Madonna Louise Ciccone

Madonna is dedicated to Kabbalah and in 2004, she adopted the name Esther which in Hebrew means "star". She has donated millions dollars to New York and London schools teaching the subject. After she joined the Jewish religion, she faced opposition from rabbis who felt Madonna's adoption the Kabbalah was sacrilegious and a case celebrity dilettantism. Madonna defended her studies, saying "It would be less controversial if I joined the Nazi Party", and that her involvement with the Kabbalah is "not hurting anybody." The influence the Kaballah was subsequently observed in Madonna's music, especially albums like Ray Light and Music. According to scholar Bill Friskics-Warren, "the ethereal arrangement music in these albums and the philosophizing, replete with references to gurus and fate-fitting karma, at first may seem like New Age lyrics, but a deep analysis yields a sense connection that encompasses spiritual illumination and carnal ecstacy, in effect erasing the distinction between the two, and is the effect her oblique Kabbalistic meditation on union and transcendence." During the Re-Invention World Tour, at one point in the show, Madonna and her dancers wore t-shirts that read "Kabbalists Do It Better".
Music videos and performances
In The Madonna Companion, biographers Allen Metz and Carol Benson noted that more than any other recent pop artist, Madonna had used MTV and music videos to establish her popularity and enhance her recorded work. According to them, many her songs have the imagery the music video in strong context, while referring to the music. The media and public reaction towards her most-discussed songs such as "Papa Don't Preach", "Like a Prayer" or "Justify My Love" had to do with the music videos created to promote the song and their impact, rather than the song itself. Morton felt that "artistically, Madonna's songwriting is ten overshadowed by her striking pop videos." Madonna's initial music videos reflected her American and Hispanic mixed street style combined with a flamboyant glamor. She was able to transmit her avant-garde downtown New York fashion sense to the American audience. The imagery and incorporation Hispanic culture and Catholic symbolism continued with the music videos from the True Blue era. Author Douglas Kellner noted, "such 'multiculturalism' and her culturally transgressive moves turned out to be highly successful moves that endeared her to large and varied youth audiences". Madonna's Spanish look in the videos became the fashion trend that time, in the form boleros and layered skirts, accessorizing with rosary beads and a crucifix as in the video "La Isla Bonita". Academics noted that with her videos, Madonna was subtly reversing the usual role male as the dominant sex. This symbolism and imagery was probably the most prevalent in the music video for "Like a Prayer". The video included scenes an African-American church choir, Madonna attracted to a statue a black saint, and singing in front burning crosses. This mix the sacred and the prane upset the Vatican and resulted in the Pepsi commercial withdrawal. Madonna has been honored with record-breaking 20 MTV Video Music Awards, including the lifetime achievement "Video Vanguard Award" in 1986 for her contributions to the world music video.