Fic I want: Finchel and the rabbi (spoiler for latter half of Season 3)

[wowbright]

Okay, so was it in Nationals where Rachel said that she and Finn were getting married in a church with a rabbi as officiant?

I can't imagine a rabbi agreeing to officiate a wedding without doing premarital counseling first. So, I want to see what goes on in those sessions, and why the rabbi agrees to do the wedding. (Even better, the rabbi doesn't, and they have to find another officiant.)

AU variation: It's an AU where Puck is 10-20 years older. And he's the rabbi. (mimiheart has given me many convincing reasons why Puck would make an awesome youth rabbi; maybe he's a youth rabbi in this AU and gets stuck with the teen weddings.)

Comments

[mimiheart.livejournal.com]

The rabbi that officiated at my wedding didn't do any premarital counseling. We met with him once to figure out logistics, but he was the only one who would do an interfaith ceremony in Phoenix to a couple that wasn't a member of the congregation. (We were living in L.A. at the time.)

That said, now that I'm working in the Phoenix community and know many of the rabbis here... this guy is kind of a crap rabbi and there's a reason he doesn't have a congregation. He's sort of a rabbi for hire. "Oh, you need a Bar Mitzvah, hire so-and-so." "Oh, you need a wedding, so-and-so is available."

Now, when it comes down to it, at least in Arizona, clergy handle spiritual counseling, not actual counseling-counseling. So while the rabbis at my synagogue might meet with a couple a few times, they're not going to make sure they're a compatible couple together and should be getting married. They'll make sure that the Ketubah is in order. They may talk about how the children would be raised in the case of an interfaith marriage (like Finchel). They may recommend that a young couple, like Finchel, goes to get more serious premarital counseling. But I don't think they would legally open themselves up to more than that.

(This is something I've noticed to be very different between Rabbis and Ministers/Preachers/Christian clergy. Christian clergy do seem to do in-house counseling. Rabbis don't.)

I can see a Rabbi meeting Finchel, and saying, "Do you really know what you're getting into, here." And then not knowing how to run interference with Rachel.

I'm not up to writing Finchel anything, but I'd be happy to beta something.

[wowbright.livejournal.com]

These are all good points. I've never been married so I don't really know what's all involved in the premarital stuff in any religious tradition from personal experience. I just know that there are usually at least a couple of meetings beforehand.

So when I said "premarital counseling," I don't know that I meant anything specific or in-depth. Just the idea of an adult who is not personally invested in their happiness talking with them, asking questions they are totally unprepared for (because I don't get the impression that they've talked about children or much about spirituality - but then again, apparently a lot is going on offscreen that I'm not privy to, e.g. I was shocked that they would wed in a church because I didn't think that Finn had any kind of religious upbringing) and, yes, asking, "Do you really know what you're getting into here?"

[mimiheart.livejournal.com]

I can't speak for any tradition, really. Since I certainly didn't have any before my marriage. (May have been a good thing, all things considered.)

My wedding was in a hotel, not a church, and I don't even think the rabbi for hire would have done the ceremony in a church. It's so avodah zarah. O.o I mean, even the super-hippy-liberal synagogue I worked for in high school that shared facilities with a church covered anything remotely Christian for services and held ceremonies like Weddings elsewhere.

Finn's religious upbringing was probably something like, "Do you believe in Jesus?"
"Um, yeah? I guess, sure. Christmas trees are fun!"