The Charlotte Jewish News - August 2009- Page 23
Levine-Sklut Judaic Library and Resource Center
The New American Girl Doll: She’s Jewish,
She’s Poor and Her Name is Rebecca
By Sue Fishkoff
San Francisco (JTA) — It’s
official: The newest American
Girl doll is nine-year-old Rebecca
Rubin, a Jewish-American girl
who lives with her family on
Manhattan’s Lower East Side in
1914.
The much-anticipated latest
addition to the American Girl
series of historical characters,
Rebecca went on sale May 31
along with six books about her
life. No cheap date, she costs $95
with one book, or $ 118 if accom
panied by the complete set.
Rebecca joins 14 other histori
cal dolls in the series — from
Kaya, aNez Perce girl set in 1764,
to African-American Addy, a Civil
War doll, to World War II-era
Molly, part of an Irish immigrant
family. Her unveiling will include
American Girl Rebecca Rubin and her
introductory book.
a tie-in at the Tenement Museum
in New York City and a harbor
cruise with “kosher-style” food,
according to USA Today.
She’s a feisty girl, our Rebecca.
In one book she rescues her cousin
Thank you to everyone who participated in
our Summer Reading Journey!
The program was a huge success!
If you have not picked up your prizes, please come
and see us by August 7. Don't forget your passport!
Story Time with a Hebrew Twist a Huge Success
Crystal Ben-Yohanan, whose native tongue is Hebrew,
entertained our campers with stories, songs and games
that helped introduce new words that the kids will
remember for years to come.
■i\
m
Anna from the top of a stalled
Ferris wheel. In another she
marches in a garment workers’
strike and gives an impassioned
speech about labor rights. But she
also cooks, crochets and dreams of
becoming a movie star, just like a
proper lass.
Rebecca lives with her Russian-
immigrant parents, siblings and
grandparents in a Lower East Side
row house, just a step up from the
tenements of Orchard Street, and
they struggle mightily to save boat
fare to bring more family over
from the Old Country.
The Jewish blogosphere has
been floating guesses about her
name, release date and details of
her life for more than a year with
an intensity that belied her insen
sate status. She is, after all, just a
doll, albeit a soft-bodied, large and
quite beautiful one. But Jews love
history, especially their own, and
Jewish parents hip to the
American Girl formula of nicely
made dolls and well-written books
about the period of American his
tory they represent wanted a piece
of their own people’s story to give
their daughters.
“This is our history, right here
in this doll,” says author Meredith
Jacobs of Rockville, MD, host of
“The Modem Jewish Mom” on
The Jewish Channel.
Jacobs’ family is also from
Eastern Europe, and her Uncle
Saul’s dreams of becoming an
actor were dashed by family pres
sure to enter the cantorate.
Jacobs plans to buy Rebecca
and her books for her 13-year-old
daughter, Sophie, even though
she’s just beyond the target demo
graphic.
“I want her to read the books
and talk to my parents about our
history,” Jacobs says. “I don’t
think people who aren’t Jewish
think about how big a deal it is for
a mainstream doll company to
make something Jewish.”
Rebecca confronts many of the
same dilemmas faced by today’s
American Jewish children as they
navigate between tradition and
modernity. In “Candlelight for
Rebecca,” her teacher asks the
class to make Christmas center
pieces, and Rebecca agonizes over
what to tell her parents. In “Meet
Rebecca,” she asks her father, an
observant Jew who keeps kosher,
why he opens his shoe store on
Shabbat. (They need the money,
he explains).
Children’s author Jacqueline
Dembar Greene penned the six
books about Rebecca’s life, basing
some of the stories on her own
family’s history. She quizzed her
mother-in-law about the correct
usage of certain Yiddish words
and her 92-year-old father about
his memories of riding the Ferris
Wheel at Coney Island.
Greene’s mother worked as a
stitcher in a garment factory in
Hartford, CT, much like the one
where Rebecca’s uncle and cousin
suffered two decades earlier.
“Nothing had changed,” Greene
says. “She told me about the boss
es walking up and down yelling at
the workers, about being locked in
even though it was totally illegal.
They weren’t allowed to talk or
hum; they were timed when they
went to the bathroom.”
