Dangerous Logic

Advice For Madonna: If He Asks You To Sign A Billion-Year Contract, RUN!

Is Kabbalah a scam like any other cult? Say it ain't so!

America's "Material Girl," singer Madonna, may have to search for a new Kabbalah guru soon, unless she plans to make pilgrimages to an Israeli prison on visiting day to visit her rabbi.

According to reports coming out of Israel, Shaul Youdkevitch and other Kabbalah rabbis are accused of bilking a terminally ill woman out of over $30,000. Many believe this is merely the tip of the iceberg.

Actually, it's not like just any other cult...

Israeli police detectives alledge that Youdkevitch and rabbis managing the multi-million dollar Israel Kabbalah Center conned Leah Zonis and her husband, Boris, into making "significant and painful donations" if she wanted to recover from her cancer. Police say the rabbis sold the dying woman bottles of "holy water" with trademark Kabbalah labels. They were told the miraculous water would cure her ailment.

Boris Zonis' lawyer, Haim Cohen, told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that, "The woman's condition continued to deteriorate and instead of telling the truth that these were empty promises, they took more money and cheated with medication that is just a bottle of water."

After several treatments, the distraught couple told the Kabbalah rabbis they could not afford to pay for more holy water, police state, and that the rabbis conned the husband to work for their centre in order to work off future payments [emphasis added]. It was at that point Mr. Zonis filed a complaint with the police charging the Youdkevitch with extortion.

The 'if you can't afford it, come work for us' ploy is a well-known tactic of Scientology (as is the Billion-Year Contract). Of course, as a celebrity, Madonna would get the Celebrity Centre treatment.

Posted by Chris at November 4, 2005 08:09 AM

Category: General Weirdness