Madonna's Divorce is the Kabbalah Center's Opportunity

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By Irina Aleksander

November 17, 2008 | 9:37 a.m.

Madonna.

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Late last week, the Daily Transom received an email from the Kabbalah Center. It was addressed not to our Observer email account, but to a personal email address where press-related materials generally do not arrive.

The subject of the email read, "Kabbalah Introductory Lecture in Hebrew." The body of the email contained an invitation, written in Hebrew, over an image of clouds and an open field; on the grass was a television set showing seemingly busy urban people rushing to work.

The Daily Transom was able to enlist the aid of a Hebrew speaker to translate the missive. "Do you believe there is more to life than being preoccupied with day to day anxieties? Looking for genuine fulfillment?" read the first line of the email. It continued: "The wisdom of Kabbalah contains the keys for achievement of real emotional, spiritual, and financial change."

Given that this reporter doesn't understand Hebrew and has never signed up for anything related to Kabbalah, we had to wonder how this invite had landed in a personal inbox. Was this random marketing? A new kind of spam? Did we sign up for something that suggested we were in search of spiritual guidance?

Then we remembered that a certain famous lady by the name of Madonna is currently going through a much-publicized divorce from Guy Ritchie and has, allegedly, embarked on an affair with Yankee Alex Rodriguez, landing the spiritual organization of which Madonna is a devotee smack in the middle of the tabloids. Every day there are new reports about Madonna demanding that her children, while in custody of Mr. Ritchie, drink only Kabbalah water and play with Kabbalah-appropriate toys; about Madonna and A-Rod going on some sort of a Kabbalah related getaway together to Malawi; and about her taking her kids to services at the Kabalah center in New York.

According to the Daily Mail, Madonna's spiritual leaders do not approve of her public divorce and would prefer that she settle out of court so she does not bring any more negative publicity to the religious group. But we have a hard time believing that the Kabbalah Center is not enjoying the free international press. In fact, we wonder if the current spotlight on the center is not an opportunity to send random emails to New Yorkers and recruit new members. (An email to the center's representative who sent the invitation, asking how we got on the center's mailing list, was not answered.)

So if you happen to speak Hebrew, are "preoccupied with day to day anxieties," and free tonight, you might want to stop by the Kabbalah Center. Full translation of the invitation:

Do you believe there is more to life than being preoccupied with day to day anxieties? Looking for genuine fulfillment?

An Introductory Lecture about Kaballah, Monday, November 17th at 7pm. Free Admission.

The wisdom of Kabbalah contains the keys for achievement of real emotional, spiritual, and financial change.

The Kabbalah center offers an exciting course in Hebrew of ten meetings that will give you the power to gain control over what is going on around you, to understand the environment in which you live and to attain self-fulfillment.

The lectures will be held at our various locations.