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Forum -> Parenting our children -> School age children
Would you let DD have an American Girl Rebecca doll?
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amother
OP


 

Post Thu, Feb 13 2020, 8:22 pm
I noticed it being raffled off in a Chinese Auction, and it got me thinking. I personally wouldn't get an American girl doll at all. (New York Doll Collection dolls are good enough for my household.) But to those who would, would you feel comfortable with Rebecca, the Jewish character? I don't think she's a good example of a Jewish girl at all. I think if I were to buy DD an American girl doll for some reason, I'd get any doll but Rebecca.
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small bean




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 13 2020, 8:27 pm
I feel the same. The reason they do rebecca is cuz they didn't read the books.

I pointed it out to my kids school as I did read the books and they stoppes getting rebecca.
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hodeez




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 13 2020, 8:27 pm
Heck no
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amother
Scarlet


 

Post Thu, Feb 13 2020, 8:29 pm
To expensive
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amother
Scarlet


 

Post Thu, Feb 13 2020, 8:32 pm
You can buy her a Chanukah dress a sabbath set and menorah the doll is a hundred dollars
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amother
Mint


 

Post Thu, Feb 13 2020, 8:55 pm
I did buy it when Dd was young. The book is not great but not texx sad let bad. All secular books for kids are they way. I don’t know what to do about it but I’m not in a position to ban all kids secular books.
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amother
Amethyst


 

Post Thu, Feb 13 2020, 9:02 pm
I would get her one, because I’m glad there is a Jewish character.
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amother
Ruby


 

Post Thu, Feb 13 2020, 9:03 pm
I don’t know too much about Rebecca. My daughter has Addy. But if she wanted Rebecca, sure.
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amother
Pearl


 

Post Thu, Feb 13 2020, 9:24 pm
Is there a problem with the backstory of this doll?
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Rubber Ducky




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 13 2020, 9:32 pm
I think the problem is the actual story. Doesn't Rebecca's father start working on Shabbos?
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amother
Beige


 

Post Thu, Feb 13 2020, 9:41 pm
I never bought an American girl doll for my kids cause they’re expensive.
As to Rebecca being a good Jewish role model or whatever, I think you’re overthinking things. It’s just a doll.
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small bean




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 13 2020, 9:49 pm
amother [ Ruby ] wrote:
I don’t know too much about Rebecca. My daughter has Addy. But if she wanted Rebecca, sure.


My daughters favorite is addy. Her books are also the best.
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small bean




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 13 2020, 9:52 pm
Rubber Ducky wrote:
I think the problem is the actual story. Doesn't Rebecca's father start working on Shabbos?


He does. And she doesnt connect to religion at all. She finds it is stopping her from persuing her dreams.

I let my kids read it but just because she is iewish doesn't make her the best choice doll. I think it is the naivety that makes her the jewish choice doll.
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nchr




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 13 2020, 9:53 pm
I'd have no problem giving my daughter and/or son a Rebecca doll.
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amother
Fuchsia


 

Post Thu, Feb 13 2020, 9:59 pm
amother [ Beige ] wrote:
I never bought an American girl doll for my kids cause they’re expensive.
As to Rebecca being a good Jewish role model or whatever, I think you’re overthinking things. It’s just a doll.

Exactly, if you've read All of a Kind Family you see clearly by the last couple of books the family is moving away from traditional Judaism, starting to attend a Reform shul with mixed seating etc. Set during the same time period too, more or less.
Yet I think most people don't think twice about the series as a whole.
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flowerpower




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 13 2020, 10:00 pm
My daughter keeps begging for the Rebecca one. Being that we already have one I am not buying it. If we win it by an auction she would be thrilled. She doesn’t have to read the book...
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amother
Apricot


 

Post Fri, Feb 14 2020, 1:51 am
I never read the book, but based on comments here I guess I won’t let kids read the book. But getting Rebekah? Um.. she sat on the same assembly line as dear Samantha in China when she was made.
Please. I love when people buy two of the same dolls and there a little tag that says bitty twins... wow! two dolls that are the same here you got twins. Why don’t they put 4 dolls on a page and call them “the cuty quads.”
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amother
Blue


 

Post Fri, Feb 14 2020, 2:54 am
My DDs are much older. We had the books and the mini-doll (from Costco).
I am MO and live in a world where not everyone is frum and not everyone does things the way we do. We read the books and used it as a platform for conversation about how not everyone is frum or privileged to grow up in a frum home and gets to go to Yeshiva & have a strong Jewish education. We used it as a platform to speak about my grandfather who came to the US in 1938, and had to find a new job every Monday and quit every Friday in order to not be Mechalal Shabbos, that it was very hard and a Misirat Nefesh, but in our family we know how important Shabbos and Kashrut and Hashem is. That keeping the Torah is the #1 priority.

Books are what you make of them. They can be kept from children. They can be read and learn from as they are, or they can be used as springboards to have the discussions you want.
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amother
Bronze


 

Post Fri, Feb 14 2020, 6:36 am
We didn't like the books either. The American Girl books involve the girls having family and cultural traditions that they are encouraged to keep and hold onto even when it is difficult. But only with Rebecca, the opposite is true- she (and her family) are shown to be going in a positive direction when they abandon them.
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amother
Coffee


 

Post Fri, Feb 14 2020, 8:37 am
amother [ Blue ] wrote:
My DDs are much older. We had the books and the mini-doll (from Costco).
I am MO and live in a world where not everyone is frum and not everyone does things the way we do. We read the books and used it as a platform for conversation about how not everyone is frum or privileged to grow up in a frum home and gets to go to Yeshiva & have a strong Jewish education. We used it as a platform to speak about my grandfather who came to the US in 1938, and had to find a new job every Monday and quit every Friday in order to not be Mechalal Shabbos, that it was very hard and a Misirat Nefesh, but in our family we know how important Shabbos and Kashrut and Hashem is. That keeping the Torah is the #1 priority.

Books are what you make of them. They can be kept from children. They can be read and learn from as they are, or they can be used as springboards to have the discussions you want.


I am Chassidish and I'd use it in the same way.
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