La Cabbale de Madonna.

Question of the Week:
I was watching a news report the other day about Madonna (now known as Esther). She was discussing how Kabbalah has changed her life, the new views she has and the insight she has gained from learning with her Rabbi. She apparently even keeps a kosher home. My question is - what are your thoughts on the masses learning Kabbalah? Is it a good thing? Or is it a fad?

Answer:
I'm not sure how authentic the "Kabbalah" being studied by Madonna is, but I would imagine there are much worse things she could be doing with her time. If indeed it has made her a better person, good for her.
The renewed interest in Kabbalah is a good thing. The Kabbalists always said that although in earlier generations Kabbalah was a restricted area of study, a time will come when these teachings will become available to everyone. Its blend of profound thought and down to earth spirituality is much needed today.
The question is not so much who can study Kabbalah, but who can teach it. Some modern exponents of the Kabbalah claim that it is a separate religion, distinct from Judaism. This claim is not only untrue, it is self-destructive, and one should beware of such teachers.
The Kabbalists call Jewish mysticism the Pardes, meaning "The Garden". If you see a beautiful flower in a garden, you may have the urge to pick it and take it home to enjoy its beauty. But a flower won't last long out of its natural habitat. Once it is disconnected from its life-force it will very quickly wither and die.
Taking Kabbalah out of its Jewish context is like picking a flower from a garden. It looks beautiful and smells nice for a while, but soon it starts to wither, rot and stink. Kabbalah is a living, breathing spirituality that is nourished by the rich soil of Jewish wisdom and practice. But those who are calling it a separate religion, for the obvious reason of gaining a wider audience, are turning something deep and holy into just another passing fad. It looks good, creates a stir, but won't last.
While one can taste the teachings of Kabbalah even without being particularly observant of Judaism, you can't detach it from its source. Kabbalah is the soul of Judaism. A body without a soul is lifeless. A soul without a body is groundless. Judaism without its mystical side can become dry and unattractive. But Kabbalah without the grounding of practical Judaism is an uprooted flower.
We are a searching generation. We've tried empty materialism and it has failed to sustain us. We have experimented with spiritual escapism and it has left us floating towards nowhere. It is time to taste the fruits of The Garden, the deepest mystical insights grounded in the fertile soil of tradition. That's real Kabbalah.

Source: Bina - Jewish Wisdom for Life.

Madonna quitte la secte juive mystique pour une secte catholique effrayante.

FAITH
Apr 15, 2011 2:38 PM

Richard Lawson

Ancient pop singer and spiritualist Madonna has long been associated with Kabbalah, a mystical, Jewishy sect. But she recently had a falling out with Kabbalah's leaders after the whole Malawi school debacle, so she's been on the hunt for something new. And it looks like she's found it: Opus Dei!
Yes, Opus Dei, as in the strict Catholic cult-like organization that employs albino assassins in that non-fiction art history and theology book The Da Vinci Code. Apparently last week Madge spent some time at a real-life Opus Dei center in London, meeting with various priests and whatnot. While Opus Dei (Work of God) ostensibly exists for positive reasons — to enrich Catholics' everyday lives by strengthening their "relationships" with their god — it's still a strange choice for the reasonably liberal and one time free-wheeling (turned exercise- and diet-mad) celebrity, as the deeply conservative organization has been criticized in the past for allegedly encouraging corporal mortification (self-flagellation) and being strictly controlling of its members lives.
My guess is that Madonna found out that some professor is nosing around in old churches, trying to figure out mysteries about Jesus and whatnot, and she wants to stop it. I mean, what if this professor finds out that she actually is Jesus's mother? All heaven would break loose. He must be stopped, and Opus Dei are the only ones who can help. [Mirror, photo via Getty]

Source: Gawker.

