Madonna: Call Me Esther

Just a week after shedding her record label, Maverick, the artist formerly known as Madonna has traded in one biblical name for another. The pop chameleon has adopted the ancient Hebrew name of Esther...at least in her religious life...



Actually, Ester isn't Hebrew at all. Its derived from a Persian word meaning "star" and is thought to be related to the goddess Astarte. Queen Ester's Hebrew name was Hadassah

The Kabbalah devotee, who's midway through her re-Invention Tour, shared the name change with ABC's 20/20 in an interview to be broadcast Monday. Madonna says the name she shared with her mother, who died of cancer when she was just 5, gave off bad vibes. ..

Snicker, if you will, at Madonna's maturity leap, just don't question her devotion to Judaism's trendy offshoot, Kabbalah.

"I'm a little bit irritated that people think that it's like some celebrity bandwagon that I've jumped on, or that, say, somebody like Demi [Moore] has jumped on," she says. "We don't take it lightly.

Well, if they take Jewish mysticism--or at least the watered down Southern California bastardized pop version they follow--so seriously, then why don't they convert to Judaism?