March 03, 2006
The American pop star Madonna wants to buy a house in the Israeli town of Rosh Pina, where the ancient Jewish Kabbalah tradition expects the Messiah to appear at the end of the world, the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot reports. Apparently, the owner of a 100-year-old, ramshackle five-bedroom villa overlooking Lake Kinneret was contacted several times by representatives of Madonna and asked if he was willing to sell the property. Madonna wants to renovate the building into a center for the Kabbalah study center. The singer turned to Jewish mysticism in 1997 through the Los Angeles-based Kabbalah Center which proclaims to offer a path to spiritual enlightenment through an eclectic mix of Orthodox Jewish tradition, visualization and positive thinking. Two years ago, she took the Hebrew name Esther and reportedly observes the Sabbath, although she has not converted to Judaism.