Proof Positive
On Sunday I did a pop-deconstruction of Madonna's latest video. I was joking. I poo-pooed the suggestion that it was a straight good versus evil fight, as it seemed to have no real context. Now it turns out I was right, in a wrong sort of way:
In the DAD video, Madonna has a tattoo on her arm. Many people have asked what did it mean. Also questions were asked about the leather straps she wraps around her arm. Madonnapolis has been able to get an excellent in depth look at the answers.
Madonna's tattoo on her arm says 'LAV' in Hebrew letters. 'LAV' in Hebrew means “not”- representing the 10 commandments “shall not…” The tattoo represents all her sins. It’s a mark, like the Mark of Cain.
The leather band she wraps around her left arm 7 times is called 'Tefillin' (or phylacteries). Every Jewish man who reaches the age of 13 and a day has to put them on every morning during the Morning Prayer. It is important to stress that only men put them on, men and Madonna that is…
In the video there’s a struggle between the White Madonna and the Black Madonna- good vs. evil (just to get the point through that it is a James Bond theme song..). The Black Madonna seems much stronger in the beginning- but once she puts on the 'Tefillin' and thereby cleans her sole, the White Madonna takes over.
The White Madonna kills the Black Madonna right when the executioners turn the electric chair on. Her executioners walk in and see that she managed to escape from the electric chair. She got to a certain spiritual level in which she didn’t need to be punished anymore- her sole was clean.
This well-spelled explanation is coutesy of some fan-site or another. Wearing tefillin is a man's thing - there is no obligation for women to do so, and it feels like Madonna is plundering my cultural capital. But badly. This faux-kabbalah stuff really gets my goat. Or it would do, if I had one.
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