Madonna 'laisse tomber la Cabbale pour Opus Dei'.

by Tom Bryant, Daily Mirror 11/04/2011

For the past 15 years, she has been Kabbalah’s most high profile and dedicated follower.
But now Madonna has apparently ditched the controversial faith and taken up with Opus Dei – the secretive Catholic sect made famous in The Da Vinci Code.
The singer is said to be intrigued by the organisation and spent Friday with priests from the centre’s London HQ.
The move follows her alleged falling out with some Kabbalah leaders after reports that cash raised for her Malawi charity was squandered. Last night a source claimed: “She has invested so much into Kabbalah so she was devastated by these damning accusations.
“She has started exploring different religions. Madonna has always been intrigued by Opus Dei. As yet, she’s not a fully paid-up member – she’s just had informal chats.”
It is not known yet whether the star, 51, has formally quit Kabbalah.
Two weeks ago a report claimed Madonna’s charity, Raising Malawi, was meant to spend £2.4million to fund a new school in the country – but most of it was allegedly spent on the Kabbalah Centre’s offices in LA.
Madonna has now removed directors of Raising Malawi. Among the axed board members is Michael Berg, a co-director of the Kabbalah Centre. Two other ditched board members, John Larkin and Rachel Almog, also had links to Kabbalah.
There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing from any board members.
Newsweek in the US said the FBI and Inland Revenue Service were investigating the charity but Madonna denies it.
On Friday she spent 90 minutes at the Opus Dei centre in Orme Court before returning to her North West London home. Last night her spokesman declined to comment.

Source: Mirror.

Le château potentiel de la Cabbale de Madonna voit une nouvelle vie.

By Matt Coyne
March 31, 2011 | 11:14 a.m.

The Lower East Side's 179 Ludlow Street is, finally, after years of bankruptcy and flirtations with kabbalah, getting cleaned up, and is on its way to becoming a rental, the Post reports.
The man behind the project is lender Michael Goldberg, who got the city to partially lift its stop-work order last week and started cleaning up the site, which became a feces-encrusted rat castle just a year after former owner Michaelangelo Russo, who bought the property for $5.2 million in 2007, ran out of money. In addition to the rats, the building had an illegal construction shed that jutted out so far into the street it held up traffic.
Mr. Goldberg has scrapped plans for condos or a hotel, and has, instead, decreed it shall be a rental. Reportedly, he has already met with the architect and engineer. The building should be completed by the end of the summer.

Source: The New York Observer.

Joint venture at 685 Third
Last Updated: 7:45 AM, March 31, 2011
Posted: 12:27 AM, March 30, 2011
Lois Weiss

BETWEEN THE BRICKS

The long-stalled sliver project at 179 Ludlow Street is on its way to becoming a good citizen of its Lower East Side block. This six-story gut rehab next to Katz' Delicatessen is one of three stalled sites on the block.
The others include a proposed, 18-story hotel at 180 Ludlow which just renewed a permit for a hoist, and 163 Orchard, which runs through to Ludlow and renewed its new building permit for a 12-story hotel in February. Both are Serge Hoyda projects and need additional permissions to move forward. A call to his office was not returned by deadline.
Meanwhile, lender Michael Goldberg finally got the keys to No. 179 after the foreclosure auction on March 23. He immediately got its city Stop Work Order partially lifted and began cleaning up the site. According to Curbed, some years ago the retail there had been shown to Madonna for a Kabbalah Center by a previous developer.
Goldberg has already met with the architect and engineer to get the project back on track, but this time, he says, rather than a hotel or condo, the market dictates it will become a rental.
"With luck it will be done by the end of the summer," Goldberg said.
Local building owner Michael Forrest, CEO of Forrest Partners, who also heads the LES Business Improvement District, said, "I own two buildings on Ludlow St. and it's great for me to see and hear this will be done."
Yesterday, HBO was filming its series "How to Make it in America" both on the street and in Forrest's storefront at 164 Ludlow St. which is a fashion shop in the series.
The No. 164 storefront may also become a fashion shop in real life. Forrest declined comment but other sources told us a lease is out for that 1,800 square foot space with Jay Z's Rocawear. Keep an eye on these blocks as retail asking rents are around $100 a foot and a Steve Madden store has already located at 132 Ludlow at Rivington St.

Source: NYPOST.

Michael Goldberg is well on his way to evicting the rats.
Photo: Curbed.

Oprah et Madonna: les célébrités peuvent-elles vraiment être spirituelles?

