Confusing Queen Esther and … the Starbucks Mermaid
By Eleanor Goldberg
Traditionally, Purim celebrants drink enough alcohol to confuse the Book of Esther’s villain, Haman, with its hero, Mordechai. But this year, two unlikely female characters were confused: Queen Esther and the mermaid depicted in the Starbucks Coffee logo.
“The girl in the Starbucks logo is Queen Esther … the queen of the Jews,” Safwat Higazi, a Muslim cleric from Egypt, recently told Al-Nas TV. “We want Starbucks to be shut down throughout the Arab and Islamic world.”
Higazi isn’t the first spiritual leader to protest the Starbucks logo, which depicts a crowned mermaid.
In early 2008, the coffee chain resurrected its original 1971 topless brown-split-tailed-mermaid log in conjunction with the introduction of its Park Place Roast blend. Though the mythical creature was more modestly dressed this time around, with her hair covering her chest, a Christian watchdog group, The Resistance, called for a boycott. It “has a naked woman on it with her legs spread like a prostitute,” according to a press release put out by the watchdog group. “It’s extremely poor taste, and the company might as well call themselves Slutbucks.”
Still, the most recent uproar against the iconic lady on Starbucks cups isn’t restricted to her provocative appearance. In January of this year, after the rapper Lowkey spoke out against Starbucks for its support of the Jewish state at an anti-Israel rally in central London, two groups gutted the Starbucks coffee shop opposite the Israeli Embassy. Over in Beirut, “one cup of coffee equals a bullet” was a slogan for anti-Starbucks demonstrators. These protests were fueled by [false rumors] (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2009/01/one-cup-of-coff.html) citing that the company intended to donate its profits from the two weeks prior to the Israeli army.
Even though the company released a statement saying “it does not support political causes anywhere in the world” and that the two-tailed mermaid based on an old 16th-century Norse woodcut serves to “capture the seafaring tradition of early coffee traders,” rumors continue to circulate.
The Facebook group, “Boycott Starbucks; they fund the illegal occupation in the Middle East” has more than 1,500 members.
March 9, 2009, 6:27pm
What Would Vashti Wear?
By Debra Nussbaum Cohen
From women’s perspectives, there are more layers to be unpacked from the Purim story than there are seeds in a poppy hamantasch.
My current favorites are the themes of covering and uncovering as they relate to power and powerlessness — experiences I’ll be tasting in my own Purim costume this year as a totally covered orthodox Muslim.Our Purim story starts with Queen Vashti, who refused her husband’s order to dance before his soused pals and was either banished or executed, though Megillat Esther doesn’t tell us. Vashti was as powerful as any woman in the kingdom, but ultimately powerless to control her own fate. If she was banished, where did she go? And once she got there, what did she choose to wear?
Then came Esther — a smart beauty who became the king’s favorite after he searched the 127 provinces under his control for a new wife. I imagine it as “The Bachelor: Persian Palace Edition.”
Esther is, in the traditional Jewish view, considered the paragon of Jewish womanly virtue, one who, for all her external charms, had true beauty hidden inside. Her name is a phonetic match for the Hebrew word for “hidden.”
The entire narrative brings up many issues relevant the lives of modern Jewish women. Secular or liberal-religious or Orthodox, what constitutes modesty for us? In our dress, it isn’t static. Just look at the rising hemlines even in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood, where young frum women are wearing curvy knee-length skirts where not long ago only lower-calf length would do.
In this culture, where barely-clad young things are visible in every advertisement, do we somehow take back our own power, as women, when we dress more modestly?
And yet doesn’t covering up totally — like the orthodox Muslim women I occasionally see around my Brooklyn neighborhood, totally obscured by black burkas except for the slit that barely reveals their eyes — signal a loss of power, an acceding to a male religious system that maintains its authority by keeping women invisible?
There are young veiled Muslim women who blog about the power they feel they choose by remaining hidden.
Do we, in any ways, give up power when we reveal cleavage or leg? Or is it a statement of power for women to flaunt the sexuality of our bodies?
