Kick drugs,
learn Kabbalah

Rabbi offers how to do one, the other or
both, and is open to all denominations

by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Rabbi Ronnie Fine

Age: 53

Occupation: Kabbalah instructor

Bio: This soulful Snowdon stud says that when first introduced to Kabbalah as a Toronto teenager he immediately became “so enamored with how it deals with all levels of life, with how it answers so many questions and enhances one’s personal life, well, how could I not pursue it? ” So pursue it he did, becoming a rabbi in the process and moving to Montreal some 28 years ago to start a family and eventually sire a modest 10 children. Although he spends much of his time running a “drug crisis centre” he founded called Project Pride, Ronnie’s “greatest passion is the teaching of Kabbalah,” something he does both online and at the Jewish Learning Institute (4941 Queen Mary). He drives a 2006 Dodge Caravan. “Are you surprised? I’ve got 10 kids, what else would I drive?”

By “drug crisis centre,” is it safe to assume Project Pride is a place you can reliably cop when your trusty smack dealer isn’t answering his phone? Not exactly. “We’re unique in that people can walk in off the street anytime and we deal with them immediately, that same day. We’ve no waiting lists. We have great connections so we can get them detoxed and into rehab right away. A lot of the addicts we deal with, once they’re on the road to recovery, come to the Kabbalah classes, which helps them a great deal.”

How long your average non-Project-Pride-affiliated Montreal dope addict has to wait before getting accepted into a methadone program: “Between six weeks and six months.”

What’s Kabbalah anyway? “Rather, let me tell you what it isn’t. It’s not a quick fix of spirituality like Madonna and other celebrities might lead some people to believe. It’s a deep knowledge of the esoteric truth of creation, the knowledge of creator within creation, it is to be able to appreciate the power of the infinite within the finite. And this comes through study, through learning, understanding—it’s not like you’ll come away from a class going, ‘All right, I have all the answers now.’ You don’t see the creator within creation just like that, you know.”

Are there many non-Jews attending his classes? “Yes, absolutely.”

Is it possible this Kabbalah business is just some sort of international Jewish conspiracy to steal Christian souls away from their only true saviour, the messiah, Jesus of Nazareth? “That’s a very good question, but, um, no, actually, we’re not interested in that at all. Judaism isn’t about conversion, we want people to be good non-Jews. The beauty of Judaism is that it makes space for those of other faiths.”

Where you can take Rabbi Ronnie Fine’s amazing Kabbalah course from the comfort of your home: Online daily at learntanya.org. Or you can take his six-week course at the JLI. Next session begins in early January. The cost is $100, textbook included. Call (514) 342-3JLI.

Last book read: The E-Myth Revisited, by Michael Gerber.

Musical preferences: Alter Redde and “sitting around with my wife and 10 children singing Hasidic Kabbalistic melodies, when we do that, oh, there’s nothing greater. It so touches the soul.”

Words of wisdom: “When living a life of the flesh, infuse it with soulfulness, that’s real living.”

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