web analytics
May 20, 2013 /11 Sivan, 5773
At a Glance ▼
Sections
Sponsored Post
jumping Following a Passion for Sports to Israel

In Israel, a new five month scholarship program being offered to young aspiring athletes – one of them could be you.



All Dolled Up For The Holidays

Published: March 26th, 2009
tell a friend

“My mother always made the Jewish holidays lots of fun when we were growing up, so is it any wonder I started my own Judaica business?”


 


My daughter is looking directly into the television camera as she says these words and I’m kvelling.  You plant seeds and then you wait for moments like this.  


 


An acquaintance of hers at the Jewish Television Channel (JTC) was planning a program on Passover and contacted my daughter, the owner of a youth-oriented online Judaica store, for innovative ideas.  When she began to reminisce about the Ken and Barbie Seders at her house, the producer was smitten.  Tell me more. 


 


And so yom tov came even earlier this year.  It may have been mid-February, but my dining room table was already set for Passover, complete with Seder plate, matzah holder, Kiddush cup and Barbie dolls.  Sometimes a doll is just a doll, but when Passover rolled around at our house Ken and Barbie were honored guests, not just “at” but also “on” our Seder table.  A short explanation. 

 

 

 


Ken Doll in the role as Moses on Seder Table display

 


Growing up the child of immigrants, without even a television set in our modest Brooklyn apartment, I eagerly anticipated the Passover Seder.  When my mother replaced our simple everyday dishes with pearly white plates trimmed in gold, it was the signal that we were in store for a special night of delicious holiday foods and a blockbuster story of heroic proportions. 


 


That was the ’50s.   But it was obvious that the next generation, our children, who had been weaned on Star Trek and Indiana Jones, needed more to engage their interest for the long evening ahead.  My background in design and marketing convinced me that the medium is the message and so I set out to add punch to the epic with visual representations of the starring cast.  After all, who doesn’t love action figures?  When I resurrected my daughter’s extensive Barbie and Ken collection I was ecstatic to discover a Ken figure with a flowing mane, a la Charlton Heston.  Perfect!

 

 


Barbie Doll in the role as Miriam with her tambourine on the Seder Table

 


Off came the glitzy, immodest costumes to be replaced by attire more appropriate for a sojourn in the desert, with no sewing involved.  I merely cut a hole in a big square piece of fabric, slipped it over Ken’s head, tied it with a sash and voila, Moses was ready to confront Pharaoh and his minions. 


 


Barbie’s transformation into a Jewish maidel involved a little more ingenuity.  With a bit of lace tied around her hair and a long tunic draped over her shoulders, Bridal Barbie morphed into the prophetess, Miriam, playing her tambourine.  Additional dolls provided the supporting cast, Aaron and Tziporah.  A Styrofoam platform covered in faux grass and desert friendly foliage, with a few plastic frogs and diseased cattle, completed the scenario.


 


“This is our Victorian dollhouse,” my daughter continues, as the camera follows her to a corner of the dining room.   After two hours of filming she has become a pro.  “My mother changes the decorations for every holiday.” 


 


Like my dining room table, the dollhouse has also become “Pesachdik” with miniature matzos replacing the latkes and doughnuts that graced the Chanukah setting.  In between holidays, the dollhouse is decorated for Shabbos with traditional challah and gefilte fish. 

 

 


Passover Dollhouse

 


I first began furnishing the dollhouse over 20 years ago as a result of visit to Princeton, New Jersey, during the December holiday season.  Our children were enchanted by the town that resembled a Victorian postcard, so I adapted the idea for a Victorian Chanukah, foraging for items wherever I traveled.  A small town in Massachusetts provided one of my most treasured finds, a miniature copy of The Jewish Press.


 


Today a new generation has arisen who delights in the Seder at Bubby’s house so that when Ken and Barbie make their annual appearance at our table this year they will be greeted by my little granddaughter.  And just like Afikoman and matzah ball soup, another tradition will be passed on from generation to generation.


 

 

Helen Zegerman Schwimmer is the author of Like The Stars of the Heavens. To contact Helen, visit Helenschwimmer.com. To view the online Judaica store, visit popjudaica.com.

tell a friend

About the Author:


You might also be interested in:


no comments

You must log in to post a comment.

SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

Current Top Story
The Gospel according to the Palestinian Authority
PA Resurrects ‘Palestinian Authority Descending from Jesus’ Gospel
Latest Sections Stories
Teens-051713
Sections → Magazine → Teens and Twenties

Leah Katz, a TeenZone camper at Oorah’s TheZone summer camp and an 11th grader at Midwood High School, read her winning essay about how TheZone changed her views on Judaism at the Jewish Heritage Awards Ceremony held at Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes’s office in April. The purpose of the Jewish Heritage Essay Contest is to acquaint public school students with Jewish history and customs and to help foster a deeper understanding of Jewish culture. The contest is open to students of all ethnic and religious backgrounds. Leah’s essay is reproduced in full below.

Yolande Gabai Harmer
Sections → Jewess Press → Impact Of Women On Jewish History/Prof. L. Jackson

Moshe Sharett, the head of the Jewish Agency’s Political Department, visited Egypt in 1945. In Cairo he met a most remarkable young woman, a beautiful journalist who was the darling of Egyptian high society – from high-ranking military brass, to culture icons and Muslim sheikhs, to the court of King Faruk.

