Madonna's Hebrew Tattoo -another reason why Hebrew tattoos are so popular today.

Madonna, in one of her more recent music videos for the "Die Another Day" James Bond film, displayed a Hebrew tattoo on her upper arm.

The Hebrew script she chose to display did cause some controversy. She has the letters "lamed", "alef" and "vav" tattooed on her shoulder, but those letters don't form a Hebrew word. At first, it looked as though it were simply stylish gibberish - and many dismissed it as such, another flagrantly displayed international spelling mistake.

As it turns out, however, Madonna's tattoo had deeper meaning. Rather than simply being a word in Hebrew, it was one of the many names for God as written in the Kabbalah. Legend has it that each name of God in the Hebrew language has an empowering effect, gracing the speaker (or in this case, the bearer) strength of mind, presence of faith, the will to subdue the ego, and so forth - another reason why Hebrew tattoos are so popular today.

The Hebrew Tattoo of Britney Spears

Britney Spears had a Hebrew tattoo as well. Following her friend (at that time) Madonna, she had the characters "mem", "he" and "shin" tattooed on the back of her neck. Together the characters form one of the 72 words for God (Kabbalah).

Reportedly, the first version of the tattoo had an error in it that made the word meaningless. Later, she had this corrected.

She had the Hebrew tattoo lasered off somewhere in 2008.

Christina Aguilera's Hebrew Tattoo

Christina Aguilera has a Hebrew tattoo on her left arm. She has the characters "Yud" and "Bet" surrounded by the Spanish text "Te Amo Siempre" ("I love you always"). The Hebrew characters are the initials of her boyfriend Jordan Bratman. Yud (Y) is used for the J (the J doesn't exist in the Hebrew alphabet) and Bet is B, so: JB.

Christina has another Hebrew tattoo on her lower back, the popular "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine"-tattoo.