Natalie Portman to put up first Christmas tree
With Hanukkah and Christmas coinciding this year, pregnant actress and her Jewish family make exception to tradition
A pregnant Natalie Portman talks with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, November 29, 2016.
It’s taken 35 years, but Natalie Portman is finally getting her first Christmas tree.
The
Jewish actress told The Tonight Show’s Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday that
since the first night of Hanukkah coincides with Christmas eve this
year, her family has decided to celebrate both holidays together.
Portman, her French choreographer husband Benjamin Millepied (who converted to
Judaism in 2014), and their 5-year-old son Aleph usually observe
Hanukkah at their home, and celebrate Christmas with Millepied’s family
at their house. However, this holiday season Portman and Millepied are
hosting everyone at their Los Angeles house, with both a Christmas tree
and a menorah on display.
“I was asking my husband, ‘Is it okay for your
family if we don’t have a tree?’ and then my parents were like, ‘We can
get a tree,'” she told Fallon.
The Jerusalem-born Portman, who is pregnant
with her second child, said she couldn’t have been more pleased about
her parents’ willingness to deviate from tradition, at least this once.
“So excited! Like my whole life no Christmas
tree, and then all of a sudden they have this great excuse, because it’s
every Jew’s kind of secret wish to have a Christmas tree,” Portman
explained.
Happy for the actress to have her first
Christmas tree, Fallon presented her with an official The Tonight Show
ornament to hang on it. Fallon pointed out that the ornament was silver
and blue, presumably referring to traditional Hanukkah decoration
colors.
It is unlikely, given the Israeli-born Portman’s outspokenness
about her Judaism and Zionism, that the tree is a sign of any weakening
of the actress’ Jewish identity. Furthermore, it can be expected that
Portman and her husband will raise their second child in the Jewish
faith, as they are their son Aleph.
News of Portman’s second pregnancy broke in September when she appeared at the premiere of her film “Planetarium” at
the Venice Film Festival with her baby bump showing through her
form-fitting white Grecian-style Dior gown. Portman’s pregnancy was also
apparent as she has walked the red carpet recently for her other
soon-to-be release film, “Jackie,” in which she plays the former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy.
Portman’s due date has not been announced, but
she assured Fallon that it is not for months, despite how large her
belly is already.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/natalie-portman-to-put-up-first-xmas-tree/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
http://www.timesofisrael.com/natalie-portman-to-put-up-first-xmas-tree/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
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| Jared the Jew joins the xmas festivities |
RCA GEIRUS STANDARD AND POLICIES:
Requirements of Other People in a Candidate’s Life
When a candidate is previously intermarried or is converting for the sake of an individual Jew, the spouse’s observance level and attitudes must be consistent with the present and future Torah observance of the candidate and not be a source of conflict or opposition to the convert’s adopting a halachic lifestyle. The Beit Din should also consider whether other significant individuals in the candidate’s life such as parents, or any existing minor children, will have an impact on the success or failure of the process and the aftermath of conversion.
http://www.judaismconversion.org/GPS_Policies_and_Procedures.html
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| Suggested New RCA Logo |
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| “Both a man who converted for the sake of a woman and a woman who converted for the sake of a man,” we read in Yevamot 24b, “they are not converts.” |