My 90-year-old mother-in-law, who was born in Jerusalem, says that when she was a child no one had heard of red string. It was red ribbon then, and a bit was tied around her wrist after she recuperated from typhus.
Madonna\’s just-completed visit to Israel has been called a lot of things: scandalous, threatening, inspiring, encouraging, cheap.
It\’s official. The Kabbalah Centre has usurped the Church of Scientology\’s status as Hollywood\’s hottest creed of choice. These days, it seems like every celeb looking to add meaning to his or her glittering but empty life of fame and fortune is joining the red-string-wearing, holy-water-selling, quasi-Jewish group.
David Shamouelian believes he has tapped into what he thinks is a sure-fire marketing tool: 4,000 years of Jewish mysticism.
Madonna doesn\’t like to explain her music videos, but in her newest one, \”Die Another Day\” (the title track for the soon-to-be-released James Bond movie), while wearing a dirty, white tank top she sneeringly sings to the camera, \”Analyze this, Analyze this.\” So we will.
Dear Madonna:
Is it possible that I saw you at Sinai? The Jewish mysticaltradition, which you have been exploring, teaches that the souls ofall Jews for all generations — including converts to Judaism –stood at Mount Sinai when our covenant with God was affirmed. Couldthe Jewish soul of Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone be trapped in thebody of a rebellious Catholic?
Mike Gold* had a successful small business, a nice home, a wife and two kids when he began to wonder about his soul. Questions about life\’s meaning, about God and spirituality and his Jewish heritage would not go away. \”I started studying Judaism by myself, and I realized,\” he said, \”I didn\’t know anything.\”
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.