Reminder: Madonna's Fake-Jew Cult Still A Menace To Real Jews
Yossi Klein Halevi, the Kabbalah debunker who went deep inside the Centre for The New Republic a few months ago, takes a few of the LAT's column inches to remind real Jews that Madonna's recent trip to Israel doesn't make her and her culty, magic-water swilling, Judaism-diluting buddies any less dangerous:
However reassuring, Madonna's embrace should be treated by Jews warily. The source of her Jewish connection, the Kabbalah Centre, has been repudiated by the mainstream Jewish community for its alleged cult-like behavior. Accusations against the Centre (the pompous spelling is theirs) include exploiting volunteers, breaking up marriages when one partner opposes involvement in the group, and even instructing one terminally ill L.A. man to cure himself by filling his swimming pool with water "blessed" by the Centre's leaders. (In fact, the Kabbalah Cafe in the Centre's L.A. headquarters has a sign that reassures patrons that all coffee and tea sold there is made with this water.)
What should really spook Halevi is the savvy marketing that's made the Kabbalah Centre the cult of choice for up-and-comers in Hollywood. The signs on the walls at the Scientology Celebrity Centre Cafe only promise that if members stop buying their coffee from L. Ron, their agent will stop calling and someone in their family is going to have an "accident."