Madonna offends yet another religion
Ok, was reading the NY Times today (Story on Madonna) and it turns out that Madonna has decided she has had enough of appropriating Christian and Hindu religous images so she is now going to appropriate Jewish images. Madonna has adopted the name Esther. Now Esther is the name of the Jewish Queen of Xerxes who was a king of Persia (Well Emperor really, but that term wouldn't be invented until the Romans needed a term for someone who was alot like a King, but couldn't be called a King because the Romans hated Kings). There seems to be some doubt if Xerxes ever had a Jewish Queen (Being that outside the Bible there is no evidence she ever existed.. Historians are funny that way; they want proof of someone's existence) but according to the story she saved the Jewish people from an advisor of Xerxes who wanted to destroy them. That being the case, one can see why Esther would be a somewhat popular name among observant Jews.
So Modonna has taken a new name, one of a Jewish heroine. Many cultures have traditions of people adopting new names at different points in their lives. I believe it is or at least was the custom among many Native American Cultures to adopt a new name when when an individual formally reached adulthood. I know it was also was not uncommon among the Samurai of Japan. However, considering that Madonna has typically used religious imagry in her names, perhaps the better analogy is that of Catholic Religious. Amongst many religious orders of monks, nuns and mendicants (mendicants are a little like monks, at least they dress like monks and they pray, otherwise they may or may not be very different from monks depending on the particular order) it is traditional for a person entering an order to take a new name to signify their conversion from their old life to a life following God.
So has Madonna really had a conversion? Well perhaps, she does dress more modestly than she use to... but then again she is getting a little old in a world where the current purveyors of sex in Pop Music are in their late teens and early 20s. And while she might claim that she is following Judaism as far as I can tell she has not formally converted, nor for that matter does she treat the religious symbols of the Jews with what one would consider an abundence of respect. Ultimately it seems the Material Girl is simply materializing religion.
Maybe I am being too hard on Madonna, after all I don't really know what is in her heart or whether she has any sort of true relationship with God. Her history of appropriating religious images though of course does set her up for suspicion. I hope I am wrong.
One last thought, Esther is not only the name of a Jewish heroine, it is also Aramic for Ishtar who was the Babylonian-Assyrian goddess of love, sex, fertility and war. I wonder if Madonna had considered that reference when she chose her Jewish name?
So Modonna has taken a new name, one of a Jewish heroine. Many cultures have traditions of people adopting new names at different points in their lives. I believe it is or at least was the custom among many Native American Cultures to adopt a new name when when an individual formally reached adulthood. I know it was also was not uncommon among the Samurai of Japan. However, considering that Madonna has typically used religious imagry in her names, perhaps the better analogy is that of Catholic Religious. Amongst many religious orders of monks, nuns and mendicants (mendicants are a little like monks, at least they dress like monks and they pray, otherwise they may or may not be very different from monks depending on the particular order) it is traditional for a person entering an order to take a new name to signify their conversion from their old life to a life following God.
So has Madonna really had a conversion? Well perhaps, she does dress more modestly than she use to... but then again she is getting a little old in a world where the current purveyors of sex in Pop Music are in their late teens and early 20s. And while she might claim that she is following Judaism as far as I can tell she has not formally converted, nor for that matter does she treat the religious symbols of the Jews with what one would consider an abundence of respect. Ultimately it seems the Material Girl is simply materializing religion.
Maybe I am being too hard on Madonna, after all I don't really know what is in her heart or whether she has any sort of true relationship with God. Her history of appropriating religious images though of course does set her up for suspicion. I hope I am wrong.
One last thought, Esther is not only the name of a Jewish heroine, it is also Aramic for Ishtar who was the Babylonian-Assyrian goddess of love, sex, fertility and war. I wonder if Madonna had considered that reference when she chose her Jewish name?
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