Barbie’s Magic Holy Temple

November 9, 2006 - 6:35 PM by Sarah

Beth Shapiro, the woman behind House of Joy, gives us a peek into her children’s playtime, their religious values, and their custom-made Barbie wardrobe:

As the mom of two little girls, I have always been sort of against the whole idea of my daughters playing with Barbie dolls. I bought into the whole, “bad for body image” “undervaluing girls” propaganda thing. So a few weeks ago when my older daughter was playing with some friends from a “very fine family” and they showed up carrying their Barbie dolls, I was aghast. I sighed one of those deep “you can’t protect your children from everything” sighs and let her play.

As I watched, I was amazed. Because Neshama’s life is so deeply defined by holy things, when she plays with these dolls it is also a holy endeavor. She doesn’t want a Barbie sports car. She doesn’t even know what a sports car is. She doesn’t know about California dream houses or sending Barbie to a disco. These little Israeli yishuv girls make up adventures where their dolls go to the park, to the synagogue and to school. They prepare for Shabbat. They pretend that the new Beit HaMikdash [Holy Temple] has been built and take her to meet the Kohein HaGadol [High Priest] (who I suppose could be Ken if they had a Ken).

When they started playing with a Barbie castle, and were arguing about who should use it, I suggested that they make it a castle of Chesed, lovingkindnrss so that everyone could use it together. “Make it like the tent of Abraham the patriarch,” I suggested. “His tent was open on all sides so that visitors could come.”

“Oh,” Neshama smiled, “or like the house of Rav Aryeh Levine who always left his door open so that strangers would never feel embarrassed to knock on the door.”

“Exactly,” I crowed, thrilled that what she is learning in pre-school makes such a deep impression on her.

So, I decided to give in to the whole Barbie thing, but I’m doing it with a twist. I realized that my main objection to Barbie is that she doesn’t look like a nice religious girl. If I want my daughter to play out her fantasies, I need to provide her with the tools to make fantasies that are appropriate for her life. And so I called a friend of mine who is a seamstress and asked her to make me modest Barbie outfits.

“I want Barbie to look like us” I said. “Long skirts, modest shirts, maybe a hat in case she wants to be a mommy.”

My friend was intrigued by the challenge. She just completed her first sample and is making me four more. I can hardly wait to see the stories she creates. With the simple faith of these little girls, I’m thinking she just might get to take her doll along with her to the new Beit Hamikdash

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