Madonna Is Over the Borderline
And into Israel, seeing sights, meeting with pols, and bugging a kabbalah macher.
August 31, 2009
Madonna (and Jesus) arriving at the Western Wall.(Haim Zach/Getty Images)
It’s finally happening: Madonna is in Israel, and she’s hitting the sites—and the politicians. Having gotten the Old City of Jerusalem and the Western Wall out of the way, Her Madgesty will visit with Tzipi Livni later today and with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday. Also, her “Kabbalah-related celebrity friend[s]” Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, and Justin Timberlake will be there to hang out and catch Ms. Ciccone’s shows on Tuesday and Wednesday.
But a leading kabbalah-related rabbi, Yitzchak Batzri, is not pleased that Israelis “put out the red carpet” (and the red bracelets) for the star; as he reminds us, she is a non-Jewish, non-converting, sexual innuendo-making woman who therefore shouldn’t even be studying kabbalah, and on top of it all sings live in front of men—a major no-no. Presumably he doesn’t agree with Sarah Silverman, who says that kabbalah is only “the tiniest slice Jewish, but without big noses.”
Madonna to Meet with PM and Livni [JPost]
‘Madonna Forbidden to Sing in Israel’ says Top Kabbalah Rabbi [Arutz 7]
Jewish Without the Big-Noseness [Killing the Buddha]
Hadara Graubart was formerly a writer and editor for Tablet Magazine.
