away with magical powers or gifts. I’ll be sorely disturbed if thats what it is. Also isn’t it kinda wrong to pit Smapti when he’s not here. He’s proven he won’t post at other times and only in his thread when he does. This feels underhanded. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-kabbalah-and-cultural-appropriation/1019724/9 "2025-06-16T21:54:46Z")
The fasting thing seems like a cultural difference. Abstaining from food but not water is still considered a fast by wider society, just a less strict one. It’s following the spirit rather than the letter of the ritual, which for a non-Jew (and an atheist) likely appears more important. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-kabbalah-and-cultural-appropriation/1019724/10 "2025-06-16T21:55:43Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > It’s not just about legality, it’s an important principle. Respect for other cultures is an important prinicple as well. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-kabbalah-and-cultural-appropriation/1019724/11 "2025-06-16T21:57:20Z")
It seems like this is a matter best left to God. If He is upset, He’ll let his displeasure be known. Smapti, watch out for any sudden and isolated thunderstorms in your very local area. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-kabbalah-and-cultural-appropriation/1019724/12 "2025-06-16T22:00:50Z")
He said he’s making it more accurate? Because that’s completely different than appropriate to his own needs. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-kabbalah-and-cultural-appropriation/1019724/13 "2025-06-16T22:01:49Z")
It’s basically Judaism fanfic - but then, so is Christianity, so who am I to judge? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-kabbalah-and-cultural-appropriation/1019724/14 "2025-06-16T22:04:21Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > But yeah, I do get the point that he’s bragging about doing another religion’s ritual, but somehow doing it better. Chaps my hide. Which is understandable, although the evolution of most religious institutions involve people who believe that they are “doing it better” so it is scarcely novel. Insofar as _Kabbalah_ even has a consistent interpretation among _hassidim_, it has become adopted, interpreted, and appropriated in so many ways both within and outside of Judaism that @Smapti’s peculiar interpretation is scarcely even radical although his characteristic _know-all-ism_ [about a topic he has clearly only done cursory research about](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-dopers-what-do-you-think-of-gilgul-reincarnation/1017157/10) invites criticism and mockery for being superficial, flippant, and appropriative. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-kabbalah-and-cultural-appropriation/1019724/15 "2025-06-16T22:08:14Z")
Personally, I have an extremely low opinion of the whole concept of “cultural appropriation”. Let anyone mix and match whatever parts of whatever culture they like. > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Also isn’t it kinda wrong to pit Smapti when he’s not here. He’s proven he won’t post at other times and only in his thread when he does. > > This feels underhanded. Honestly, it’s the best available decision on their part. I also avoid Pit threads for myself, getting dogpiled is no fun especially when the oblique death threats start. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-kabbalah-and-cultural-appropriation/1019724/16 "2025-06-16T22:08:28Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > He said he’s making it more accurate? Because that’s completely different than appropriate to his own needs. [sorry, discourse has done something weird to formatting, the following was part of Smapti’s response to a longer post of DocCathode] > [@I'm going to undertake a six-month Kabbalah ritual - ask me anything](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-undertake-a-six-month-kabbalah-ritual-ask-me-anything/1016475/9): > > > [@I'm going to undertake a six-month Kabbalah ritual - ask me anything](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-undertake-a-six-month-kabbalah-ritual-ask-me-anything/1016475/3): > > > > The qualifications to practice Kabbalah are debatable. But -must be an adult Jew, fluent in Hebrew and learned in the Talmud, must already have personal and moral fortitude. > > As the author puts it in the text, he taught the pure Kabbalah to his oldest son and this method to his second, since he could only pass the former on to one child a la Isaac giving his blessing to Jacob rather than Esau. As with most writings of this nature there were probably emendations made by a Christian at some point to make it more accessible to a wider audience. Without quoting or refighting the entire thread, that should serve as a small example of what I was referring to. Granted, I am giving a less-than-charitable interpretation of what the author (note, not Smapti) is doing, and I have not said that _Smapti_ is going into it with bad intentions. But knowingly or not, it is IMO cultural appropriation and objectionable. BUT. As @DocCathode has repeatedly said for himself, and now I for myself, I don’t have the right to _deny_ him doing so. He’s got every legal and personal right to do so, but I am agreeing that I find it distasteful. Not illegal, not even against the rules, but distasteful. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-kabbalah-and-cultural-appropriation/1019724/17 "2025-06-16T22:11:46Z")
Just to be clear- > [@DocCathode](#): > > If you know of any thread where somebody asks questions about Judaism out of a simple desire to learn, and I respond in any way other than politely providing the best answers I can, please link to it. > > If you know of a thread where somebody discusses any other religion, and I didn’t post a bunch of polite questions because I want to learn, please link to that. > > Again, my objections are to cultural appropriation and not following the basic rules of the tradition being appropriated. Before they were married and my now sister in law was getting to me and the rest of the family, she carefully showed us a tallis (fringed prayer shawl) that had belonged to an uncle. She explained how close they had been, and why she kept it. Since we were Jewish, she wanted to be sure she hadn’t violated Jewish law, tradition or done anything disrespectful. Our answer was that it was perfectly acceptable to keep such an item in a safe place as a reminder of righteous and loving relative who had died. If she had decided to wear it as a fashion statement, that would be a major problem. Oh, I missed this earlier- > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Also isn’t it kinda wrong to pit Smapti when he’s not here. He’s proven he won’t post at other times and only in his thread when he does. > > This feels underhanded. I was making my objections in the thread he started about the ritual. A mod told I had to stop posting them there. I could either let the matter drop, or start a Pit thread. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-kabbalah-and-cultural-appropriation/1019724/18 "2025-06-16T22:11:46Z")
He’s a stupid asshole doing some dumb shit. Why complicate things? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-kabbalah-and-cultural-appropriation/1019724/19 "2025-06-16T22:16:00Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Personally, I have an extremely low opinion of the whole concept of “cultural appropriation”. Because it isn’t your culture being used to create charactered mascots for sporting teams or names of weapon systems of your conquerer. “Appropriation” doesn’t just mean reference to or even use of, but adoption of the resemblance of a figure, peoples, or belief system without any respect for or understanding of the underlying traditions of the culture being appropriated. Unless it is the Irish; everybody is okay with portraying the Irish as a bunch of ignorant drunkards constantly looking for a pot of gold at the end of an atmospheric refraction phenomenon. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-kabbalah-and-cultural-appropriation/1019724/20 "2025-06-16T22:22:58Z")
I really don’t know much about this particular ritual, so I can’t make a judgement as to whether he is taking this too lightly or making changes to something he doesn’t understand and whether or not it is wrong to make such changes. But I’m not sure I’d classify this as appropriation, because he seems to be approaching it with a respectful intention. If what is doing is offense or wrong, it would still be just as offensive or wrong if a Jewish person did the same thing. I’m going to accept that Smapti’s reason for undertaking this ritual was deeply personal and not intended to be disrespectful, but I absolutely do not understand why he posted about it, especially on this forum, because the SDMB’s reaction is completely predictable. Usually, the people that you work with while undertaking this type of practice will advise you to hold it tightly and not to discuss it too deeply with anyone you don’t know really well. If you get praise by discussing it, it feeds your ego which is not helpful to this type of practice. If you get criticism, it sows doubt which is not helpful to this type of practice. I’ve never practiced Kabbalah, but I’ve done other intensive spiritual practices and I’ve never even considered posting about them on the SDMB because I could totally predict the reaction and I’m surprised Smapti couldn’t. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-kabbalah-and-cultural-appropriation/1019724.md?page=2)