Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Tefillin Barbie!

by Jen Taylor Freidman (via Moby)
Thoughts

1 - This is art, and I think it is supposed to piss you off. So if you are offended: good. That's the point.

2 - I don't like the fact that Barbie is wearing pants. If the artist is attempting to make the point I think she is trying to make, it would have been better served if Barbie was tzanuah.

3 - A shteinzaltz? Is that because she's blond? (I notice others made the same point at the original post)

4 - I don't like the idea of Barbie being depicted as one of those self-important Brooklyn man who make a point of studying talmud during prayer. If she's in tefillin, let her be davening and not making a show of her learning, like some insecure slob from Flatbush.

5 - IIRC, women are allowed to wear tefillin, and this falls into the category of optional practices like taking a lulav. In our day, Orthodox women don't do it, and the practice has become a taboo, but it wasn't always thus: Once upon a time Jewish women wore tefillin in some numbers. Our modern attitude is really rather silly. If a girl wants to wear tefillin, let her. It doesn't hurt anyone, and per the actual halacha she's entitled.

6 - But a talis? I can understand the idea behind putting her in tefillin, but TTBOMK a talis was always exclusivly for men.

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