Respler-Yael
Sections → Family → Marriage and Relationships

The two proceeded to talk about everyday things and surprisingly her mother-in-law did not find anything else to criticize. This occurred a few more times, with my client changing the topic every time by complimenting her mother-in-law or mentioning something positive about her.

Schonfeld-logo1
Sections → Family → Parenting Our Children

There is always a lot of confusion surrounding sensory processing disorder – mainly because there are many different diagnoses that fall under the catch-all phrase sensory processing disorder (SPD). Among them are three specific subcategories:

Sections → Family

The doctor had warned us that even if we did everything right and followed the protocol after the follicle was of the right size, there was no guarantee of success. Fertilization still had to occur, and just like couples do not necessarily become pregnant every month, we had no way to know if we were actually expecting for two full weeks.

Sections → Community → West Coast Happenings

Jewish Press columnist Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis, founder and president of Hineni, the international Torah outreach organization, recently addressed an overflowing audience at the Beth Jacob Congregation of Irvine in southern California. Rebbetzin Jungreis’s address theme, “Making a Good Relationship Magical,” was apropos for the evening’s main mission: raising funds for the Irvine community’s mikveh.

Sections → Magazine → Teens and Twenties

You have probably been planning your marriage since you were about three. Let’s fast-forward to a big milestone– your twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. (Don’t worry, you don’t look a day over twenty one!) Now, would you appreciate your husband buying you a dozen roses that some florist recommended?

Sections → Jewess Press → Daily Living

As I mentioned in my earlier articles about our family trip to Israel, our night flight went pretty smooth, thanks to my children’s willingness to sleep throughout the flight. I, on the other hand, didn’t sleep a wink and I wasn’t feeling too great by the time we landed. But we were finally in Israel, and just being in the beautifully renovated Ben Gurion airport and hearing all the Hebrew around us was exciting enough.

Sections → Jewess Press → Daily Living

While all the flowers that grace your Shavuos table will surely be a delight to your eye, these will be a delight for your palette as well. Create them at any level, simple or sophisticated; any way you make them they’re sure to be a sensation.

Sections → Magazine → Potpourri

Welcome back to “You’re Asking Me?” where we attempt to answer questions sent in by people who fortunately have fake names, so they won’t be embarrassed. I don’t know how they got through school, though.

Sections → Travel

Speechless wonder is the reaction to the beautiful vision seen though the Arch of the Keshet Cave at the Adamit Park in the Galilee. One of the most amazing natural wonders in Eretz Yisrael, the Me’arat Hakeshet — also known as the Rainbow Cave or Arch Cave — can be found up against the Israel-Lebanon border just a few kilometers from Rosh Hanikra and the sparkling blue Mediterranean Sea. It is situated amid the wild scenery on the cliffs of Nachal Betzet and Nachal Namer, on the Adamit Ridge.

More Articles from Helen Zegerman Schwimmer
Ahuvah Gray
InDepth → Interviews and Profiles

“When you are inexperienced and new to Yiddishkeit you figure, what do I have to lose? I think it’s called chutzpah!” With the honesty and good natured candor that have made her a much sought after lecturer across the Jewish spectrum, African-American convert Ahuvah Gray, recounts the remarkable story of her personal encounter with Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, z”tl.

Schwimmer-100512-Ocean-Pkwy
Sections → Magazine → Potpourri

Picture it, a busy Sunday afternoon with traffic moving briskly along Ocean Parkway, a major Brooklyn thoroughfare linking the brownstones of Park Slope in the north with the beaches and amusement parks of Coney Island in the south. Suddenly everything comes to a halt.

In Print → From the Paper

As the members of the I.D.F. lined up for the daily flag raising ceremony held on the Tel Hashomer Army Base outside of Tel Aviv, Gloria Schreiber approached the flagpole with a mixture of pride and awe.

In Print → From the Paper

As the members of the I.D.F. lined up for the daily flag raising ceremony held on the Tel Hashomer Army Base outside of Tel Aviv, Gloria Schreiber approached the flagpole with a mixture of pride and awe. Standing at attention, dressed in fatigues, she grasped the rope, pulled gently and watched the white and blue flag slowly ascend.

Food → Recipes

Levana Kirschenbaum, restaurateur, master chef, cooking teacher and author, has just published the ultimate cookbook, The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen: Glorious Meals Pure and Simple. This is her magnum opus, a book that takes kosher cooking to a whole new level; with everything we ever needed to know about preparing healthy cuisine from soup to nuts.

Sections → Magazine

“What’s new?”

It was a casual question, posed to me by Irene Klass when we met at a Jewish women’s lecture during the fall of 1994.

Sections → Magazine

“What’s new?”

It was a casual question, posed to me by Irene Klass when we met at a Jewish women’s lecture during the fall of 1994.

InDepth → Interviews and Profiles

When seven year-old Ariel tearfully ran into the kitchen complaining of pain it was his younger brother Shalom who came to the rescue. “Should I get you something to learn so you will feel better?” asked the six year old?

    Latest Poll

    Which is the most beautiful location in Jerusalem?









    View Results

    Loading ... Loading ...

Printed from: http://www.jewishpress.com/sections/community/all-dolled-up-for-the-holidays/2009/03/26/

Scan this QR code to visit this page online:

Related posts:

  1. The Sunday Times Cartoon and the Midrash
  2. Staten Island
Close