# 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:** 1\ **Showing post:** 47
**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 17, 2025, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-kabbalah-and-cultural-appropriation/1019724/47 "2025-06-17T02:56:04Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > I say we leave him alone for now. This isn’t about him alone. Quite a few people have said ‘Yeah, it is cultural appropriation. But why are you uspet about it?’ > [@Locrian](#): > > It’s worth discussing for some who are familiar with Kabbalah. I’m not, unfortunately. I posted the basics earlier in this thread. Here they are again for those who missed them- > [@DocCathode](#): > > A very large part of what he is doing wrong is not understanding basic Kabbalah. Kabbalah is based on a few basic things- > > There is no God but the God of Abraham. > God gave the entirety of the Torah (even the parts that hadn’t happened yet) to Moses on Mount Sinai. > Hebrew is sacred and mystically potent in a way no other language is. > The Hebrew letters of the Torah (again the same as when given to Moses on Moun Sinia) reveal great mystical secrets and great power. > > Rituals from the Kabbalah require emotional control, mental focus, fluency in Hebrew, and years of studying Talmud. They must be done exactly and with surgical precision. > > If you believe you can change the rules or the ritual, you haven’t studied at all. > If you change from Hebrew to any other language, everything you do is worthless. You can spend a lite time studying Kabbalh. Those are the basics. Again, altering Kabbalh to ‘work’ with another religion makse no sense atl. People have been doing it for a very, very long time though. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-kabbalah-and-cultural-appropriation/1019724)._