Celebrity Injustice: Madonna's Kabbalah Guru Nailed for Extortion in Israel
By Jim Kouri CPP (11/01/05)
America's "Material Girl," singer Madonna, may have to search for a new Kabbalah guru soon, unless she plans to make pilgrimages to an Israeli prison on visiting day to visit her rabbi. According to reports coming out of Israel, Shaul Youdkevitch and other Kabbalah rabbis are accused of bilking a terminally ill woman out of over $30,000. Many believe this is merely the tip of the iceberg.
Youdkevitch is the man credited with Madonna's conversion to the ancient mystical religion known as Kabbalah. Last year, Madonna made a well-publicized pilgrimage to Israel with other celebrities who have converted to, or are interested in, her newfound beliefs. It was there that America's "royalty" had an audience with Rabbi Youdkevitch.
Israeli police detectives alledge that Youdkevitch and rabbis managing the multi-million dollar Israel Kabbalah Center conned Leah Zonis and her husband, Boris, into making "significant and painful donations" if she wanted to recover from her cancer. Police say the rabbis sold the dying woman bottles of "holy water" with trademark Kabbalah labels. They were told the miraculous water would cure her ailment.
Boris Zonis' lawyer, Haim Cohen, told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that, "The woman's condition continued to deteriorate and instead of telling the truth that these were empty promises, they took more money and cheated with medication that is just a bottle of water."
After several treatments, the distraught couple told the Kabbalah rabbis they could not afford to pay for more holy water, police state, and that the rabbis conned the husband to work for their centre in order to work off future payments. It was at that point Mr. Zonis filed a complaint with the police charging the Youdkevitch with extortion.
The suffering woman, the mother of two children, eventually died of cancer. She was a seriously ill woman who was on the verge of despair, according to police officials investigating the scam. The woman's pain was so intense that she grasped for any straw and that straw was Madonna's rabbi, Youdkevitch.
Last year, Madonna, who was raised a Catholic and converted to Jewish mysticism, attended a spiritiual conference in Tel Aviv with over a thousand celebrities who said they were seeking the truth. The swells stayed at the most opulent hotel in the city while their guru fleeced the less privileged in order to maintain his lavish lifestyle.
At midnight, the singer made her pilgrimage to the Jerusalem tomb of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag, who wrote the Kabbalistic "Book of Splendor." Madonna meditated inside the ornate tomb for more than an hour, circling the grave, praying, chanting and lighting candles. Guy Ritchie, Madonna's film director husband, was reported to have danced in ecstasy embracing a Torah scroll during the circus atmosphere
Besides the criminal extortion charge, Youdkevitch and his Kabbalah Center faces civil charges by the deceased woman's husband. During a recent TV interview in London, where she now lives, Madonna complained that if she joined the Nazi Party it would be less controversial than Kabbalah. Quite an endorsement for her religion, don't you think?
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