Sixty thousand people showed up Tuesday at pop singer Madonna's first performance in Israel. Rabbi Uzi Binenfeld of Orot Etzion Midrasha at Givat Washington College told Arutz Sheva's Hebrew service that the phenomenon is a dangerous one.
"There is something here which is connected to addiction,” he explained. “It is true that the public consumes entertainment, but beyond the basic need to hear music and gather socially, this phenomenon of attending mass music shows is gaining ground in our [religious] public as well and this is a negative thing. This adulation is actually an escape from reality, it is a psychological way to get more than what you have, something more exciting. Everyone stands together and connects to a moment that is a very intense experience. We should be very wary of this because after the peak there is also a big fall and this is not the true way to live.”
'No kippahs there'
The rabbi estimated that there were no fans from the national-religious population at the Madonna concert. He said: “It is clear to me that we did not see the same youths who were at Kfar Maimon [to try and prevent the Disengagement in 2005 – ed.]. This is some lady who piques many people's interest and that is how she is marketed too. It is all about money, they create gimmicks and cause people to shell out money on vanity and hot air.”
"There is one good kind of music, and that is music like the singing of the Levites which was intended to connect the person to the Heavens,” the rabbi added. “Music is good for the person but not in these ways. The content that she sang yesterday at Hayarkon Park certainly did not cause anyone to fear G-d more.”
Kabbalah for the masses
The rabbi was not impressed by the singer's study of Kabbalah: “I worked in Tel Aviv a lot and checked out this field of 'Kabbalah for the lay people.' This is a financial industry that employs many people, it is not the true Kabbalah. They give all sorts of courses that supposedly guarantee people's happiness but in actuality only take a lot of money from them.”
"The wisdom of Kabbalah is supposed to make a person more internal, more faithful to himself and kinder towards humanity – but not this way,” Rabbi Binenfeld elaborated. “There is also a great problem with teaching a gentile the secrets of the Torah. A gentile who learns Torah is not a positive thing, even though with regard to the Christians, Judaism claims that they should be brought back to Judaism with the aid of study. So the rule is that if there is interest in serious Kabbalah there is something positive about that because it develops the personality, but if it is marketed in a cheap kind of way that is very bad.”