The New York Post broke the news Sunday that Kabbalah Center patriarch Philip Berg has suffered a massive stroke and is now confined to a wheelchair. Of course, it would be very cheap and easy to crack some “Where’s your red string now, punk?”-type jokes. But we got to thinking that this old man deserves our respect, not just as a sensation-haloed, money-magnetizing mystic, but as a fellow Jew and human being. The guy’s 76, and it’s snickering gossip that he must now be fed through a tube? Whaddya expect, immortality?
(Strangely, we couldn’t find any images of him around anywhere. He’s kept pretty lo-pro in spite of acting as Madonna’s personal guidance counselor.)