Dawson Seek
Dawson’s Creek star James Van Der Beek has gotten married in Israel.
In a ‘Jewish’ wedding.
As America’s eyes were clung to pictures of Chelsea Clinton’s wedding to Marc Medvinsky, actor James Van Der Beek, who rose to fame when he starred in the popular television show “Dawson’s Creek,” decided to go for a Jewish wedding all the way and married Kimberly Brook, who is carrying his child, on Sunday in Israel.
The couple arrived in Israel for the birthday celebrations of Rabbi Shraga Berg, founder of the Kabbalah Center in Jerusalem and famous teacher of Madonna and other celebrity fans of the red string bracelet.
The bride showed up to the event wearing a black dress, hiding her baby bump with a dress bag containing her wedding dress. Van Der Beek showed up decked out in white from head to toe.
The small ceremony was held at the Kabbalah Center in Tel Aviv and was officiated by Berg’s son, Rabbi Yehuda Berg, who also married Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher. The wedding was held in secret during the evening hours near Dizengoff Square. Close friends flown in on a private flight attended. Katie Holmes, James’ co-star on Dawson’s Creek, was not among them.
The newlyweds will honeymoon on a tour of holy sites around the country, visiting the graves of the righteous in Jerusalem and the Galilee.
Ok, so neither Van Der Beek nor his wife are actually Jewish, so I’m not sure why it’s referred to as a “Jewish” wedding. But at least they didn’t get married on the Jewish Sabbath.
In the meantime, I wish the happy couple mazal tov!
Update: Van Der Beek really seems to be in to his Kabbalah. This is the wallpaper of his Twitter page:
Mazal Dagim is Hebrew for Pisces.
Update: The couple reportedly first met during a vacation in Israel.
Update: Van Der Beek interviewed by Israeli television.
[...] gone into the fertilizer business.Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)3:55PM: Mazal tov, ‘Dawson’!1:04PM: Egypt has denied the rockets were fired from its territory.No rockets were launched from [...]
Mazel tov to him. A Christian friend of mine also got married in Israel in a Jewish (style) ceremony. Why not? It's nice.
Well, it's kind of like claiming the medal of honor when you didn't get it….
But actually, isn't a Catholic ceremony basically the same? "With this ring I thee wed…"?
"Rabbi" "Doctor" berg, at least the original one, was a Kabbalh charlatan going back at least to the '60's. But – "Rabbi Yehuda Berg, who also married Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher" – so he's a polygamist?
Hey, I would trust their goodwill towards us before I would trust that of a J Street Jew who has identity issues.
Oh, sure, I'm not really making a big deal over their play-acting.
Besides, according to Jewish law, a Gentile is married through the consummation (it works for a Jew too, but it's discouraged), so the form of the ceremony is somewhat irrelevant. (But note that Jacob had some sort of ceremony, or wedding feast, even though the Torah was not yet given.)
Just realized. If it isn't legal here, then they aren't legally married in the U.S. either. (Maybe that was the idea, given California law.)
The wallpaper is a picture of a street sign in Old Jaffa. The streets there are named after the zodiac signs……….
BTW, a common mistake is to consider the Zodiac as Idolotrous. Actually, it's astronomy, not even astrology. The way you do months in a solar year is to see which constellation the Sun "passes though" as it goes from South to North and back throughout the year. That's the Zodiac.
A whole bunch of early synagogues had zodiacs incorporated into their decorations.
Isn't holding a wedding in Israel without the sanction of the Rabbinute illegal? Or is it just unrecognized by the Ministry of the Interior?
Well, since they aren't Jewish, I suppose it would be "without the sanction of the Church". Maybe it's legal for non-citizens. Or more likely, they have more important things to worry about.
I'm working on a "double wedding ring" quilt right now and it would make a perfect hoopah. I've noticed some Jewish wedding ceremonies prominently incorporate a hoopah while others do not. Is this personal taste or does it reflect one particular strand of Jewish tradition? And what makes a Jewish wedding Jewish anyway? Does it have something to do with the caterer?
No, that's a Bar Mitzvah. (I'm NOT kidding.)
Well, first, you get married by giving the young lady the ring in front of two witnesses. Double-ring ceremonies in traditional weddings (= all Israeli weddings) are uncommon, and only work because the couple are aware that the other ring is meaningless. That's betrothal, the first half of marriage.
The second half is when the husband brings the wife into his house. It's not 100% clear how to do it; two of the main methods are by standing under a canopy, and by staying alone in a room together. Every tradional wedding will have the first ,and a proper one, at least among Western Jews, will have the second. This is called Chuppah.
The rabbi is only their to supervise. The only woman a rabbi marries is his wife.
BTW, I put a lot of work into that part of Wikipedia, and it still has a long way to go.
the second is called yichud
single opposite sex couples are not supposed to be alone together prior to marriage
right after the chupa, they are taken to a room, where the marriage is allegedly supposed to consummate
but as they have been fasting all day, usually they just eat something and enjoy the quiet the few minutes bring
Yes, but in this sense, yichud is a form of chupa, or nisuin. The actual meaning of chupa, as far as I can tell, is a compartment into which the bride and groom entered.
Kiddushin = Erusin = Betrothal
Chupa = Nisuin = Marriage
A betrothed woman is prohibited to everyone else, but not yet to her husband. That is, adultry applies (to others), and she would need a divorce to break it. (I know you know all of this; I am writing for others.)
Originally the two were separated, but now they are done together.
Actually, the marriage is not "allegedly supposed to consummate" there; no-one would expect such a thing. They do have to be there long enough for consummation to be able to occur, though. And eating is a good idea, since they often don't have much time for that during the wedding. It is common for the groom to give the bride a present there. (At least you can hold hands for the first time.)
I sometimes get the impression that the original Chuppah, which was a compartment, may have indeed featured consummation. But I do not know enough to judge the meaning of the sources that well.
What is Kabbalah anyway? It seems like some hocus pocus for celebrities ($cientology without the aliens and credit card usage)
Kabbalah (=received tradition) is a basic part of Judaism. Sometimes it's called mysticism, but (as far as I understand) it's basically what Judaism has where Christianity has theology.
There are two issues regarding the Kaballah center.
(1) They were taken over by Kabbalah Charlatan "Dr." Berg.
(2) They appear to me to signify a Christian idea, that you can have the spirit (=inner, mystical meaning) of the Law (= the torah) without the Letter (fulfilling the commandments). According to the Christians, Jesus did this, so no-one else has to, if I understand the idea correctly. (This is the original meaning of Letter and Spirit, BTW.)
The picture he put on twitter is the name of one of the street of the old Yaffo. My favourite one: I'm a pisces!