AUBURN – There are two kinds of Kabbalah.

There’s the self-help, pop spirituality, which counts Madonna and Britney Spears among its practitioners. Then, there’s the real thing.

Rabbi Hillel Katzir, who leads Temple Shalom Synagogue Center in Auburn, wants his congregation to know the difference.

He began a monthly class on Kabbalah with a warning.

“Prepare yourselves,” he told the dozen people who gathered for “A Beginner’s Introduction to Kabbalah.”

“We’re not going to get very far,” Katzir said. “It will be mind-bogglingly complicated.”

It’s simply not the stuff of bumper stickers and pop songs, he said.

Kabbalah, a mystical movement based on a symbolic interpretation of the Scriptures, began in the 12th century. It was the creation of medieval Jews who were seeking a way to better understand the essence of God.

It was an exercise for the most mature, well-grounded Jews, people who had spent their lives studying and living by the Torah, the Talmud and the liturgy of Judaism.

“True Kabbalah is very deep, very complicated stuff,” said Katzir. He believes it’s nothing to be dabbled in by pop divas such as Spears, whom folk rocker David Crosby once described as “deep as a birdbath.”

Even so, she and others have made Kabbalah trendy.

Just Google it. Of the 1 million Internet Kabbalah sites that pop up on the search engine, nearly 1 in 10 make a reference to either Spears or Madonna.

According to the Associated Press, Madonna has changed her name to “Esther” and has begun wearing a red string around her wrist as a sign of her faith.

Katzir dismisses the string as “superstition.”

He doesn’t mind the self-help discussion, though. After all, other self-help discussions have given him useful tips.

Just don’t call it Kabbalah.

“It’s easy, therefore it’s not real Kabbalah,” Katzir said.

Despite decades of study, even the rabbi has had trouble understanding the seeming contradictions within the traditional mysticism.

“I am not a Kabbalist,” Katzir said. “I am not an expert.”

Kabbalah can be so complicated that Jews have been warned that study without the proper grounding and maturity could even lead to mental problems.

The self-help version offers no such dangers.

“That’s not going to send you anywhere,” Katzir said.