Almost immediately upon her arrival in Israel, Madonna traveled to the Old City in Jerusalem and headed directly to the Kotel, the Western Wall. Perhaps the most significant thing is that the grand mistress of all things PR-related did not say a word to the hordes of reporters gathered around her. She prayed for about thirty minutes and simply departed.
Whatever one thinks of Madonna, her attachment to Kabbalah, or whether any of this merits attention, her visit modeled the kind of simply spirituality which all people should be able to respect. For thirty minutes, this mega-star wanted what we all want – a few minutes of peaceful prayer time in one of the worlds holiest places. I hope that she got it. I hope that we all do.
The truth is we don’t need a wall for that to happen.
We don’t need a synagogue either, though for many of us it helps. All we need is to care for our hearts in the spiritual sense in the same way that my cardiologist tells me we should care for them physically – thirty minutes a day (he admitted that twenty would suffice).
We don’t need to sweat a lot, it doesn’t have to be difficult, it’s not necessary to spend a great deal of money on fancy equipment, or even go to a gym. All we need is to make a little time in which we turn our backs on whatever our version of those reporters is and turn inward and upward instead.
In fact, it’s funny how much overlap there is between the things which are good for our hearts in both the physical and spiritual senses – walking, gardening, etc. Funny, but not really surprising, when you stop to think about it. After all, separating the body and whatever we mean by spirit (at least in this life) would be like baking a cake and asking someone to then remove the flour. It can’t be done because it’s all one. Or if you prefer, IT is all ONE.
Author, radio and TV talk show host, and President of CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, Brad Hirschfield is the author of 