Modesty is obviously subjective. Going into an Orthodox-run Jewish bookstore recently on Coney Island Avenue, a neighborhood where glatt kosher eateries and dress shops are squeezed in among Pakistani halal restaurants and sari shops, I was acutely aware that I was wearing jeans and a short sleeved tee shirt.
But now it’s Purim, and I will turn the usual on its head — and perhaps even freak out a few friends. Today I stopped on Atlantic Avenue to buy an Orthodox Muslim woman’s black abaya (cloak), headscarf and niqab, the face covering which leaves only a slit for the eyes.
I wonder what it will feel like to be so covered. So utterly and totally covered that perhaps my friends at shul won’t even recognize me. What will it feel like to walk in the world with every aspect of my individuality obliterated by burka and veil? Will being hidden help reveal any truths?
Stay tuned. I’ll let you know.
March 9, 2009, 1:15pm
Offbeat Israel: This Purim, a Monkey Costume Would Be Unwise
By Nathan Jeffay
Oh dear. Two monkeys have escaped from Jerusalem’s Tisch Family Zoological Gardens, better known as the Biblical Zoo — the same zoo at which Rabbi Marc, an Asian lion, resides.
The monkeys broke free yesterday morning, and at time of writing one has been found but the other is still on the loose.
It’s hard to imagine worse timing. In a few hours, a large part of the Israeli population will be changing in to fancy dress outfits for the festival of Purim. And in recent years, highly realistic animal outfits have become all the range. Let’s hope the zoo staff doesn’t cage in some unsuspecting monkey-outfitted party-goer while complimenting the real monkey on his fancy dress and wishing him a Happy Purim.
Staying on the subject of Purim, pamphlets with a plea not to dress up as “Zionists” have been distributed across the country.
They come from the avowedly anti-Zionist religious sect Neturei Karta, which is concerned about the penchant of ultra-Orthodox children for dressing up as soldiers and policemen, and in doing so wearing “impure symbols” of State of Israel.
The pamphlet, titled “On Purim I Do Not Wear Zionist Outfits,” says that Purim does not provide and excuse to wear “clothes of those who serve the heretical monstrosity that descended from Israel.”
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “The Color Purple,” Alice Walker, is in Gaza with a group of 60 female activists, who went to highlight the devastation as a result of Israel’s recent campaign there. They are on a trip is organized by the American anti-war group Code Pink. The women hope to pressure Israel and Egypt to open borders.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Walker had a strong message for Americans. “It’s very important that they understand what is happening, and that we hold our own administration accountable,” she said.
The global economic crisis has, believe it or not, led many Israelis to put their faith in none other than the Pope.
It’s not that there’s a sudden craze for Catholicism, but rather an expectation that the Pope’s May visit could be the answer to the tourist industry’s prayers as the security situation and the economic crisis take their toll on visitor numbers. See this article in Haaretz about the $60 million his visit is expected to generate.
March 6, 2009, 11:33am
Offbeat Israel: Mishloach Manot for Hard Times
By Nathan Jeffay
The animation director of Waltz With Bashir has released a short movie intended to rally opinion against the Gaza blockade.
Yoni Goodman’s new film, “Closed Zone,” consists of animation and real footage from Gaza, and addresses the lack of freedom of movement for Gazans. In it, a young boy pursues a flying bird — a symbol of freedom — but is blocked wherever he goes by a large hand.
The hand stops him leaving Gaza by boat. Elsewhere, it turns him back to the course of fire. At the Rafah crossing with Egypt, the hand is shrouded in an Egyptian flag and is joined by another hand, adorned with an Israeli flag.
Goodman produced the film for Gisha — Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, an Israeli nonprofit organization. He started the film before the recent Gaza campaign, but reworked parts after the campaign.
With the festival of Purim coming up on Tuesday, Israelis are out at the supermarkets in force, buying all sorts of goodies to put in mishloach manot, traditional Purim food baskets given to friends and family.
In recent years, the bar for mishloach manot has been raised significantly. Once a homemade cake and a bar of chocolate did the trick; these days, some Israelis opt instead for gourmet goodies with large price tags.
In view of the global economic crisis and the rising cost of food, some of the country’s leading Sephardi rabbis have issued a ruling urging people to take a more frugal approach. They are telling people to “restrain from wastefulness” and suggesting that Israelis shun candies for foods with nutritional value and a long shelf life.
