Nevermind the lawsuit, she answers to a higher power....
Well, Madonna (or, as she prefers to be called, "Esther") has really gone and done it now. Apparently, her new album, "Confessions on a Dance Floor," scheduled to drop November 15, includes a track called "Isaac", a musical tribute to Yitzhak Luria, a 16th century Jewish mystic and Kabbalah scholar. The trouble is, according to Rabbi Rafael Cohen, who heads a seminary named for Yitzhak Luria: "Jewish law forbids the use of the name of the holy rabbi for profit." Cohen decries Madonna's actions as "simply unacceptable". "I can only sympathize for her," he states further, "because of the punishment that she is going to receive from the heavens." (emphasis added)
YC
9 comments:
hi lauren, nice blog, i read it with atention, and i visit again to read more, now i invites yoy visit mine, about poetry, at
http://catmangirona.blogspot.com
I don't speak much Spanish, Catman.
Its not suprising that that Madonna would do that. look at Shanti Ashtangi off of frozen. I actually like the song, I used to sing it non stop when it first came out...was it a premonition?
I read that too and thought she just might figure out a way to donate money to charity. But I don't know if that will "clear her" with the heavens.
The question is--how much should she donate? To be fair to Madonna, she is quite the philanthropist, although she keeps it pretty quiet.
My question to you is how related is Kabbalah to the Judiasm I experienced growing up -- you know--Hebrew school for a few years and bagels and lox every Sunday? :) I never felt Jewish until I was fortunate to discover, as an adult, a wonderful temple in NYC. Which I no longer go to, although I am forever grateful for the expereience.
Happy New Year
DK
I can't get the comments on the BRCA post to come up even via the permalink....
As a woman, 13 weeks post op from Preventative Bilateral Mastectomies, I can feel the pain of J and I do believe that OC is far more dangerous and fastly lethal than BC. Please tell her about FORCE (facingourrisk.org) and about my procedure (there in NY)... the difference in the psychological ability to handle the BPM was great once I found out I could retain my nipples and have a skin sparing mastectomy with immediate reconstruction and a pretty quick recovery period. No, they aren't the same but its not been a torment that I expected.
As for your case, it is a common complaint among those of us "previvors" that genetic testing is rarely offered even where warranted. In your case, I'd still wonder if your family didn't have SOME genetic mutation... unless someone with cancer in your family tested POS for BRCA and you tested NEG then the fact that you are NEG means only that you are NEG for BRCA. Was your father, aunt, etc. at least one of them tested?
For some reason this October is hitting me very hard. In many ways I feel an ugliness that I've cheated this disease that has ravaged so many people I know and love. I feel almost a fraud. I don't know if I can explain it but this October is especially painful for me....
Jody - I love the song Shanti-Ashtangi. You do know that your teacher helped her on that project, right?
DK - Click on this link for info about Kabbalah: http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?initiator=12&afid=6051&s=kabbalah
I was going to try to answer you directly, but then I realized that this was a better and more complete source than anything I could try to explain. But I think it bears noting that Kabbalah is not a stream of Judaism like the Reform movement or the Conservative movement, but rather is an adjunct to the traditional study of Jewish Scripture. I believe that traditionally, only the most learned and highly respected Jewish scholars were ever supposed to be handed down the study of Kabbalah.
Julie...I totally sympathize with the turmoil you are feeling. You outwitted a nasty, horrible disease by taking fairly radical (no pun intended) action. It's not like you didn't pay a price though. So if you have some level of survivor's guilt (previvor's guilt), remember all that you have been through to come to the place of health and fitness that you are at now. And I am not just talking about the surgery and the recovery. I am talking about everything that went into the decision to have the surgery and whatever suffering your family has been through that led you to consider the surgery.
In my case, we are relatively certain that there IS some genetic mutation. We just cannot identify it as yet, because no one has identified this "Gene X". Perhaps it puts me at higher risk for lung cancer. Perhaps it puts my boys at higher risk for prostate cancer. I am part of a huge "tumor registry", ror which my entire family had to fill out endless forms. Hopefully, the data in the registry, with the help of really intelligent computers and scientific minds, will identify some new genes that will increase the likelihood that everyone with a family history of cancer will be able to do what they need to prevent themselves from getting the disease, or to detect it early.
As for my friend, J, she knows all about FORCE, and she knows all of her choices. She just is frozen. I feel for her. Hopefully she will take action before she is forced to.
YC
doesn't it depend on madonna's intent for writing and singing the song? if her intent is to offer the song up as prayer, then she isn't violating halacha (jewish law). however, if her goal is to make lots of $$ off it, then that's a different story.
YC, please tell J she is free to contact me if ever she wants to talk... the frozen feeling is something I can relate to and that's where I was when I thought all the choices were horrendous. I also know a wonderful, wonderful woman doctor at MSK there in the city, also gene positive and a few weeks post-op from both O and B preventative surgeries (Did them all in the same month)
That is GREAT to know. I will forward the info. Thank you so much. If she calls you, I am sure you will be a wonderful source of info and counsel.
Lauren
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