By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – The Hallmark Channel premiered on Saturday night, June 17, The Wedding Contract, a movie about a Jewish wedding that might have given viewers some wrong ideas about ketubahs. Adam (Jake Epstein) and Rebecca (Becca Tobin) joke about putting this or that into their ketubah, but they, like most Jewish couples, sign a traditional, off-the-shelf document.
Typically, in such formal documents, written in Aramaic or Hebrew, the groom promises the bride he will provide clothing, food and conjugal relations and, in the case of divorce, a payment sufficient for her security. The document states that the bride consents to this arrangement and allows her groom to utilize her dowry throughout their marriage.
It’s not very romantic stuff, but it’s a tradition made more palatable by having it printed in beautiful calligraphy so it can be displayed as a piece of art in the couple’s home.
One assumes that Rabbi Solomon (Michael Benyaer) is a Reform rabbi because it is in that movement that a non-Jew such as Adam’s work friend Nick (Adil Zaidi) is permitted to sign his name as a witness on a ketubah. Conservative and Orthodox rabbis require that the witnesses be members of the Jewish community. Rebecca’s sister Hannah (Morgana Wyllie) is the other signer. Most Jewish movements require the signers to be non-relatives.
The plot of The Wedding Contract is a fairly typical one for the Hallmark Channel, where couples live happily ever after. A well-worn formula is that some mishap brings the couple together (in this case, Adam while jogging trips over Rebecca’s outstretched legs as she sits on a bench), their romance deepens, and somewhere near the end some misunderstanding or conflict nearly derails the relationship. But the lovers find their way back to each other and their relationship is sealed with a kiss.
Adam and Rebecca find that their mothers, portrayed respectively by Laura Soltis and Colleen Wheeler, have their own ideas about wedding arrangements, disagreeing, for example, over what style wedding dress and what flavor wedding cake Rebecca should choose, making for some uncomfortable moments between the two families. However, a bigger problem comes in the form of Adam’s boss who insists that the couple move from Rebecca’s beloved Chicago to head up the advertising agency’s office in Los Angeles.
Written by Karen Berger, the film incorporates numerous Jewish customs including a Shabbat dinner with blessings over the candles, challah, and wine; prenuptial meetings with the rabbi; a tallit stretched over the couple as part of a chuppah; the bride and groom circling each other; the sips of wine; the breaking of the glass to the cries of mazal tov, and a chair dance at a wedding reception.
On the other hand, there was no bedeken ceremony preceding the wedding. This ceremony, in which the groom lifts the veil of his bride in the company of others, was derided in the movie as completely unnecessary. Yet, the tradition stems from the biblical story of Jacob being tricked by Laban into marrying his older daughter Leah instead of the younger daughter Rachel. The bedeken ceremony is a joyful way of affirming that there will be no trickery in this marriage.
There are some people who believe that Jewish roles ought to be filled by Jewish actors, which was not exclusively the case in this movie. This is my opportunity to respectfully disagree with those who hold that opinion. If we choose actors by their religion or skin color rather than their talent, availability, and financial willingness, then we will severely limit the options available to movie producers as well as to Jewish actors. If non-Jews were to be excluded from Jewish parts, wouldn’t Jewish actors be excluded from the far more numerous non-Jewish parts?
My guess is that some executive at Hallmark decided that it would be nice to explore how romance and weddings are affected by various religions and cultures. A previous movie was Love’s Greek to Me. Marina Sirtis, who played the half-human, half-Betazoid Deanna Troi in the Star Trek: The Next Generation series, in this one portrayed an overzealous Greek mother who tries to make every wedding decision. Next Saturday, Hallmark will premiere Make Me a Match, which juxtaposes a data-driven matchmaker service with the work of an Indian (south Asian) matchmaker.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor emeritus of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com