By Nancy Tracy, Yahoo! Contributor Network - January 10, 2011 9:04 PM PST

Spiritual shmiritual. That was the subtext of Bill Maher's rebuke of Oprah Winfrey in his recent Christmas video message in which the politically incorrect comedian skewered Oprah for promoting the religion of greed on her annual "Oprah's Favorite Things" show.
"What people really value is acquiring crap," Maher chided the spiritual guru, as reported in the Huffington Post. "Oprah's show purports to be a lot about spirituality. If it was, then wouldn't she tell her worshiping flock to sit down and stop losing your sh*t over material stuff?"
What Maher was critiquing is the apparent contradiction of worldly celebrities claiming to be spiritual when their conspicuous materialism suggests the opposite. After watching Oprah fans go into an almost religious rapture over receiving iPads and Coach purses, Maher poked a hole in Oprah's spiritual message that it's better to give than receive. Would Oprah's audience have been as ecstatic if the talk show queen had passed around a donation basket instead of playing Ms. Santa?
Like Oprah, who owns multiple mansions and a $42 million jet ("It's great to have a private jet," she told Duke University grads, as reported in the WSJ Online), another self-described spiritual celebrity arouses similar skepticism. The shiksa poster girl for Kabbalah (a form of Jewish mysticism), Madonna has taken heat for her opulent lifestyle and penchant for boy toys. As reported in Popcrunch, an unnamed source wryly noted that Kabbalah leaders are less than thrilled with the Material Girl, revealing, "They are embarrassed by her young boyfriends and decadent lifestyle."
Further diminishing Madonna's Kabbalah cred was her attempt a few years ago to share her passion for Kabbalah with other celebs, such as pop starlet Brittany Spears. After dabbling in the ancient Hebrew teachings, the short-attention-span Spears quickly ditched Kabbalah for a Christian coach, according to an msnb.com report.
Whether Oprah, Madonna and other self-proclaimed spiritual celebrities are diamonds or cubic zirconia is a matter of perspective. Both Oprah and Madonna donate a huge amount of time and money to worthy causes. Yet despite their good works, it is far more difficult for either of them to be viewed as spiritual than for a more humble hotel clerk or hamburger flipper. Everything Oprah and Madonna do and say is documented and dissected by critics eager to pounce on any evidence of spiritual hypocracy.
Ultimately, it is almost impossible for Oprah and Madonna to not seem self-aggrandizing-especially when they are idolized by so many fans. As pop culture observer Leigh McEachran ironically suggests on her blog Pop Can, "Perhaps (Oprah's) next venture will be constructing a Church of Oprah, where her fans can worship the talk show host."

Source: omg!

Lourdes Leon assiste aux services de la Cabbale à New York - 18 décembre 2010.

Lourdes Leon Attends Kabbalah Services
Dec 18, 2010 by LISA ESTALL

Lourdes Leon was seen playing with her hair while walking into the Kabbalah Center in New York City on Saturday (December 18).
The 14-year-old recently wrote on her blog that she wants "royal blue hair", but that her mom, Madonna, disapproves.
She adds, “So now you all know what I have had to put up with for the past 14 years of my life :D”.
This past summer, she blogged about being grateful that her mom was letting her dye her hair as soon as she turned 14.
"I'm just going to use this blog entry to tell y'all a little bit about myself. I'm 13 and I'll be 14 in October, so I can't wait for that because I am FINALLY allowed to dye my hair... THANK YOU MOTHER!!"

Source: Celebrity Baby Scoop.

Lourdes
Photos: Pacific Coast News.

Madonna amène ses boy toys à la Cabbale.

Lots of boys
Last Updated: 12:38 AM, December 15, 2010
Posted: 12:14 AM, December 15, 2010

Madonna's eventful love life is causing some distraction at the Kabbalah Center in New York. The Queen of Pop was there with her ex, Jesus Luz, on Saturday, and her new boyfriend, Brahim Zaibat, the previous week. One spy snarked, "I find keeping up with her boy toys confusing. They all look so young. I expect her to start hiring nannies to take care of her love interests. Here's an observation: Madonna is the only woman I know who can say, 'Jesus is coming' and actually mean it." A Madonna rep didn't get back to us.

Source: NYPOST.

Madonna
Photo: splashnews.

Madonna au centre de la Cabbale à New York - 13 novembre 2010.

Madonna au centre de la Cabbale à Londres - 23 octobre 2010.

Madonna au Centre de la Cabbale à New York - 18 septembre 2010.