Madonna and the Kabbalah
Important note: Anyone seriously interested in Kabbalah is advised to read the works of Gershom Scholem. Here is a quote from Scholem's 'On the Kaballah and Its Symbolism':
"In a generation that has witnessed a terrible crisis in Jewish history, the ideas of these medieval Jewish esoterics no longer seem so strange. We see with other eyes, and the obscure symbols strike us as worth clarifying. Research in this field involves an enormous responsibility. In digging up and evaluating the material, a scholar must make every effort to preserve a critical attitude. For long before historians became interested in Jewish mysticism, charlatans and crooks were drawn to it. This was of doubtful benefit to the Kabbalah. The endeavor to understand what was here enacted at the heart of Jewry cannot dispense with historical criticism and clear vision. For even symbols grow out of historical experience and are saturated with it. A proper understanding of them requires both a 'phenomenological' aptitude for seeing things as a whole and a gift of historical analysis. One complements and clarifies the other; taken together, they promise valuable findings."
June 10, 2005: Madonna Kaballah donation
Metro reported that Madonna has spent £1.6 million on a Georgian mansion in London's Regent's Park to be used as a hotel and drop-in centre for Kabbalah followers.
6 March 2005: Two very contrasting views of Madonna and Kaballah
Back in January there was a highly critical undercover report entitled Sweeney Investigates: The Kabbalah Centre where using a secret camera, cancer patient Tony Donnelly went inside the Kabbalah Centre. A very detailed account was printed in the Daily Telegraph under the headline The great Kabbalah con exposed. Here is an extract:
"At one point, I noticed a striking blonde enter, in a trilby hat - Madonna. She was seated with her husband, Guy Ritchie, and their children on the next table. They seemed like a nice family, with Madonna a normal mum.
"But then things turned crazy. A weird religious service started with prayer readings and chanting that culminated in everyone turning to the east, pushing the air with their hands, and crying out "Cher-er-er-er-nobyl" at the top of their voices. They thought they were curing Chernobyl of radiation, using the power of Kabbalah to drive away the evil - and one of the biggest rock stars on the planet was joining in the chanting.
"The issue of how to pay the £860 came up a couple of days later. I didn't want to hand over a credit card, so I invented a cock-and-bull story about offshore riches and promised to deliver cash - £860 in total for the Kabbalah water and the Zohar books. I counted out the cash, then Shouster counted it out again.
"Having paid £860, I was next offered a trip to celebrate a Kabbalah religious festival in Israel. Rabbi Philip Berg, the leader of the Kabbalah Centre movement, would be present. I was presented with an invoice for $6,232 (£3,331); flights were to be extra ..."
In contrast, two days previously, Britney Spears posted her view on the Britney Spears Official Website:
"Madonna first introduced Kabbalah to me at a time in my life when it was much needed. It has helped me get rid of a lot of negative influences that were guiding me down the wrong path. There came a point where not even my family or my advisors had the answers I needed. The answers I was looking for were all in my heart. Through Kabbalah, I was able to look within myself, clear all the negative energy and turn my life around.
"Now that the chaos has subsided, I finally feel as though I have the control I've wanted over my own destiny. I'm in a place where I can take Kabbalah seriously and truly learn from it.
"Whatever your religion may be, it's amazing what the power of prayer can do, it can even perform miracles!"
The Sunday Times today (24 October 2004) carried an article entitled 'Margarette Driscoll meets Madonna'.
The article discusses the launch, hosted by Demi Moore, of 'Becoming Like G-d', a book by Rabbi Michael Berg about the Kabbalah.
Madonna, who has adopted the name Esther, first got involved in Kaballah nine years ago. In the Sunday Times interview she explains:
"I was what you would call at the top of my world. I’d won a Golden Globe for Evita, I was pregnant, I had fame, I had fortune, everything that you would perceive a person would want in life. But I’m sure everyone’s had that out-of-body experience where you say to yourself — and it might happen at 28 or 38 or 68 — why am I here? Why am I inside of this body? What am I doing? And I was hearing that question a lot."
Madonna then describes going to a class in Kabbalah:
“I felt so inspired when I left the room. One thing Kabbalah teaches you is that your true potential in the world has nothing to do with selling records or making money or being popular, it has to do with what you are doing to help. What are you doing to make the world a better place?”
You can read the full Sunday Times article here.
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