Madonna at Auschwitz
By Jay Michaelson
The Jewish blogosphere is abuzz with reports that Madonna has plans to take her children, Lourdes (12) and Rocco (9) to Auschwitz, when the singer visits Poland as part of an upcoming tour. According to a report initially published in the British Daily Mirror, but circulated widely in the Jewish community by Ynetnews, a source close to the signer says that “It won’t be an easy trip but it is an ultimate life affirming experience, and one Madonna — because of her strong Kaballah [sic] beliefs [sic] – does not want to ignore.”
It’s easy to criticize Madonna’s choice. Is nine too young to understand the gravity of the holocaust? (Not according to my grade school teachers.) Is anything connected with Madonna and/or Judaism and/or Kabbalah to be treated with derision? Personally, though, having just returned from a trip to Auschwitz myself (see related ‘Polymath’ column), I think the decision is a sound one. It’s all well and good to study Kabbalah and mysticism on sunny summer days – but can your theology and spirituality withstand the truth of the holocaust? And while the subtleties of Nazi genocide may well be lost on pre-teen kids, the general narrative will not be.
I just hope Madonna also gets to enjoy the sights of Krakow – there’s a great nightclub called “Kitsch” that I think she’d enjoy, plus the grave of the RaMaH, a great Torah sage. I guess there aren’t that many people who would appreciate both – but I bet Madonna would.
July 31, 2009, 11:42am
Madonna On The Hidden World: From Material Girl to Queen Esther
By Dan Friedman
In her first of what she promises will be a regular column for Yediot Ahronot Madonna has explained how she was turned on to Kabbalah.
She notes how her fame and global traveling hadn’t helped “when it came to trying to understand why people suffered in the world or what the meaning of life was all about.” Kabbalah opened her eyes to how things worked: “Nature and the laws of Cause and Effect.” To the quintessential material girl, suddenly, “[l]ife no longer seemed like a series of Random events…[she] started to see patterns in life.” As she puts it, “I woke up.”
There are obvious encomia to those who have helped wake her up, and road-to-Damascus (or should that be from-Damascus?) insights. Perhaps her own alacrity or some judicious editing have kept the column short but interesting — even if its fascination lies with the author’s celebrity rather than her slightly sophomoric prose.
Two things still remain hidden though: How long will she continue writing the column (neither she nor Yediot Ahronot have specified the length of their arrangement), and why?
Why does a global star with nothing obvious to sell want to write her own column? And why does she start by omitting that most obvious of questions? Perhaps to get us to read the next one?!
September 17, 2007, 5:55pm
Madonna Hearts Shimon
By Daniel Treiman
Madonna dropped in on Israel’s president Shimon Peres this weekend amid her latest celebrity-packed Kabbalah conclave in the holy land.Y-Net reports that she presented Peres with a copy of the “Book of Splendor” (i.e. the Zohar) with the dedication: “To Shimon Peres, the man I admire and love, Madonna.”
The Material Girl also proclaimed herself an “ambassador for Judaism” and beseeched Israel’s president: “Tell me what I should do, Mr Peres, because I am in love with Israel.”
Perhaps Peres could ask her to bottle her enthusiasm and give a little of it to young American Jews. Then again, cults and enthusiasm do tend to go hand in hand.
Jewlicious blogger and Hasidic rapper Y-Love, for one, thinks Paula Abdul would make a better ambassador.
August 24, 2007, 2:05pm
Dude, Where’s Shimon Peres, and Other Celebrity Kabbalah News
By Daniel Treiman
The Jerusalem Post reports (following up on an article in Yediot Aharonot) that a bevy of celebrities is headed for Israel for Rosh Hashanah. They’re all stars smitten by the voodoo that Kabbalah Centre does so well: Madonna, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher and Donna Karan.
The Post’s best tidbit, however, is the following:
Kutcher, best known for his work on That ’70s Show and MTV reality program Punk’d, had an even more direct encounter with the Israeli government last October, meeting with Shimon Peres briefly in Berlin.
In town to promote his latest movie, the Dude, Where’s My Car? star put in a hasty request for a meeting with Peres after learning that he, too, was in the German capital on business.
At their meeting, Peres fielded questions from Kutcher about Israel’s security situation, with Kutcher ending the conversation with a pledge to visit Israel someday with his wife.
Dude, didn’t Peres have anything better to do?
UPDATE: Reader “Harry” helpfully notes that the Post got some key details about the Kutcher-Peres pow-wow wrong. (See his comment to this post.) It turns out that Peres was also meeting with Kevin Costner, who, having starred in “Field of Dreams” and “Dances With Wolves,” undeniably has gravitas. (The Forward’s earlier account of the Kutcher-Costner-Peres meeting is here.)
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