Rabbi comes to Mick and Jerry's emotional rescue

South China Morning Post/January 19, 2000
By Liz Hodgson

Rolling Stone Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall have turned to a mystical Jewish sect in a bid to patch up their failed marriage. The couple, who divorced last summer but remain close friends, are said to be visiting a London rabbi who is a practitioner of the trendy sect Kabbalah, whose Hollywood followers include Madonna, Roseanne Arnold, Liz Taylor and Courtney Love.

A family friend said: "Jerry persuaded Mick to start having therapy sessions with her before Christmas. Mick is so desperate to get her back, he will do anything. There is a lot of pain and anger on her part and sitting down with a rabbi has offered both of them spiritual calm."

The couple, who have four children aged two to 15, are having weekly sessions with Rabbi Eliyahu Yardeni, who founded the Kabbalah Learning Centre in London.

Its classes have been attended by Barbra Streisand, Dolly Parton, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Goldblum. Teachings include a belief in reincarnation and that nothing happens by accident.

Jagger, 57, and Hall, 44, split after Brazilian model Luciana Morad said she was carrying his child.

The affair was said to have cost him a knighthood in the Queen's New Year's Honours list, though 10 Downing Street has denied reports that British Prime Minister Tony Blair blocked the honour.