Its internal sources report that the breakthrough came in 1997, when the group started offering free Kabbalah courses through the Internet and radio (television followed in 2007), and eventually moved its headquarters from Haredi Bnei Brak to nearby (and more cosmopolitan) Petah Tikvah.

As noted by Italian scholars of new religious movements, Massimo Introvigne, this separation “has raised eyebrows among critics” but “is not unprecedented in Kabbalistic schools and continues the practice of Baruch Ashlag.”[12] He claims what he teaches is not a religion, but a science.

The quest to find the source of this social crisis, eventually led Abraham to discover the Creator (which Laitman, following Yehuda Ashlag, defines as the force of love and bestowal).

Abraham realized that the bust of egotism was only an opportunity for the Babylonians to unite on a higher level and discover the Creator, and began spreading this notion among the residents of Babylon.

As summarized by Myers, Bnei Baruch teaches that this group had “a spiritual designation” rather than an ethnic or religious one, indicating a practice based on Abraham's method centered around the unity above the growing ego.

[17] A key component in this development of the nation of Israel and humankind, Bnei Baruch maintains, is desire, which is composed of different levels.

This was why Isaac Luria, according to Bnei Baruch, opened the study of the Kabbalah to all Jews, and Yehuda Ashlag started extending it to non-Jews as well.

From the end of the 20th century, Bnei Baruch insists, the method of connection and overcoming of the ego that the movement believes was discovered in Babylon by Abraham, and developed by Kabbalists over millennia, must spread to the masses.

Correction, a core concept in Kabbalah in general, means the continuous effort of moving from hate to love, from egoism to altruism.

[24] Finally, some associated with the anti-cult movement regard Bnei Baruch as a cult, accusing it of a personality cult of its leader, of requiring exaggerated monetary contributions of disciples, and of brainwashing[25] As noted by Israeli scholars, Marianna Ruah-Midbar and Adam Klin-Oron, a unique feature of the Israeli anti-cult movement is that orthodox Jews and secular critics of religion strictly cooperate in several of its organizations, so that it is difficult to disentangle strictly religious and secular criticism of groups labeled there as "cults.

Criticism is also explained by the intense debate in Israel over who is "authorized" to define Kabbalah: academic scholars, Orthodox establishment people, or new, independent and unafilliated teachers such as Laitman.