my two cents on that (shallow, let's admit it to ourselves ;-) yet fascinating issue...
1. Kabbalah, the very little i know about it, is really interesting.
2. Some clever people decided to make money out of it and/or grow some influence on others, that the Kabbalah Center i am referring to. I believe Madonna belongs to this "club".
3. And it is wonderful that those ppl did so and that Madonna got an interest in that because it helped making the Kabbalah "popular". Now some other Kabbalah schools offer serious classes -for free- on the net and you don't even need to buy a red string bracelet to be considered a devoted student. Because let's face it, it's all between you and this holy part of yourself, this inner light that we all have in common. It's not about proving to anybody whether you are a serious student or not.
4. Madonna is a business woman, don't think that she's independent though. All Madonna that she is, she still needs to obey the market rules. The sexy clothes, the more than evocative dancing, this is her trademark. It's been working for her for the last hmmm.... 25 years... Remember what happens when some food industry company tries to change one of the ingredrients in their best-selling product? They quickly go back to the "Original recipe"...
5. Now my own view of Madonna. I think she's a tortured soul, like all artists. Being deprived of the love of her mother made her want to be adored by the world, but still there is this flaw, this hole. We all are children in adults' skins. As any overexposed celebrity, she will be tracked, attacked, insulted whatever she does. If she doesn't do anything, the media will invent something anyway. The public character and the private person must be differentiated, to my knowledge, Madonna makes very little comments about her faith. Regarding the overuse of plastic surgery, i see it as her own issue and choice, nothing to do with her faith, but it sure is a pity and not the best example of growing old with serenity.
Yes Madonna is annoying and no she's not getting prettier but i give her full credit and my respectful admiration for following her own path and for training so hard physically to stay in top shape. And some more admiration for not being afraid of those extremist rabbis. When the world is ready to accept it, Kabbalah will get "out of its closet", i guess this time has come now but some initiates might not be ready to give up their status.
PS: i think this thread might be transferred to the Chat section... not sure we are completely on topic here