Madonna writes to Israeli fans

JERUSALEM, July 31 (UPI) -- With just a month to go until her performances in Israel, Madonna wrote a letter to fans explaining how Kabbalah changed her life and gave her a purpose.

Published in Hebrew and English in the Tel Aviv newspaper Yedioth Aharonoth Friday, Madonna said she had traveled the world, met with state leaders, performed with great artists and achieved what most people would view as a high level of success, "but I still felt like something was missing in my life."

After filming "Evita," the 1996 movie about the late Argentine first lady Eva Duarte de Peron, and pregnant with her daughter, Madonna said she realized she would soon be responsible for someone else's life.

Despite practicing yoga, and studying Sanskrit, Buddhism, Taoism and the teachings of the Dali Lama, she was still unable "to connect the dots and find a way to take this knowledge and apply it to my daily life."

It was at a dinner party in Los Angeles where she met a woman who told her about the school of Jewish mysticism known as Kabbalah, Madonna wrote. When she told the woman she wasn't Jewish, the woman told her it makes no difference what religious upbringing she had, if it inspired her, the singer wrote. Her subsequent meeting with Rabbi Eitan Yardeni, she said, changed her life, and "all the puzzle pieces started falling into place."

The singer will hold two open air performances in Tel Aviv Sept. 1-2.