With homes in London, the British countryside, and Los Angeles, why would Madonna be interested in a “shack” by the Sea of Galilee? According to the The Times of London and other news organizations, the Material Girl’s representatives have been “cold calling home-owners in the picturesque mountain retreat of Rosh Pina and offering to pay any price to secure property,” because “Kabbalists believe that the Messiah will appear at Safed and walk to Tiberias on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, traveling along the ravine that cuts through Rosh Pina.” Mrs. Ritchie, reportedly, plans to build a Kabbalah study center on the site.

A woman named Shiri Havkin was approached with an offer to buy her 100-year-old ramshackle house, but thought it was some kind of joke. “The house is worth a little more than $500,000,” Mrs. Havkin told The Times, “but I would sell it to Madonna for a million dollars ….”

Buying a house in a backwater between southern Lebanon and the Golan Heights: $500,000. Buying that same house if you’re a multimillionaire pop-star: $1 million. Being present at the moment the Messiah appears: priceless.