Judaism (any religion really, but especially Judaism due to the laws prohibiting proselytizing) should not be treated as a product to be marketed. It is a belief system. You don't just "brand" Judaism in order to attract membership. One should not evaluate a religion based on how attractive it is to a target audience. It's stupid. It should never be done. Ever.
But that said, how dumb is KosherLand?
Most kids—goyishe kids—get Candy Land, a game in which they traipse through a magical world of gumdrop mountains, lollipop woods, and chocolate swamps (it used to be molasses, but the modern child apparently has no idea what molasses is).
KosherLand? Look out little Moishe or you'll mix milk and meat! Oooo, lucky you little Sarah, you get to visit Kosher Town! Great job little Eli, you ate matzah on Passover!
Yeah it's a frickin' party. Look, we love our religion (if that's not clear from over 1400 profiles there's really no proving it), but there's just no getting around the fact that KosherLand—educational though it may be—puts the bored in board games.
We're supposed to be making kids excited about the faith, not rubbing the tenth commandment in their faces—sticking them with dreck while their Christian counterparts get to play with candy.
Like I said, it's a religion, not a marketing campaign but....I mean, can't we at least try to make it look not completely crappy?
so true. i never quite looked at it that way
ReplyDeleteI teach Hebrew pre-school and I happen to like this game.
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