Madonna & Jesus in the Holy Land

JERUSALEM, Aug. 31, 2009 — -- Pop star Madonna and family landed in Israel Sunday for two tour-closing sellout concerts in Tel Aviv – the final stop on her global Sticky and Sweet tour.

The 51-year-old queen of pop's private jet touched down at Israel's Ben Gurion airport, and she was then whisked to her beachfront hotel in Tel Aviv in a fleet of identical cars, an attempt to throw the pack of waiting paparazzi off the trail.

Late Sunday she and her 22-year-old boyfriend, Jesus Luz, visited Jewish holy sites in Jerusalem, including a complex of tunnels beneath the famous Wailing Wall. Security at the site was tight and waiting photographers and camera crews could only catch fleeting glimpses of the star.

Madonna is a devotee of the Kabbalah, the mystical Jewish discipline, and she has been to Israel before on a spiritual pilgrimage. She has adopted the name of Esther as a sign of her commitment to Kabbalah.

Before her first concert Tuesday night in Tel Aviv's Hayarkon Park, she and a number of her Hollywood friends and fellow Kabbalists, including Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, will reportedly visit the gravesites of famous Jewish rabbis.

Another Kabbalah-related friend, singer Justin Timberlake, is also expected in Israel to attend Madonna's concert and events at a Kabbalah center.

One Israeli paper reported Monday that Madonna even insisted that work on her huge stage should be suspended on Saturday for fear of desecrating the Jewish Sabbath.

She is also scheduled to meet with Israeli political leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and leader of the opposition Tzipi Livni.

Because of the recent history of violence and the ongoing conflict with the Palestinians, many headline music acts and performers have stopped coming to Israel in recent years.

There has been enormous interest in Madonna's visit as a result, with VIP tickets selling for $700 each. Fifty-thousand fans are expected to attend each performance.