I got part way into Tucker's episode today and the guy mentioned Kabbalah. I had been curious about it, think I saw Charls Carrol mention it but never watched him long.
I figured it was some Jewish heresy like Christian gnosticism but GPT says its accepted in mainstream Orthodox Judaism but is only taught to like 10% of people? Is that right? It just sounds like the typical hidden knowledge type shit, but its very weird to hear that its accepted in mainline rabbinic Judaism. Anyone know about this?
I think you are right that a lot of the famous people attatched to it are interested in the magic occult stuff and not interested in the Jewish faith. From what I skimmed it seems to suggest it's about manifestations of God. That there is a deep God that is unreachable and there are his manifestations that interact with humanity.
I don't think Hasidic jews make up a large percentage of practicing jews. From what I was reading, the deep well of Google right, they encourage older, married rabbis to study it because it apparently can drive you mad. So being older and having passed on your genes, you going crazy is less tragic.