Madonna's Kabbalah Disaster in Malawi (or in Beverly Hills

The star’s much-lauded effort to help girls in the African nation of Malawi just imploded. In this week’s Newsweek, Wayne Barrett asks: Is Kabbalah to blame?

Late last month, it was reported that Madonna’s Raising Malawi foundation, one of the most visible celebrity-driven charity efforts in the Third World, one that pulled in major donations from around Hollywood and elsewhere, was abandoning its planned mission: to build a $15 million girls’ academy in Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world. A report by the Global Philanthropy Group, which Madonna brought in to represent her as trouble developed in the charity, cited two former employees of Raising Malawi as among the problems that led to the demise of the project.

But what really happened? In this week’s Newsweek, Wayne Barrett digs into that question and reports on a litany of questionable practices by the organization that came to be Madonna’s partner in the foundation: the Kabbalah Centre International, which is now a focus of federal investigators. The center is a Jewish mystical organization that follows a set of esoteric teachings called Kabbalah. Madonna has said that she turned to Kabbalah in 1996 to help her cope with personal issues. Since then she has reportedly donated at least $18 million to the Kabbalah Centre.

The center was founded by Philip Berg. Together with his second wife, Karen, Berg popularized what had been teachings reserved for advanced Talmudic scholars.

Kabbalah means “receive” in Hebrew, and that’s certainly what it has meant to the Bergs...

“My original vision is now on a much bigger scale,” Madonna said in a statement after the school’s collapse. “I want to reach thousands, not hundreds, of girls. I want to do more and I want to do it better.”

“..Fabiani and Neilson have successfully diverted attention from Madonna and the center by pinning much of the blame on Raising Malawi academy director Anjimile Oponyo, accusing her of “outlandish expenditures.” But the totals seem trivial in the face of the $3.8 million lost on the school project.

The more important fact seems to be that only $850,000 of the $3.8 million spent on the academy was paid out in Malawi. The lion’s share, almost $3 million, was spent by the Kabbalah Centre’s office in L.A....”

(snip)

“..When Newsweek asked the center’s tax attorney Shane Hamilton how the Kabbalah Centre and Raising Malawi divided the money that was raised for Malawi, he replied: “I don’t know if they have a structure.” This fluid “intercompany debt,” as one Neilson aide described it, reinforces the charges made by critics that the center used Malawi as a fundraising tool, and that there is no way to independently determine what was really done in the name of the orphans and vulnerable children it seeks to help.

There are indications the center had made the decision to pull the plug on the girls’ school long before it was announced: The last check was sent to Malawi in July of last year, just three months after the bricklaying ceremony, and it was for a mere $8,659. There was no apparent plan to cover the costs of operating the school...”

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Everyone should take the time to read this, it’s absolutely damning. This Berg character (co-founder and boss of the Kabbalah Center) and his family have been living it up for decades on the donations of others like the worst of the eighties scandal-vangelists and cult leaders. I can only assume Madonna was taken as a wealthy stooge cause this is going to marinate her in cuttlefish ink. At best, she is going to come out looking stooooopid.

Everyone should take the time to read this, it’s absolutely damning.

And interesting.

This Berg character (co-founder and boss of the Kabbalah Center) and his family have been living it up for decades on the donations of others like the worst of the eighties scandal-vangelists and cult leaders.

Religion and charity are great fronts for hucksters.

I can only assume Madonna was taken as a wealthy stooge cause this is going to marinate her in cuttlefish ink. At best, she is going to come out looking stooooopid.

I thought she went in looking stupid.

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2005/01/bbc-exposes-kabbalah-center-scam.html

...The film also investigates the background of the sect’s founder, ‘Dr’ Philip Berg, who is known to followers as the Rav. He enjoys a millionaire’s lifestyle in Los Angeles.

The source of Mr Berg’s ‘doctorate’ is not clear, but it is known that he was born Feivel Gruberger in New York, trained as a rabbi and worked as an insurance agent before deserting his first wife and seven children for second wife, Karen...

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