guide to the jewplexed

Should the 'Shalom' for Hello Kitty Be a Hello or a Good-bye?

Why are Jewish parents and children fawning over Hello Kitty? The Sanrio character, first created in 1974, and now experiencing a resurgence in popularity, can even be found on a kippah, a mezuzah, as well as in and on the backpacks of Jewish preschoolers.

Kids love Hello Kitty, especially little girls who in addition to owning the plush toys, collect the pencils, stickers, wallets, purses, even flash drives. For the parent company Sanrio, the sales of Hello Kitty and related merchandise result in an over $800 million a year business.

Even though I recently bought three Kitty items as gifts for kids in my family, I still don't hear the toy's call. Yes, Hello Kitty is cutesy and all, but what about the mouth? Hello Kitty doesn't have a mouth.
For a group who love talking, schmoozing, voicing opinions, calling out injustice, doesn't a relationship with a mouthless character seem out of character?

We are storytellers, comedians, singers, teachers, commentators and lawyers. We relish our expressions in English, Hebrew, Yiddish, and Ladino - sometimes all four. Ending the era of silent pictures, a Jew, Al Jolson, was even the star of the first "Talkie."

We especially dislike being "shushed," or told to "quiet down." Even in Hebrew when we are compelled to say, "Be quiet," "Sheket," we politely add "please," "B'vakasha." So why would we want to give a character toy with no mouth to a Jewish child?

Yet most of us do, and maybe it's time we talked it over.hello kitty

As to why Hello Kitty doesn't have a mouth, the character's website informs us that "Hello Kitty speaks from her heart. She's Sanrio's ambassador to the world and isn't bound to any particular language."

But for a people with justice to pursue, and all-important stuff to teach diligently to our children, it's tough to stay on course without a language and a voice. As you may recall, even in our bible stories the animals talk.

Upon announcing plans to open Sanrio stores in Israel in 2011, one of company's owners, Kunihiko Tsuji, in an interview on Ynet, gave his take on the mouthless critter explaining, "The absence of a mouth creates a feeling of closeness, and leaves many people with the ability to give the character their own interpretation."

Considering its Japanese origins, Hello Kitty could be considered a Zen thing -a sidekick of Buddha - who could expound his philosophy wordlessly. But in Judaism, we have the tradition of Elijah who when he hears the "Still, small voice," of God, responds by using his mouth and speaking.

In a time when Jewish women express themselves on the bima, in the courtroom, in the U.S. Senate, and on TV, is the idea of expressionless, passive toy for Jewish girls a good fit?

Or does the resurgence of this toy presage a revival in the rabbinic literature concept of "kol b'isha erva" --that a women's voice is enticing--and should not be heard leading or singing in synagogue?

That might be overstuffing the power of the plush. Still, in a time when influential Jewish women like Rachel Maddow and Andrea Mitchell anchor news and talk shows, and a Jewish U.S. senator like Dianne Feinstein is a voice for gun control, the resurgence of this toy with no mouth might actually be trying to tell us something.

Is it "Look out"?

Edmon J. Rodman has written about making his own matzah for JTA, Jewish love music for the Jerusalem Post, yiddisheh legerdemain for the Los Angeles Jewish Journal, a Bernie Madoff Halloween mask for the Forward, and what really gets stuck in the La Brea Tar Pits for the Los Angeles Times. He has edited several Jewish population studies, and is one of the founders of the Movable Minyan, an over twenty-year-old chavura-size, independent congregation. He once designed a pop-up seder plate. In 2011 Rodman received a First Place Simon Rockower Award for "Excellence in Feature Writing" from the American Jewish Press Association."