July 3, 2026 Categories: News Briefs / Arts and Entertainment / Judaism
Gwyneth Paltrow ‘Quietly’ Converting to Judaism
Recently divorced actress Gwyneth Paltrow is moving on from Kabbalah studies to converting to Judaism, The New York Post reported.
She has two children from her marriage with British singer Chris Martin, from whom she divorced this year, and she said she wants to bring them up as Jews.
Her late father was Jewish, but her mother is a Christian, which determines the religion of the child, according to Jewish law.
She has been dabbling in Kabbalah, a favorite pastime among Hollywood stars who like to find instant spirituality, but Paltrow has something special going for her.
She discovered several years ago that she comes from a long line of prominent rabbis, as described in the video below from NBC”s “Who Do You Think You Are” program.
She was so thrilled to discover her lineage that she told an interviewer in 2006, “I really am a Jewish princess!”
So if she really wants to be a Jewish American Princess, she has to convert. The question is whether she will go for instant Judaism and go through a Reform conversion or if the knowledge of her lineage will persuade her to enter the tribe according to the same rules that her great-grandfather followed.
So far, her approach reflects the typical surface understanding of Hollywood stars. She has been quoted as saying that being raised by a Jewish father and Christian mother “was such a nice way to grow up.”
Paltrow is big on cooking, and she calls herself “the original Jewish mother: because she likes cooking for others. “ I am the original Jewish mother,” she told You magazine.
Gwyneth, sorry to bring the news, but there is bit more to Judaism to feeling Jewish and being a good cook, or even a good actress, and it certainly means more than studying Kabbalah, which for you and Madonna is like someone studying to be a doctor starting with medical school before learning Biology 101.
