October 10, 2005
A song on pop star Madonna's new album dedicated to a Kabbalist rabbi has drawn criticism from other rabbis, the Israeli newspaper "Maariv" reports. The album "Confessions on a Dance Floor" is to be released in November and features a track entitled "Isaac" about Yitzhak Luria, a 16th century Jewish Kabbalah scholar. Rabbis who oversee Luria's tomb and a seminary in the northern town of Safed are unimpressed with Madonna's musical tribute and see the inclusion of the song about Luria on the album as an attempt by the singer to profit from his name. Rabbi Rafael Cohen, head of a seminary named after Luria, suggested Madonna's actions could lead to divine retribution. "Jewish law forbids the use of the name of the holy rabbi for profit. Her act is just simply unacceptable and I can only sympathize for her because of the punishment that she is going to receive from the heavens", Cohen told the newspaper. Another rabbi called for Madonna to be thrown out of the community. "Such a woman brings great sin on Kabbalah," Rabbi Israel Deri said. "I hope that we will have the strength to prevent her from bringing sin upon the holiness of the rabbi (Yitzhak Luria)."
