Madonna toasts new year

Madonna toasts new year

JERUSALEM — Madonna toasted the Jewish new year with Israeli President Shimon Peres and declared herself an “ambassador for Judaism,” newspapers reported Sunday.

The singer, who is not Jewish, arrived in Israel on Wednesday on the eve of Jewish new year to attend a conference on Kabbalah or Jewish mysticism.

Madonna met Peres at his official Jerusalem residence Saturday evening and the two exchanged gifts, with Madonna receiving a lavishly bound copy of the Old Testament.

She gave Peres a volume of “The Book of Splendor,” the guiding text of Kabbalah, inscribed “To Shimon Peres, the man I admire and love, Madonna,” the Yediot Ahronot daily reported.

Other celebrities who flew in for the Kabbalah conference included movie star Demi Moore and her husband, actor Ashton Kutcher, Rosie O’Donnell and fashion designer Donna Karan. Madonna came with her film director husband Guy Ritchie.

Duo’s still solid as a rock

NEW YORK — Ashford and Simpson say they are still going strong after four decades in show biz, and find it particularly gratifying to get close to their audience at their current gig.

The husband-and-wife team are appearing at the New York cabaret Feinstein’s at the Regency through Sept. 29.

They have been top songwriters and singers since the 1960s and ’70s, penning such classics as “You’re All I Need to Get By” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and recording hits such as “Solid.”

The couple are also working on a musical adaptation of E. Lynn Harris’ “Invisible Life,” a gay coming-of-age novel.

Today’s birthdays

Actor David Huddleston is 77. Actor Paul Benedict is 69. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter is 68. Singer LaMonte McLemore (The Fifth Dimension) is 68. Singer Fee Waybill is 57. Actress Cassandra Peterson (“Elvira, Mistress of the Dark”) is 56. Comedian Rita Rudner is 51. Singer BeBe Winans is 45. Actor Kyle Chandler is 42. Rapper Doug E. Fresh is 41. Rock singer Anastacia is 34. Rhythm-and-blues singer Marcus Sanders (Hi-Five) is 34. Pop singer Maile Misajon (Eden’s Crush) is 31. Country singer-songwriter Stephen Cochran is 28. Rock musician Jon Walker (Panic! at the Disco) is 22.