The Schmooze

She Made It Through The Wilderness! Madonna To Perform At Eurovision In Israel

Madonna, a performer at Eurovision 2019, greets Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Sara Netanhahu in Israel in 2009 Image by Getty Images

By Jenny Singer April 8, 2019

Madonna and her 160-person entourage will descend on Eurovision in Israel this summer, with the pop icon slated to perform a new song during the broadcast, Haaretz reports.

The European Broadcasting Union told the Israeli paper that the performer will debut a new song, as well as a classic, at the 64th annual competition, which will begin on May 14 and last four days. A duet by last year’s winner Netta and the Queen of Pop herself has not yet been said to be in the works (but as long as in our hearts the Jewish soul sings, there is always hope, as they say.)

Securing the religiously ambiguous singer, Haaretz reports, cost to the tune of $1 million, paid for by Canadian-Israeli real estate titan Sylvan Adams. The competition will be hosted by a group including supermodel Bar Rafaeli and Arab-Israeli TV presenter Lucy Ayoub.

In honor of Madonna’s performance, the Schmooze presents a gentle re-write of Psalm 150:

_Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in the sanctuary-adjacent city of Tel Aviv, which is honestly more fun. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for the surpassing greatness of his pop divas. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the autotune and the synthesizer, Praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the highest grossing solo touring artist of all time. Praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with a lady who is associated with Jewish mysticism.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord._

We’ll be following Madge’s journey “through the wilderness” to the holy land — her fourth, as a performer. Our main hope is that her kosher-cooking personal chef will get to take this as a vacation.

Jenny Singer is the deputy life/features editor for the Forward. You can reach her at Singer@forward.com or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny

Jenny Singer is a freelance writer with pieces in Vox, the Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, Teen Vogue, and more. She was previously a staff writer at Glamour and the Forward, and she’s currently getting an MFA in nonfiction writing at the University of Iowa.

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