Aaron David Gordon, better known as A.D. Gordon, was born into a wealthy Orthodox family in 1856 in the Russian Empire. Over the course of his life, he would become a leading force behind practical Zionism and Labor Zionism, a branch of left wing Zionism. When Gordon was young, he self educated himself in religious and academic studies, learning several languages as a child. He made aliyah to then Palestine in 1904, settling in the Galilee in 1919. He worked in agriculture, firming up his belief system that the …More

Gershom Scholem was more than just a leading Jewish author and philosopher—he was also considered the founder of modern academic Kabbalah study. Scholem was born in Berlin in 1897, studying Hebrew and the Talmud at a young age. As a young man he studied mathematics, philosophy and Hebrew at university, going on to study mathematical logic. In 1919, Scholem earned a degree in Semitic languages, writing a doctoral thesis on Sefer ha-Bahir, the oldest known Kabbalistic text. That work, along with a growing …More

Want to be the next Pope? Sign up here. [Craigslist] Jewish leaders praise Pope Benedict XVI for his stance on Israel. [JPost] Hacking JDate to find the perfect Jewish husband. [Forward] Israel approves 90 more Jewish settler homes. [Reuters] Actor Josh Malina rebukes Hollywood Jews who avoid Israel. [Jewish Press] Jewish immigration produced a crop of artists alive to a difficult historical era. [PhillyBurbs] Jewish victims of gun violence to attend State of the Union address. [Jewish Journal of …More

Mila Kunis has begun studying Kabbalah after starting a relationship with practitioner Ashton Kutcher, according to a US Report. Although not actually Jewish, Kutcher joined the faith in 2003 for then-wife Demi Moore. The “Two and a Half Men” star invited the Jewish Kunis to join him at a Rosh Hashanah service at the Kabbalah center in New York City. A fellow congregation member tells Us Weekly magazine, "The men and women are separated, but Ashton always smiled at her. [Afterwards he] ran to …More

Though primarily known for his contributions to physics, Sir Isaac Newton was also a theologian who studied Jewish mysticism with as much interest as the scientific universe. Israel’s national library has now digitized these theological writings, some 7,500 pages in Newton’s own hand, and posted them online. An entire branch of physics bears his name, but the curator of Israel's national library's humanities collection told the Telegraph that Newton was also a devout Christian who believed that …More

Superstar Madonna will start her next world tour with a show in Ramat Gan Stadium near Tel Aviv on May 31. The singer, who is fresh off a spectacular performance at the halftime of the Super Bowl XLVI, will be touring in support of her upcoming album, “MDNA.” Madonna has visited Israel before for her Kabbalah studies, and she closed her 2009 tour, which was the second-highest grossing tour in history with its $408 million in earnings, with a performance in the Jewish state. Madonna also released the …More

When Philip Berg decided in the early 1970s to teach kabbalah to the masses, he predicted that orthodox rabbis would stone him and his wife, Karen. For a long time, that seemed a pompous overstatement. Few people had even heard of the kabbalah school they ran out of their living room in Jerusalem and later in Queens. But Philip knew that revealing the secrets of the Torah to any Jew who wanted to learn them -- spiritual teachings once open only to elite rabbinical scholars -- would be controversial. It also …More

The world's Muslim believers and the Jewish people have significant aspects common to their traditions -- notwithstanding the persistence of conflict in the Middle East. Jews and Arabs both trace their lineage to the monotheistic prophet Abraham (Ibrahim in Arabic). Jews affirm their descent from Isaac, the son of Abraham and his wife Sarah, and Arabs from Ishmael (Ismail), the child of Abraham's Egyptian slave Hagar. The posterity of Ismail extends, through affiliation with Islam, to many other ethnicities aside …More

"I don't know if I've ever met a more prepared director. She gave me I can't think how many books, with Post-Its on every page." British actor James D'Arcy on Madonna's organized method of directing her movie W.E. J-connection: Madonna's into Kabbalah, a mystical tradition of Jewish Biblical interpretation. Can you imagine how many post-its she wrote to her Rabbi?  …More

It's no surprise that the Oscar winner supports gay rights, so it totally makes since that she's decided to toast Gay Pride month on her Goop blog. She decided to tackle the hot button issue of gays and religion. "A few months ago, in the heat of the tragic teen suicides that came about from intolerance of homosexuality, I saw a man on television who was apologizing for wishing death on gays from his Facebook page," Paltrow writes in a post, titled "Homosexuality in the Bible." "This member of an Arkansas school …More

Madonna has silenced rumours of a split from her toyboy lover Brahim Zaibat after she was reportedly spotted enjoying a romantic date with the hunky dancer in New York this week. The pop superstar is said to have started dating the 24-year-old Frenchman after he was hired to dance at the launch of her Material Girl fashion line in September, but last month they were rumoured to have parted ways. However, the pair put the gossip behind them with a night out at a restaurant in New York on Monday. They reportedly …More

Madonna's latest hits aren't coming on the charts. Back in March, her Raising Malawi charity scrapped plans to build a school in the country, replaced its board of directors and cut ties with her favorite L.A. hang,  the Kabbalah Centre, amid reports of financial improprieties. At the time, the Material Mom vehemently denied she was under investigation by the FBI and IRS. But now comes word that the Kabbalah Centre itself is being targeted for criminal prosecution. So …More