Material girl tells how religion has answered all her 'questions of life'

Published on Friday 31 July 2009 22:18

IT IS an obscure sect of Judaism which brought a ray of light into the life of one of the world's most successful pop stars.

Now Madonna has written an article in an Israeli newspaper explaining to her fans how she "woke up" after embarking on her spiritual journey.

Despite her international success over the course of the past two decades, the US singer said that the teachings of Kabbalah purged the self-styled Material Girl of her materialistic tendencies.

"All the questions of life I had began to be answered," she wrote. "I also began to see that being rich and famous wasn't going to bring me lasting fulfilment and that it was not the end of the journey. That it was the beginning of the journey."

The article, published in yesterday's edition of Yediot Ahronot, the leading tabloid newspaper in Israel, was written by Madonna in English before being translated into Hebrew by editors.

It even reveals that the 50-year-old's controversial decision to adopt children from impoverished African countries was inspired by her new religion.

The singer, who has taken the Hebrew name Esther, began studying the ancient form of Jewish mysticism in 1995 when she was pregnant with her eldest daughter, Lourdes, who is now 12.

Although it has been derided by many Jewish scholars as an opportunistic New Age sham which undermines Judaism, Madonna believes it helped restore order to her life.

Writing in the column of her awakening, she told of how she went to her first class taught by a teacher named Eitan. Immediately, she recalled, she knew that her life "would never be the same".

She added: "I had just finished the film Evita and I realised I had spent my whole life worrying about myself and that I would soon be responsible for someone else's life.

"Countless times I've travelled the world, performed in soccer stadiums, acted in films, dined with world leaders, I've achieved what's considered a very high level of success. And yet I felt that something is missing in life."

The piece then reveals: "All the puzzle pieces began to fall into place. Life no longer seemed like a series of random events. I started to see patterns in my life. I woke up."

Madonna, who was raised as a Catholic, is due to take her worldwide "Sticky and Sweet" tour to Israel next month.

Although her 2005 song, Isaac, about the revered 16th-century Kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria, brought condemnation from rabbis, she is a popular figure in Israel.

Originally intending to perform just one show next month, she added a second date after tickets quickly sold out. It will be the first time the mother of three has performed in the country since 1993.

She works closely with the Los Angeles-based Kabbalah Centre has made several pilgrimages to Israel along with other devotees of Kabbalah over the past five years.