Madonna praises Jewish mystic

Madonna says a Jewish mystic changed her life.

The 4 Minutes singer overhauled her attitudes and outlook on life after meeting Eitan Yardeni when she was pregnant with daughter Lourdes 14 years ago.

She revealed in a column in Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot: "I suddenly realised that I spent my entire life worrying only about myself and soon I'd be responsible for the life of another person. I started seeing that being rich and famous is not the end of the road, but only the beginning."

Madonna is a keen follower of Kabbalah, a mystical offshoot of Judaism, and has raised her children - 12-year-old Lourdes, Rocco, eight, Mercy, four, and David, three - in the faith.

She even took Mercy to a Kabbalah meeting in London immediately after she finalised the adoption process in the tot's home country of Malawi.

She is also said to be planning to take the children to see the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.

The trip will happen in September to coincide with Madonna's final date of her 'Sticky and Sweet' tour in Tel Aviv, Israel.

A source said: "Madonna wants to give Mercy enough time to settle into her new home. By September she feels she will be ready to take the trip without the danger of upheaval.

"The Wailing Wall is a very sacred place for anyone with links to the Jewish faith and she wants the children to see it."