Monday 12 July 2010

Will Chelsea Convert?

With Chelsea Clinton’s wedding date fast approaching, Politics Daily tackles (well, tries to anyway) the question on your mind: Will the former First Daughter being converting to Judaism?

Religion is an issue as well, as it often is: Chelsea, 30, is the daughter of a social justice Methodist (Hillary) and a Bible-quoting Southern Baptist (Bill), and Mezvinsky, 32, was raised in Conservative Judaism, a major Jewish movement that discourages intermarriage and forbids rabbis to officiate at — or even attend — interfaith weddings in which the non-Jewish spouse does not convert.

No details on how the couple will navigate these religious shoals have leaked out, just a few tantalizing hints — such as Chelsea’s attendance with Marc at Yom Kippur services last September at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, the flagship institute for Conservative Judaism.

The silence surrounding the wedding’s religious protocols has only increased speculation in the Jewish community about what the couple will do: Will a rabbi officiate at the ceremony? A minister? Or both — or neither? And will the bride convert? Or the groom? Or neither? And what about the kids?

Rabbi David Wolpe likes the idea. “As a rabbi, I would be delighted to see Chelsea convert,” Rabbi David Wolpe, a Conservative Jew who leads Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, recently told The Daily Beast. “That would be my dream scenario.”

Read the full story.

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