Like many parents of newborns I've been spending a lot of time at Babies R' Us. There always seems to be more stuff the baby needs that we don't yet have. It's almost as if this kid keeps growing and changing from week to week.On our most recent visit we were picking up some feeding bibs. Wife picked this one out (see picture) and asked me what I thought. The first thing that came to my mind was: PIGS! PIIIIIIIGS!!! IT HAS PIGS!!! Aooogah, aooogah! Red Alert! Clang, Clang, Clang!!!
I kid you not. If I was in a Tex Avery cartoon my eyes would have bugged out and I would have shot up about three feet in the air while my socks and shoes stayed in place.
Why did I have such a strong reaction? Well, as you may or may not know the Lubavitcher Rebbe told Chabadniks that they shouldn't let their children play with toys of non-kosher animals. "Whaaa???" you say? Here is an excerpt from AskMoses.com:
The Lubavitcher Rebbe, therefore, strongly suggested that children not be surrounded by animals the Torah calls impure (the Torah does not use the terms Kosher and un-kosher – meaning “fit” or “unfit”, rather tahor and tamei – meaning [spiritually] “pure” or “impure”), due to their negative energies and their often violent natures. In fact, The Rebbe was so concerned about this that he even discouraged surrounding a child with pictures and images of such animals.I remember when this idea first reached my Mom. One day Bugs and
Source: http://www.askmoses.com/article.html?h=157&o=2028472
"So, what do you think?" she said.
"It's perfect. Let's get out of here."
18 comments:
Interesting. Ironically, before my skepticism, I would not have thought twice about pigs. Which liitle kid, in my days, didn't watch Porky the pig?
But with the skepticism, comes a new importance and heightened sensitivity to all things Bacon.
BHB
I was raised in a Lub home and I had a piggy bank. What the %#@ the Rebbe know about kids...never had any
I'm curious what the objection to Elmer was. Elmer was a human being, not an animal at all.
Do Lubavitch girls not have any (human) dolls at all?
The Wolf
BrooklynWolf,
Whoops! My bad. I meant Porky Pig. At 2:00 in the morning I confused my flesh colored characters. The toy that was throw out was a Porky the Pig puppet.
Toys depicting humans are allowed by Lubavitch. Thanks for the catch.
so no drawings of our Avot riding on top of camels?
I remember when visiting a petting zoo with my kids, a Lubavitcher yelled at his kid "TAMAY!" when he went to pet a pig. Uh, sorry moron, a live animal cannot be tamay.
So do any lubab wives own fur coats?
> so no drawings of our Avot riding on top of camels?
In practice Lubavitchers are much more strict about physical depictions and less so about drawings (like the bib). I would say with drawings it is more of a sensitivity to treif animals (pigs especially). Whereas with toys, and costumes, they are pretty strict about following The Rebbe's direction.
For example:
Here is a link to the Noah's Ark section of Chabad.org's Kids page. It has plenty of treif animals but not really any people eat.
http://www.chabad.org/kids/noahsark/default_cdo/aid/383247/jewish/Noahs-Ark.htm
On the other hand here are some pictures from a Lag B'Omer Parade in Chicago. If you scroll down you will notice all of the animal costumes are kosher (birds and a giraffe).
http://www.lagbomerfestival.com/parade.html
All of this misses the sad point inferred that the only animal depictions children should have are ones that are tasty and approved as if the only possible relationship is one of predator and prey and children naturally play with them imagining a bbq.
Uh, no, they don't and the inference is disturbing in its lack of appreciation for the abilities of empathy and relating of children.
It's like the minicontroversies in some quarters over whether women should be depicted at all because of what men might think. That is not the only thing that comes to all male minds, we actually can think of sisters and mothers and co-workers and friendship and community and camaraderie.
Lastly, Elmer hunts rabbits to eat and therefore is confirmed as either not Jewish or an apikorus and so either way needs to go. (<-This is sarcasm...)
Lastly, Elmer hunts rabbits to eat and therefore is confirmed as either not Jewish or an apikorus and so either way needs to go. (<-This is sarcasm...)
Actually, in one of the hunting trilogy of cartoons, Elmer comments that he's a vegetarian and hunts for sport. (Yeah, I know that they're not consistent.)
The Wolf
is that why they don't wear shtreimels?
Not sure why Lubab's make the hat choice they do. However, the Previous Rebbe wore fur. http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/110488/jewish/The-Early-Years.htm
It was The 7th Rebbe came up with this "kosher toys" idea, it didn't exist previously.
Also, the "recommendation" is really for kids toys and pictures it doesn't apply to all animal products. Lubabs wear leather shoes.
Ah. So you had a Porky the Pig puppet as a child. No wonder you ended up a skeptic.
Toys depicting humans are allowed by Lubavitch. Thanks for the catch.
But doesn't a piece of the doll have to be broken off else it's like an idol? Just something I heard.
lost and not yet found,
> But doesn't a piece of the doll have to be broken off else it's like an idol? Just something I heard.
Yes. Absolutely people do that. I had a friend who bought a Statue of Liberty replica on Liberty Island. I forget exactly how they "desecrated" it but he (or his parents) snapped off part of the crown or the torch or something like that. (It was a very long time ago). Thankfully my folks weren't that crazy and left all my Star Wars action figures alone.
>I forget exactly how they "desecrated" it but he (or his parents) snapped off part of the crown or the torch or something like that.
Like this?
my favorite feature in olamaynu was mendel the mouse. i fondly remember my third grade teacher reading it to us in class. then years later i heard it was removed from olamaynu because mendel was a mouse and an unkosher animal. i was so sad.
I never had a pig toy when I was growing up. My mom did not think well of pigs.
Raccoon stuffed toy, no problem. Crimson hoppity thing (that Australian whatchamacallit - can't think of the name), also no problem. Stuffed ducky pillow which went with us on vacation till I was fourteen, equally no problem.
No pig. I feel deprived. This may account for something.
I guess I can dig and understand why...why make nice with animals we don't want to make nice with? If you make them seem cuddly and cute and okay, then deep inside there's a question as to why the sheep was okay but not the little piggy.
Okay, that said. It also assumes we aren't smart enough to distinguish between real and unreal. Alive and food we eat. Cartoon and real live living breathing thing. And that's kind of insulting not only to children but also to their parents who are assumed not to be smart enough to teach them these things themselves.
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