"Yakov Leib HaKohain" is the Hebrew birth-name of Lawrence G. Corey, author of "Kabbalah and the Interpretation of Dreams" (published in the Jungian anthology, Modern Jew in Search of a Soul), "For the Sake of God: An Answer to Jung" (in the Journal of the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco), and also "To Die for the People: A Jewish Interpretation of the Crucifixion" (in The Priest: A Journal of Catholic Theology). His other writings have appeared in magazines and journals such as Midstream, Evergreen Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, The Catholic Critic, Dor L'Dor: Journal of the World Jewish Bible Society of Jerusalem, The Newsletter of the Orthodox Jewish Teacher's Association of New York, and Choice: A Yearly Anthology of Poetry. Reb Yakov Leib's article was included -- along with the Dalai Lama, Joseph Campbell, Freud and Jung -- in the recently published anthology, "Dreamwork: Around the World and Across Time", edited by Leland Shields and published by Blue Dolphin Press.
For almost 40 years, Reb Yakov Leib (now in his 75th year) has been the acknowledged leader of the world-wide revival in Neo-Sabbatian Kabbalah, never charging for his classes, writings and spiritual direction -- all of them, instead, being given by him freely and without charge. (See the Wikipedia articles at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbatai_Zevi#D.C3.B6nmeh_West_and_the_Neo-Sabbatian_revival and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%B6nmeh#Neo-Sabbatean_revival and the recent interview with him by the noted Israeli newspaper, Ma'ariv in the Hebrew version at http://www.nrg.co.il/online/43/ART1/746/327.html and in the longer English version from which the Hebrew was condensced at http://www.donmeh-west.com/maariv_interview.shtml.
Reb Yakov Leib HaKohain is not a "psychologist," "psychotherapist, "Jungian analyst," or even a "rabbi." He has no certifications, no authorizations, no credentials or "prior approvals" to do what he does. He is, however, a God-inspired teacher of Self-realization of whom Dr. J. Marvin Spieglman (the widely-acclaimed author, religious scholar, Zurich-certified Jungian Analyst, and Past-President of the C. G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles) has written:
"[Yakov Leib HaKohain] has made an unusual attempt at combining aspects of Jungian Psychology and the Kabbalah, significantly more than has been assayed heretofore. There have been accounts of the impact of Jewish Mysticism and Kabbalah on psychology -- e.g., Freud and Jung -- but [Yakov Leib HaKohain] is the first to our knowledge who explicitly combines archetypal information and Jungian concepts in a back-and-forth relation between dreams, personal history and Kabbalistic imagery." (Modern Jew in Search of a Soul: A Jungian Anthology, p. 84).
Following in the footsteps of the 17th and 18th century Jewish Avatars Sabbatai Zevi and Jacob Frank, respectively -- as well as the 19th century Hindu Avatar, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa -- all of whom he seeks to emulate, Reb Yakov Leib HaKohain, over the course of his 75 years, has studied, converted to, practiced and spiritually integrated the four major religions of the world (Judaism, Catholic Christianity, Islam and Hinduism) in order to perform the Kabbalistic Tikkun of "Repairing the Face of God" -- which means the intentional spiritual reconciliation, in one's own person, of all religions so that God may again be one and His Name, one. (Zechariah 14:9)
Between 1980 and 1985 Reb Yakov Leib HaKohain studied Kabbalah under his mentor, the Jungian Kabbalist James Kirsch, who was among the last surviving members of C. G. Jung's original inner circle and the founder (at Jung's behest) of the C. G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles -- the first in the United States -- where Reb Yakov Leib did an additional three years of advanced studies. He also studied with and was initiated into Vedanta in 1980 by his guru, Swami Swahananda, head of the Ramakrishna Order of India in Southern California, where Reb Yakov Leib has since been a frequent speaker and teacher over the years.
Recently, the leading Israeli newspaper, Ma'ariv, called Reb Yakov Leib HaKohain the "successor to Sabbatai Zevi." In fact, for the past thirty years, he has been the acknowledged spiritual leader of the Neo-Sabbatian Kabbalists of the West and spiritual heir to the legacy of the 17th century Jewish Avatar, Sabbatai Zevi and his 18th century successor, Avatar Yakov Leib Frank, after whom he is believed to have been named by his Orthodox Jewish family of hereditary Levitical priests, the maternal side of which originally came to America from Istanbul, Turkey where the Sabbatian movement began in the late 17th century.
Presently in his seventy-fifth year, Reb Yakov Leib HaKohain founded Donmeh West: A Center for the Study & Practice of Neo-Sabbatian Kabbalah in 1972. For a number of years he was the non-ordained but elected Rebbe ("spiritual leader") of the South Bay Kehillah, a small congregation of overtly Orthodox but covertly Sabbatian Jews in Hermosa Beach, California. In addition, he taught on the Jewish roots of Christianity to parishes in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles. His work is now exclusively on the internet where he teaches, preaches, counsels and publishes a website for almost 100 thousand visitors at http://www.donmeh-west.com.