In a country of people who love to share information, it seems there are two groups of people you can rely on to protect your secrets — Catholic priests and strip-club owners.
The nation has become gripped by the question of whether outgoing head of the Israeli navy, Eliezer Marom, had a lap dance in a Tel Aviv club. The club owner is rumored to have a video that would provide a definitive answer but is refusing to part with it. This story will fill you in on the saga.
Offbeat Israel: Women Chanting and Camels Traveling Via Subaru
By Nathan Jeffay
One of Israel’s most influential Orthodox rabbis has ruled that women may read — and write — the Scroll of Esther.
In a Torah class on Saturday night, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef challenged the mainstream Orthodox view that the Scroll of Esther, which both genders are obliged to listen to on the upcoming festival of Purim, should be written and read only by men.
Yosef, spiritual mentor of the Shas party, said that women and men can fulfill their obligation of hearing the scroll on Purim by listening to a woman chanting it. Similarly, he said that while other sacred texts, such as tefillin, must be written by a male scribe, a female scribe could write a Scroll of Esther.
Yosef’s view is not original. Classical works of Jewish law give license to women reading the Scroll of Esther. But until now, in Orthodox circles — with the exception of the left-wing of Orthodoxy — it has been taboo for them do so.
Part of the reason for this is that rabbis tend to rule that women should not sing or chant in front of men as their voices may prove sexually arousing. But Yosef goes against the grain in this respect, saying that chanting a Biblical text is not the type of singing that is likely to get men aroused.
Yosef said that this ruling should only be invoked where there is no man capable of reading the text.
Purim begins March 9.
Two teenagers, aged 14 and 17, have just become Israel’s youngest divorcees.
The couple, which tied the knot a few weeks ago, did so in contravention of Israeli law, which states that only people age 17 or older may marry. But they held a religious marriage ceremony which, even if not held under the authority of the official rabbinate, is binding.
There’s been plenty in the news about smuggling in to Gaza, but smuggling in to the West Bank is far more fascinating.A video on the Israeli news site Ynet shows two camels about to be transported from the Negev to the West Bank — in a Subaru. See the amusing video here.
Apparently, camels are one answer to the global economic crisis. One camel costs the same as four sheep, but provides much more meat.
Ynet quotes Amir Abu Jamma, the man who shot the video, saying: “Once, goods used to be smuggled on camels. Now we are smuggling the camels themselves.”
March 21, 2008, 5:04pm
Obama Plays the Purim Card
By Daniel Treiman
A week ago, Media Bistro’s TVNewser blog reported that the Clinton campaign may have objected to the possible scheduling of a debate on the first night of Passover (although the blog was tentative on this point, suggested other possible motives and issued an update that the holiday’s first night was only one of the nights under consideration).
Meanwhile, Barack Obama is casting his lot with Purim (which, as the JTA notes, is “a holiday that has rarely if ever been commemorated by any other candidate or Congress member.”)
Yesterday, Obama issued the following statement:
Did Tolkien Take a Page From Purim?
By Daniel Treiman
Jewschool’s Ben Dreyfus notes a striking similarity between J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy masterpiece “The Lord of the Rings” and the Purim story:
Haftarat Zachor (which is read twice this year here in Jerusalem) + Megillat Esther = The Lord of the Rings. One of them is totally plagiarized.
After winning the war with Sauron, Isildur is supposed to destroy the One Ring. He declines to do this, and as a result, his royal line ends and he is killed in battle, and the Ring continues to cause trouble. Many years later, when the Ring is finally destroyed, Isildur’s distant descendant Aragorn becomes king, and the monarchy is restored.
After winning the war with Amalek, Shaul ben Kish is supposed to kill Agag. He declines to do this, and as a result, his royal line ends and he is (eventually) killed in battle, and Agag’s descendant Haman continues to cause trouble. Many years later, when Haman is finally executed, Shaul’s father’s descendant Mordechai ben Ya’ir ben Shim’i ben Kish (one of the Men of the West, living in exile) becomes second to the king.
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