Madonna on Kabbalah

I’m not sure that anyone fascinated by the confluence of celebrity and Kabbalah — and from what I hear, there’s a few of you out there — are going to find particularly enlightening today’s essay by Madonna in Yedioth Achronot, in which she describes in superficial terms her interest in Jewish mysticism. The piece is filled with the cliches typical of new-agey spirituality: money and fame were achieved and found unsatisfying, she had searched the world for answers and found none, suddenly the pieces fell into place and everything made sense.

I’ve attended some Kabbalah classes myself and know first-hand the sense of eye-opening wonder many people experience when encountering the teachings of the Los Angeles-based Kabbalah Centre. Here’s the description of spiritual awakening from the Material Girl:

So I went to the class and sat in the back and I listened to a man named Eitan teach the class.
 
I heard what he had to say and I knew at this moment my life would never be the same.
 
I began to go to the classes regularly and sit in the class with my notebook. No one bothered me. I took notes.
 
I met with Eitan privately and asked a lot of questions. The thing that was encouraged the most was to enquire further.
 
All the questions I had about life began to be answered and I realized I had finally found a "belief system" or philosophy that incorporated Science and Spirituality.
 
I was learning about Physics, Astronomy, Nature and the laws of Cause and Effect.

All the puzzle pieces started falling into place.

Life no longer seemed like a series of Random events. I started to see patterns in life. I woke up. I began to be conscious of my words and my actions and to really see the results of them.

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; that it was the beginning of the journey.