Re: Madonna music video stirs unease among Jews

[glenn tamir <klezska...>]

Way to go girl!  Sorry I can't make the Eilat Chayim thing - got a wedding that 
weekend (In Lenox of all places)
 Shirona <shirona (at) bellatlantic(dot)net> wrote:

Madonna is accomplishing exactly what she set out to do - provoke. Is that
a "chiddush" (something new).....?

Is her latest music video more "disrespectful" towards Jews than way back
her "Like a Virgin" was to Catholics?

Artists have always used "shock-appeal" and provocation as a tool to express
themselves and get messages across. It's working, isn't it? Here we are
talking about her, and looking at some of our own "stuff" through a new
lens. Artists have often been "ahead of their times" in their grasp of
things... thereby becoming vulnerable to hateful attacks from those who
didn't get it... who were "offended"... I mean Beethoven's music was
"offensive" to people of his time, (imagine that!) and there are countless
examples of creative individuals in all fields, from Galileo to Van Gough
who were misunderstood - and took a lot of crap for it. This is not to say
that I think of Madonna as a great artist...that's not the point.

My point is that we should first examine our own motives and "where we're
coming from" when we jump to ridicule, criticize, be "offended" and profess
to be the "keeper of the gates" when in comes to culture, religion or
whatever. Why are the Kabbalah people in California "jerks"? What's wrong
with Madonna (or anyone) studying Kabbalah? Who among us has the *final
authority* on knowledge, the right to pursue knowledge, the"validity" of the
knowledge - the "TRUTH", if there is such a thing...?

We as Jews should know better. Look what happened to us because others
didn't like, didn't get or didn't approve of our ways. It's called "Sin'at
Chinam" (Anti Semitism is only one manifestation of this universal problem),
so instead of examining other's "tsitsiot" we should first examine our own,
and not be guilty of the very thing that brought down the second Temple and
caused our own people more harm than anything else.

Shirona


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Singer, Songwriter and Teacher of Jewish Music
Visit my website at www.shirona.com
Listen to my music at www.mp3.com/shirona
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----- Original Message -----
From: "I.Oppenheim" 
To: "World music from a Jewish slant" 
Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2002 6:57 PM
Subject: Madonna music video stirs unease among Jews


> Well, here you go:
>
> Oct. 16, 2002
> "Madonna music video stirs unease among Jews"
>
> By MICHAEL FREUND
>
> The Jerusalem Post
>
> A new music video by pop star Madonna is generating
> controversy among American Jews because of its use of
> religious Jewish symbols, New York's Newsday reports.
>
> The video features the blond singer with Hebrew letters
> tattooed on her arm, wearing leather straps strikingly
> similar to tefillin, and getting electrocuted in a
> chair covered with Hebrew writing.
>
> Kenneth Jacobson, Associate National Director of the
> Anti-Defamation League, told the paper that while he
> does not consider the video anti-Semitic, Jews are
> likely to be offended by Madonna's use of tefillin,
> which are normally worn by Jewish men during weekday
> morning prayers.
>
> "Some people could be offended not just because it's a
> woman, but also because she appears to be using it for
> something other than Jewish prayer," he said.
>
> Liz Rosenberg, Madonna's spokesman, said, "Madonna
> doesn't like to explain her videos in great detail, but
> I think there are many messages there and her intention
> in making this video was honorable."
>
> The video was released in conjunction with a song
> Madonna wrote for the upcoming James Bond movie "Die
> Another Day".
>
> From:
>
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/ShowFull&c
id=1034774849425
>
>
>
> Groeten,
>
> Irwin Oppenheim
> i(dot)oppenheim (at) xs4all(dot)nl
> www.joods.nl/~chazzanut/
>
>
>




KLEZSKA - part of the next wave in Jewish music   www.mp3.com/klezska


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