Archive for the Religion Category

Madonna has opened up and shared the circumstances surrounding her religious spiritual awakening in a new article she penned for Isreal’s biggest daily newspaper Yediot Ahronot. On Friday, the newspaper published the article written by Madonna (whose Hebrew name is Esther) wherein she talks about how she discovered the true teachings of Kabbalah after she completed her work filming the movie Evita and giving birth to her firstborn child Lourdes Maria. Here is a report on Maddy‘s religious-themed newspaper article:

After a long career as a singer, dancer, new-age seeker and megacelebrity, Madonna added a new item to her resume Friday — Israeli newspaper correspondent. An article in Friday’s edition of Israel’s biggest daily, Yediot Ahronot, bears the Material Girl’s byline. It describes her spiritual awakening upon discovering Jewish mysticism, called Kabbalah, after which, she writes, “all the puzzle pieces started falling into place.” Madonna is bringing her Sticky & Sweet tour to Israel in September, which no doubt explains the timing of her journalism debut here. But she also has ties to Israel and Judaism through her involvement with the Los Angeles-based Kabbalah Center, whose new-age version of Judaism’s ancient mystic tradition has become popular among members of Hollywood’s A-list. The 50-year-old pop icon has taken the Hebrew name Esther and came to Israel on private pilgrimages in 2004 and 2007 along with other Kabbalah devotees. In the article, Madonna, who was raised Roman Catholic, describes hearing about Kabbalah for the first time at a dinner party in Los Angeles while pregnant with her daughter Lourdes, who is now 12. She had recently completed a star turn in the movie Evita, she writes, but “still felt like something was missing in my life.” She went to her first class, taught by a teacher named Eitan, after years of practicing yoga and reading about Buddhism, Taoism and early Christianity. “I heard what he had to say and I knew at this moment my life would never be the same,” she writes in the article, which the paper published both in Hebrew and in the original — and apparently unedited — English. “Life no longer seemed like a series of Random events,” she writes. “I also began to see that being Rich and Famous wasn’t going to bring me lasting fulfillment and that it was not the end of the journey.” … Jewish tradition has long held that Kabbalah is so complicated and so easily misunderstood that students may only begin to approach it with a strong background in Jewish law and only after age 40. The discipline’s elements include the study of mystical texts, prayer and meditation in an attempt to draw closer to the divine. The criticism appears to have had no effect on Madonna’s popularity among Israelis. Originally scheduled to give one concert in Tel Aviv, Madonna added a second after the first show quickly sold out. Madonna’s last concert in Israel was in 1993, during her “Girlie Show” tour.

Fascinating, I wish this article were available in full online somewhere. I would love to read the whole thing. Madonna has not really talked at any real length about her spiritual awakening. I’m very curious to read in full her thoughts on the matter. These excerpts do give a nice peek at her new religious life, tho. If anyone finds the article in full, please pass it along.

UPDATE: Pink reader Xabi found the full article in English HERE.

In other Madonna news, a longer teaser video has been released to promote her new 2-disc greatest hits album Celebration, due out September 29. After the jump, check it out in full … More »