Just like Britney and Madonna?
Yesterday, I read that, influenced by friend and soul-kiss mate Madonna, Britney Spears has accepted Kaballah as a force in life and is rumored to be planning a Jewish wedding. My first thought, as a Jew, was haven't we suffered enough? (Its a joke! Just kidding!)
Now the Kabbalah Centre is an organization based in LA. Their webpage is at http://www.kabbalah.com/kabbalah/home.html.
This should not be confused with any orthodox Jewish group. (That is strictly my opinion, but Kabbalah is considered a "mystical tradition" based on the Zohar or Book of Light and not on Talmud Torah. When a religion is 6000 years old and practiced by diverse groups around the world that were cut-off from each other for centuries, well, you get a lot of variation.) For one thing, Britney Spears has a mystical tattoo. Orthodox Jews believe that since G-d made man in His image, tattooing is a form of desecration.
At first glance, I thought that the conversion of the two pop divas (and you can add Demi Moore into the mix) was no more than the latest La-La Land cult thing. Reincarnation is out, Kabbalah is in. But this morning I read an article about a young girl in France who alleged that she was a mistaken for a Jew and became the victim of an anti-Semitic crime. The girl later recanted, saying that she made the story up and is obviously a troubled soul. But then I began to wonder, has it become fashionable to be a Jew? (The image that comes to my warped mind is Hasidic Jews on a fashion runway showing off black coats with Calvin Klein labels, but thats just me.) As the excesses of Islamic militants become harder to defend, is the tide of public opinion changing?
We have seen celebrity conversions before. Bob Dylan (born Robert Zimmerman) had a highly publicized conversion to Christianity, then a quieter conversion back. Remember when Cat Stevens accepted Islam? But I can't help but wonder if this acceptance of things Jewish by the celebs has some meaning.