In his fourth lecture on the Chatam Sofer for Torah in Motion, historian Marc B. Shapiro said: “The Rambam did not believe in amulets and the like. The Chatam Sofer would give out amulets. He was not a Lithuanian Torah scholar.”
“Sometimes people talk about the Chatam Sofer the Vilna Gaon as rationalists. Nothing could be further from the truth. Although most of their time was spent on Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), this does not mean they did not spend any time with kabbalah.”
“Until our own time, the prototypical Lithuanian Torah scholar had no involvement with kabbalah.”
“Today mainstream kabbalists say that kabbalah is for elites.”
“This is basic to all religions [and philosophies]. You want to keep the masses worshiping.”
“Chabad is an elite group. They try to teach this [version of kabbalah] to everyone but Chabad prided itself as an intellectual movement, as the most intellectual of the Hasidim.”
