2003-09-13 - 8:23 a.m.
BARBIE
Kat is very excited. She is excited about Barbie. I have never seen her this excited about a Barbie doll. While she had a lot of Barbies that people gave her, I never saw her very excited about Barbies before. But, thanks to the Saudis, Kat has learned something she never knew before: Barbie is another member of the tribe of blond, blue-eyed Jews.
Learning that Barbie is Jewish came as something of a surprise. We had always thought of her as having German origins. After all, she was somewhat modeled on the German Lilli doll. Lilli was a racy comic-book character in Germany. But then discovering secret Jewish origins is all the rage these days. Just ask Madeleine Albright or John Kerry. Perhaps she decided to hide her Jewish origins as she came to this country in hopes of making more of a name for herself. If so, it certainly worked. She has become verypopular.
Now I suppose that it is possible that she is Jewish because her designers were Jewish but the woman who conceived the idea for her, Ruth Mosko Handler, supposedly was the child of Polish immigrants. Orthodox Judaism would insist that, conversion aside, she could not be Jewish if her mother were not Jewish. But other groups would look toward her father�or, in her case, fathers. All of the designers were male. (Looking at the breasts on that doll, does that surprise you? Me either.) Now if some of them were Jewish, perhaps she would be Jewish. But I know enough of the author Leon Uris and others back in the late 1950s to know that self-hatred then ran deep. If some of those male designers were Jewish and designing the ideal woman, she would not have been Jewish. But perhaps the Saudis know something I don�t know.
This new information that Barbie is Jewish does clear up a few mysteries. I have always wondered why you rarely see just one Barbie. Barbies generally seem to be in packs of ten or more. I used to wonder why so many Barbies had to congregate in one bin (or, more likely, on my living room floor.) Now I know. It�s a minyan. They need to have ten or more together so that they can hold communal prayer services. I just never realized that Barbies were so spiritual.
This new information also explains Ken. I always wondered about Ken�s, well, lack of equipment (to put it delicately.) Now I understand. It must have been an encounter with a terrible mohel. The poor man had a botched circumcision.
So, Barbie, now that we know, welcome to the group. Kat and Day-Hay are helping with the younger children during High Holiday Services so I have an extra seat. If you want it, you can have it. Just don�t sit next to Mr. Philately, okay?
IN CASE YOU MISSED THEM:
Mistakes Were Made
Mourning the Store
The Gift of the Little Boy
Blink of an Eye
So Big
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Copyright 2006 by Ellen |
