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Orthodox Barbie Gets Married
Adventures in Jewish Babysitting
The last time I took care of Asher, the 6-year-old I baby-sit, we had played Salon, a game in which Asher’s Barbies visit the salon, otherwise known as the second-floor bathroom, and we peel off their clothes, do their hair, then dress them up.
You may wonder what a 6-year-old boy is doing with Barbies in the first place. They belonged to his mom. She’d hung on to them, no doubt hoping to pass them along to a daughter. But Asher is her third son and last child, so they ended up his.
Asher’s Barbies participate in the same activities as his action figures: They explore. They fight battles. They act out Torah stories. After all, Asher is an Orthodox Jew.
Because I am a secular, atheist Jew and Asher is religious, caring for him has meant, among other things, learning what it means to live a Torah-centered life. Asher, the son of an eminent Torah scholar, has always been happy to instruct me.
Today, Asher informed me, the Barbies, once coifed and dressed, would take part in a contest in which Ken would choose “the most beautiful one” to marry. (Asher, I’m guessing, has been learning about Queen Esther at school.)
“Beauty isn’t everything,” I pointed out. “When it comes to getting married, you also want a partner who…
