McCartney attends Yom Kippur service
Former Beatle spends day before wedding with Jewish American fiancée Nancy Shevell at London synagogue but goes largely unnoticed
The day before tying the knot with his third wife on Sunday in London, Beatle legend Sir Paul McCartney decided to spend the day with his then still-fiancée at shul.
McCartney married Jewish American heiress Nancy Shevell, 51, the day after attending Yom Kippur services at St. John’s Wood’s Liberal Jewish Synagogue where, despite some 900 shul-goers present, McCartney, arguably the most popular of the Beatles, went largely unnoticed.
Only a few shul officials knew about the visit after McCartney’s office ordered 15 tickets for Shevell and members of her family, who were over for the wedding.
"We knew her family were coming," said head of shul security, Peter Abrahams, "but we weren't sure if he was coming until an hour before he arrived."
Not even the synagogue's Emeritus Rabbi David Goldberg knew about the famous singer’s presence in the balcony when he officiated at the service. "I've got to the stage of eyesight when I am grateful to see beyond the third row, never mind the balcony," said Rabbi Goldberg.
The entourage left the shul after just more than an hour, deciding to turn down a breakfast invitation at the synagogue.
McCartney, 67, is no stranger to Jewish traditions, as his first wife, Linda Eastman, who died in 1998, was also Jewish. He has also joined Shevell for a dinner at a New Jersey Chabad House in December, honoring her father Myron and performed in Tel Aviv in 2008.
Reprinted with permission from Shalom Life
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