Madonna sings and dances at Kabbalah conference

Clapping and singing, Madonna joined in a Kabbalah conference today in Tel Aviv to celebrate the Jewish New Year.

Madonna was singing Jewish songs with the crowd of hundreds at the David Intercontinental Hotel, site of the conference on Jewish mysticism.

At one point she pressed another participant – apparently a friend of hers – up to the front where he danced excitedly, making her and the crowd giggle and clap enthusiastically.

The 49-year-old diva was wearing a black jacket with elbow-length sleeves and held at the waist with a belt with a large buckle.

She also donned a baseball-type hat plaid in red and black with her hair in a ponytail.

Madonna arrived in Israel on Wednesday night on a private visit to the Holy Land.

The singer did not speak to the media and the conference was closed to TV cameras.

The actress Demi Moore and her husband, Ashton Kutcher, were also attending the conference in Tel Aviv, and were seen out on the city streets last night.

Madonna was raised a Roman Catholic, but she has become a follower of Jewish mysticism in recent years, raising the ire of many Orthodox Jews who see the adoption of Kabbalah by non-Jewish pop figures as an abomination.

The singer has taken the Hebrew name Esther, and has been seen wearing a red thread on her wrist to ward off the evil eye.

During her visit she plans to visit sites sacred to Kabbalists.

Madonna paid her first visit to Israel three years ago, on another Kabbalah-centred trip.