Tue, October 28, 2008
Madonna is facing a major fall-out with her kabbalah leaders who are demanding an immediate out of court settlement to her divorce from Guy Ritchie.
Rabbi Berg, the most senior kabbalah member and her spiritual leader, has instructed her that the ongoing mudslinging and prospect of a court battle between the sect's two most high-profile members could badly damage its image.
Berg has now given Madonna a 24-hour deadline to come back to him with a plan to mediate towards a swift divorce resolution using a round-table of kabbalah leaders chaired by him.
'Rabbi Berg's ultimate hope would be a reconciliation.
'But that seems rather a distant hope so at best he would like to put an end to the public raking over of their marriage,' said a source close to the couple.
Madonna however is said to be torn with the idea, thinking that if they go to kabbalah mediation at this point, she will be persuaded to part with a substantial amount of her wealth and also may lose out in having to give Guy a larger share of custody of their son Rocco, seven, and David, three.
'Kabbalah's view on this would be that it as far as family is concerned, it's only money. Guy would get a lot more than if their lawyers were slugging it out.
'Kabbalah might also give Guy better access than British law might. Let us not to forget that Guy and Rabbi Berg were also very close.
'Guy really studied kabbalah. There was a feeling in certain quarters that Madonna's interest in kabbalah was linked more to her ego.
'Guy on the other hand was more interested in the fundamentals of it, in dissecting it. Consequently he had a much greater intellectual bond with the kabbalah leaders.'
The demand by Rabbi Berg comes just a day after we revealed how the divorce took a sudden acrimonious downturn with them both demanding their army of household staff to testify against the other.
Domestic and business staff at the couple's properties in England and America are being asked to provide witness statements about their two bosses by their respective legal teams.
The couple are preparing to slug it out in court over residence of two of their children Rocco and adopted David.
Madonna feels they should live with her and daughter Lourdes, 12, in New York.
Guy wants them to be privately educated and live with him in London and at the couple's Wiltshire estate, Ashcombe House.
His argument is that Madonna should not be considered the children's primary carer simply because she rarely cared for them - that nannies and other looked after them while Madonna pursued her career.
Guy claims that especially in recent months, in the run up to Madonna's world tour, when nannies were not caring for the children, he would be.
He is also hoping staff will confirm his wife became increasingly erratic and volatile and would erupt into furious rages if things did not go her way.
