Free Republic

Shai Zarhi and Itamar Lapid want to take the renaissance of secular interest in Judaism to an unprecedented level: Now that secular study centers (batei midrash), rituals and prayers have been developed, Zarhi and Lapid, both from the Midrasha at the kibbutz movement's Seminar Oranim (the secular beit midrash that helped pioneer the phenomenon), are talking about fashioning a secular halakha, or Jewish legal code - a detailed code that, like religious halakha, will include a punctilious formulation of dos and don'ts, according to secular principles. Lapid, to be precise, refers to an "Israeli halakha," because in his vision, religious...

In the latest allegations of election impropriety leveled against the haredi Shas party, spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef has been accused of illegally cursing those who do not support the party. Missives written in Yosef's hand were distributed to Shas voters, proclaiming "Cursed be those for they did not come to the aid of God; Cursed be he who does not fulfill the word of this Torah to do them. I make a halaha [Jewish law] that one must vote and influence Shas." Shortly after details of the missive were revealed, Shas Chairman Eli Yishai was quick to deny that...

AN undercover BBC reporter who infiltrated a London Kabbalah group witnessed Madonna and Guy Ritchie chanting mystic spells to cleanse Chernobyl, the site in Ukraine of the nuclear disas ter in 1986. Tony Donnelly, who used a hidden camera, claims the Kabbalah dinner turned into "a weird religious service, which started with prayer readings and chanting that culminated in everyone turning to the east, pushing the air with their hands, and crying out 'Cher-er-er-er-nobyl' at the top of their voices. They thought they were curing Chernobyl of radiation, using the power of Kabbalah to drive away the evil." Donnelly,...

Pop diva seeks 'Kabbalah energy' from the 'upper world' After recently canceling two concerts in the Jewish state due to alleged terror threats, pop diva Madonna said yesterday she intends to embark on a spiritual journey to Israel to rejuvenate her spirits and absorb "positive Kabbalah energy" from the "upper world." According to Britain's Sun, after her re-invention tour ends in Europe this month, the singer will accompany her husband, two children and other members of the Kabbalah Center on an "energy tour," which starts in September, the holiest month in the Jewish calendar.