“I observe Shabbat, I say certain prayers, My son was bar mitzvahed but…I haven’t converted to Judaism, ” Madonna confessed in an exclusive interview with the Irish Independent, published this week.
Q: To what extent would you characterize yourself as Jewish? Would that be a good label?
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M: [Laughs] No, I don’t affiliate myself with any specific religious group. I connect to different ritualistic aspects of different belief systems, and I see the connecting thread between all religious beliefs. I have not converted to Judaism.
“I’ve studied Kabbalah, as you know, for many years, so there are a lot of things I do that one would associate with practicing Judaism.
“I hear the Torah every Saturday. I observe Shabbat. I say certain prayers. My son was bar mitzvahed. So this appears like I’m Jewish, but these rituals are connected to what I describe as the Tree of Life consciousness and have more to do with the idea of being an Israelite, not Jewish.
“The tribes of Israel existed before the religion of Judaism existed, so you have to do your history . . . So, am I Jewish? I mean, some people would say, well, you do a lot of things that Jews do, but I would say I do a lot of things that people did before Judaism existed.
“And I believe what I practice has to do with something deeper than religion, that it embodies all religions, including Judaism. And Christianity. And Islam.”
Q: Well, you’re wearing a cross.
M: I like crosses. I’m sentimental about Jesus on the cross. Jesus was a Jew, and also I believe he was a catalyst, and I think he offended people because his message was to love your neighbor as yourself; in other words, no one is better than somebody else. He embraced all people, whether it was a beggar on the street or a prostitute, and he admonished a group of Jews who were not observing the precepts of the Torah. So he rattled a lot of people’s cages.”
Q: A rebel heart, you might say.
M: He was a rebel heart for sure.
And we will not point out how many errors, both historical and religious, were committed in the production of this article.
