New Jew Madonna hides out in Tel Aviv
Security was watertight in and around the hotel where American star Madonna kicked off a three-day spiritual retreat cum Jewish New Year celebrations on Wednesday in Tel Aviv.
Hundreds of identification badge-clad Jewish followers of the ancient mystical tradition known as Kabbalah had also gathered at the David Intercontinental hotel to take part in the Roshashan festivities, quite at ease with the celebrity’s appearance.
“It’s OK, same to me, I’m here to rejoice,” said Mikhail, a Russian man who recently immigrated to Israel. Iris, a 35-year-old Israeli woman, said Madonna’s presence attested to “the Kabbalah’s great attraction.” “One doesn’t have to be a Jew to embrace Kabbalah which is about knowledge and making the world a better place,” she said.
Reporters could hardly get a glimpse of the once self-proclaimed Material Girl owing to an impenetrable security cordon, but a lucky few managed to attend part of the celebrations which started without Madonna’s attendance.
Renowned American Kabbalahists delivered recorded speeches, broadcast on large video screens, calling for world peace and peace of the mind and simultaneously translated in Hebrew, Spanish and Arabic to a joyful audience. Men and women, sitting apart in a large conference room serving as a synagogue, applauded in unison at the end of the feed. They went on chanting a peace song that mixed Hebrew and Arabic and then stood up clapping and shaking their left hands up in the air to repel evil. “It’s like imagining you’re throwing away a ball of fire which represents negative energy or evil,” explained Iris.
Men donning white clothes stepped up on stage and danced rapt and entranced with a Muslim sheikh in their midst. Organizers from the Kabbalah Centre explained that the dress code was commanded by religious reasons, although most women at the event, most of them American and Latin American, had opted for colourful evening gowns.
Madonna is due to visit several Jewish religious sites after her Tel Aviv retreat, including Rachel’s Tomb in the southern West Bank town of Bethlehem.
A group of Israeli pacifists urged the superstar in an open letter on Tuesday to stay clear of any controversial visits as it underscored the need to understand the plight of the Palestinians living under Israel’s occupation. “This visit takes you to the heart of occupied territory in Bethlehem: a closed-off prison, a ghetto, whose civilians now have no work, no freedom, no life,” said a statement by the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. “Are you being used to legitimise the occupation of Palestine? Are you being exploited, without your full awareness? Has your wish to bring peace been co-opted by other forces?” the statement added.
Israel’s tourism ministry has vowed to use Madonna’s visit to boost tourism. “Madonna’s visit to Israel is very important for promoting tourism to Israel the tourism ministry intends to use her visit to promote Israel as a tourist destination,” the ministry said in a statement.
Tourism Minister Gideon Ezra is set to present Madonna with an antique oil lamp and a coin from the Byzantine era at a ceremony Sunday in Tel Aviv, the statement also said. Prominent American fashion designer Donna Karan, who joined Madonna in her Israel tour, will also receive a gift from the ministry.
Madonna turned to Kabbalah in 1997 after coming into contact with the Los Angeles-based Kabbalah Centre which, according to its website, offers a path to spiritual enlightenment through an eclectic mix of Orthodox Jewish tradition, visualization and positive thinking. Two months ago, she took the Hebrew name Esther and is now reportedly observing the Jewish Sabbath.
Source: AFP