madonnalehIsrael’s expensive. I mean, it’s a place where Madonna tickets go for 820 Euro. This is extremely expensive since you can buy similar tickets to see Her Kabbaliciousness at Berlin’s Max Schmeling Halle [Berry] for 250 Euro. Now, I’ve never been to Europe, and have no idea how much a Euro is. But it seems to me like 820 is WAY more expensive than 250 Euro–you know, what with having a larger number in front of the word “Euro.”

But the real reason it seems expensive to me is that many articles are still only saying that the tour “might” come to Israel… (Ynet has the probability of the tour’s actually happening as 80 percent.) I’m no music industry professional. But shouldn’t you sell tickets to shows that are actually happening? And just last week, Kelly Clarkson had to cancel her concerts because of a throat infection. (Although one fan and Ynet commenter took solace in his newly purchased tickets to the WWE Smackdown scheduled to hit Israel in July…)

Of course, it’s possible she’s being non-committal so she can continue her search for a home on the Messiah Parade Route without attracting undue attention.

Madonna was known to comment, “You know that we are living in a material world, and that I am a material girl. For instance, last night I dreamt of San Pedro…just like I’d never gone, I knew the song. So don’t go for second best, baby–put your love to the test…make him express how you feel and then you know your love is real. And PS…Kabbalah rules.”

I’ve always been a big Madonna fan, but she keeps on pushing my love over the borderline. Maybe I just need a holiday…

I don’t want to hear. I don’t want to know…please don’t say you’re sorry. Especially in Hebrew. Especially if you’re a Catholic girl from Detroit who speaks with a vaguely British accent.

About the author

Esther Kustanowitz

For more posts by Esther, see EstherK.com, MyUrbanKvetch.com and JDatersAnonymous.com.

19 Comments

  • So 820 euro is unbelievably expensive- its around $2,000 (give or take) who is going to pay that much money for a concert?

    But I guess you’ll be able to ask the other Esther at the Seder. You’re going aren’t you?

  • Esther, surely you’re too cool to be a Madonna fan. She’s so . . . Eighties.

    Should we Catholics thank you Jews for taking her off our hands? Or should we apologize instead?

  • it’s more like $1200 max. it’s like worth 10-15% more.

    and she is popular. Dude, she has had some mega hits in the past, and she keeps on. Those who critize her are simply JEALOUS. maybe you want communism instead?

    I will be seeing her in Tel Aviv, and bringing her a Babke.

  • Tom, I’m not too cool for anything. I live and let live.

    And by the way, the person who is posting as other people, stop it. I will change your comments if you persist in this behavior. And then, if the behavior continues, I will delete your comments and ask CK to ban you. I mean it. I’ve asked nicely before, several times. Don’t do it here, on my blogs or anywhere else. You don’t have to include your real name in the comments sections, but STOP USING THE REAL NAMES OF OTHER PEOPLE. It’s misleading, and becomes a form of lashon hara. So cut it out.

    And I’m posting this on the other thread too, to make sure you hear me.

  • You should totally apologize to us, Tom.

    To be fair, is there anyone from our side who went over to your side that we should aplogize for?

    Oh, yeah, maybe OT, but I’m curious: since Mad Mel Gibson established a breakaway sect which refuses to accept Vatican II or the authority of the Pope, I assume that the Church considers him a heretic, right? If so, isn’t it a little hypocritical for Gibson to go on about how devout he is?

  • Actually, Tom, come to think of it, you don’t owe us an apology at all. It’s our own damn fault. If it weren’t for the charlatans at the Kabalah Center, none of this would have happened.

    We brought it on ourselves, I’m afraid.

  • When I was at U of Michigan, the people there liked to point out that when she attended, Madonna lived in the all-girls dorm.

  • Ephraim, I’m thinking . . . I’m thinking . . .
    Mahler, maybe, but his conversion was a career move (to keep the Hapsburgs, not to mention Karl Lueger, happy).

    As penance, we should agree to take Barbra Streisand.

  • Take our Barbra.

    Please.

    (rim shot).

    But seriously, Tom, I’m curious about the position of the Church regarding Gibson. Can you enlighten me?

  • Ephraim, Gibson says he belongs to a breakaway faction of the Church (not a characterization he would agree with), the Catholic Traditionalists, which rejects the reforms of the Second Vatican Council of 40ish years ago. Gibson’s dad, whose favorite historian, I gather, is David Irving, is more outspoken about it than his son. But as best I can tell, the movement professes that any pope/church official who subscribes to the Council’s reforms lacks legitimacy. Pope John Paul II, for example, was condemned as something akin to satanic, literally. The movement has also purported to consecrate its own bishops.

    Even in today’s Church, that’s beyond the pale. (The Church being a little like college: it’s harder to drop out than it is to get in.)

    Gibson fils, though, was cagey enough about his own views to get his Passion flick screened in Rome. He’s pretty good at making a buck. Which may make him a Protestant.

    Meanwhile, Benedict XVI is attempting to reconcile with the movement, an effort he began back in the ’90s in his old job as JPII’s second-in-command.

    if one rejects Vatican II, that presumably means rejecting the council document that buried the notion of Jewish responsibility for the death of Jesus (‘Nostra Aetate’, 1965).

  • Pretty much what I figured, Tom. Thanks.

    He’s pretty good at making a buck. Which may make him a Protestant.

    Snerk.

  • I’m confused about Madonna…did she convert to Judaism? Because I don’t think you can be a Kabbalist and not be a Jew first. I’ve heard her in interviews talk about celebrating the holidays and she did take the FABULOUS hebrew name of Esther. 🙂 But she never actually says she’s Jewish. Confusing.

  • . . . Sort of like joining Opus Dei without becoming Catholic.

  • you can actually study the kabbalah without being a jew, the kabbalah teaches one to see above religion and control and a figure head . mads also has conveyed that is her view the kabbalah isn’t a religion to her…it’s a philosophy.

  • I would pay up to 1000 Euro to see Madonna in Europe; and it’s not $2000 dollars if you’re talking about 850 Euro because 1340 Euro is around $1600 in American dollars. And Europe is the place to BE! I left America with “No Regrets”! The lifestyle here is fabulous!

  • I don’t quite understand the negetivism toward Madonna. Nobody in their right mind can honestly look at the woman Madonna has grown to be without admitting to themselves that they are over-judgemental, dishonest, hypocritcal, selfish, egotistical, and negetive-natured. Ask yourself, how does what Madonna does effect you? If you disagree with her points of view, why are you paying attention to her? What are you acheiving by being negetive? And this doesn’t only apply to Madonna, this aaplies to everyone from Mel Gibson and Ton Cruise to the cat-lady next door. No one has the right to talk about someone in a negetive way, and even more so if they talk negetivly about someone or something without FULLY understanding the subject, you need to do the work and take the time to know it from all sides, inside and out. Otherwise, you are just creating chaos. Thank you.