The Material Girl

Madonna accompanied by her partner Jesus wrapped up her Israeli tour with a visit to the Safed tomb of Rabbi Isaac Luri father of the Cabala. At the site she sang "Lecha Dodi/Come My Beloved."

There are many laws in the Torah concerning how to conduct one’s self in a cemetery; it is known from the Cabala though the soul ascends into heaven a bit reminds with the bones of the body that resemble the YHVH–Four Letter Name of God.

According to the strict interpretation of the Torah the voice of a woman singing is considered Airva/Nakedness. One can not fault the pop star for her insensitive ignorance, but the rabbi who accompanied Madonna and Jesus to gravesite certainly should have known better.

A few years ago she made a scene at the Western Wall in Jerusalem and later almost broke her neck in a freak accident. Just as there are laws of nature with adamant repercussions so too are there spiritual laws regarding ultimate profundities like death.

The Jewish People pray at the gravesite of the righteous because it is hollowed ground, hollowed because the person buried there lived an exemplar life, giving the Creator pleasure–the essential connector. We stand at the foot of that connection between man and the Creator with awe and wonderment while praying to God. Respect in front of those who can not respond is customary.

Papal Finality

Pope Benedict XVI is capping his eight day Mideast visit by putting aside the contentious issues he has confronted over the past week and making a pilgrimage to a church revered as the site of Jesus' crucifixion.

Keeping the best for last, the head of the Holy Roman Catholic Church went to the place of the essential lie–the crucifixion of Jesus. It is well known in the Talmud-Book of Law that Jesus was hung by the Rabbis for insurrection. The Koran, like the Torah is prophecy; the Koran says that Jesus was a prophet, but the Jewish People did not accept his sign and therefore the last prophet in the long line of prophets ended with Mohammed the Prophet.

The sign referred to in the Koran is what the Torah calls TiChiat HaMitim/Rising of the Dead; the Midrash-Book of Metaphor describes how the bones buried in the ground will grow new bodies impervious to disease or death. Jesus was the first to undergo this process as a sign to the Seduki/Jewish Heretic(s) who opposed the Rabbis.

The Christian story about the crucifixion is blatantly untrue born out by the complete lack of evidence, a blood libel meant to oppress the Jewish People for 2000 years. The cross is a great affront to the Jewish People and to all peoples.