Even the Christmas story came
out of her own experience. Greene
was in third grade in the 1950s
when her teacher asked the class
to make Christmas decorations.
“I brought mine home and burst
into tears,” she recalls. “My wise,
wise mother said, ‘I bet Mrs.
Crocker would love it.’”
Mrs. Crocker was a widowed
neighbor, much like the widower
Mr. Rossi in Rebecca’s book,
whom the fictional character gives
her own Christmas decoration.
“I gave it to her,” Greene says,
“and walked home feeling proud
as punch.” ^
Rebecca’s books are available
at the Levine-Sklut Judaic Library
and Resource Center.
An Evening to Honor Sam
Bernstein
The Levine-Sklut Judaic
Library and Resource Center, a
Beneficiary Agency of the Jewish
Federation of Greater Charlotte,
invites you to an evening honoring
Sam Bernstein. Featuring a con
cert by the UNC Jewish a cappella
group Sababa, Saturday, October
24.
If you would like to help spon
sor this event, please contact Talli
Dippold at 704-944-6780 or tdip-
pold@shalomcharlotte.org.
Sponsorships available:
*Nobel Laureate: $500 and up
*Pulitzer Prize: $250 to $499
*will be listed on invitations
and programs
Publisher: $100 to $249
Editor: $50 to $99
Author: up to $49
will be listed in programs
Invitations to follow.
Women’s News
Young Judaea Celebrates 100 Years
By Bunny Bramson, president,
Charlotte Chapter of Hadassah
Founded in 1909, Young Judaea
is the oldest Zionist youth move
ment in the United States.
Dedicated to instilling Jewish val
ues, Jewish pride and a lifelong
commitment to Israel, Young
Judaea challenges Jewish youth —
through clubs, conventions,
camps, Israel programs and uni
versity campus events — to
become involved in social and
educational activities that develop
and sharpen the senses of Jewish
and Zionist identity.
As a pluralistic movement.
Young Judaea has brought togeth
er generations of young Jews from
a rich variety of religious, cultural
and political backgrounds, under
scoring beauty, power and diversi
ty of American Jewish life. Young
Judea reaches out to all Jewish
youth — Orthodox, Conservative,
Reform, Reconstructionist and
unaffiliated — and provides
opportunities for them to explore
their Jewishness and to develop
lasting identification with
Zionism. Kashrut, Shabbat and
Jewish holidays are observed
throughout all Young
Judaea programs and
activities.
Through the years.
Young Judaea has
striven to remain true
to its principles and
ideology, the main
focus being Zionism.
Young Judaea uses
Israel as the prism
through which its members see the
world. While Jewish education
and Jewish identity are essential to
the functioning of the movement,
it is Zionist identity that has been
Bunny Bramson
treated as a priority in
terms of education and
social action.
Shlichim (emissaries
from Israel) serve as part
ners with American pro
fessionals in the on-going
education process.
Affiliations with sister
movements in Great
Britain and Israel allow for
international exchange of ideas
and sharing of goals.
For more information about
Young Judea, contact Hadassah’s
Young Judaea chairman, Dana
Kapustin at dkapustin@caroli-
na.rr.com. ^
HA
CAS
Lake Norman Hadassah held the installation of the
new board for the 2009-2010 year at a dinner held at
Max and Erma’s Restaurant in Huntersville on Monday,
June 22. The ladies of the outgoing board were thanked
for their service and the new board, headed by Rita
Eilenberg as President, were each welcomed to their new
portfolio with the presentation of a long-stemmed rose.
Planning meetings for the coming year’s programs will
be held in August with general meetings to start in
September.
Donating an Old Cell Phone Can Save a Life
Shalom Bayit-NC, in conjunction with the North Carolina Women’s
Commission, is collecting cell phones for victims - or potential victims - of
domestic violence. Old, used and unwanted cell phones will be repro
grammed to call 911 and used in the event of an emergency. Donating is as
simple as dropping the cell phone and battery charger (in a plastic bag, if
possible) at the reception desks of the following locations: Levine Jewish
Community Center, Ohr Hatorah Congregation, Temple Beth El, Temple
Israel, Jewish Family Services.
For more information contact Marsha Stickler at 704-756-9209 or e-mail
at info@shalombayit-nc.org. ^