Over 6 billion people live on the planet Earth. Thinking of them as a tribe of hundred
people, there would be 60 Asians, 14 North and South Americans, 13 Africans, and 12
Europeans. 30 tribe members would be Christian, 18 would be Muslims, 13 Hindus, 6
Buddhists, and 33 would be other faith, including of the hundred tribe members one
quarter of one would be Jewish. Within this circle there was a woman named Ruth who
created the Barbie doll. A Jewish woman created Barbie. Maybe Barbie can explain
something about how this generation responds to being Jewish today. Since the old
days, Jews refer to themselves as members of the tribe. But what does it mean to be a
member of a tribe in the 21st century? A tribe is a group of people with something in
common, for example tribe of hunters, a tribe of gatherers. Tribes can have other things
in common, like interests or family, a tribe may have within it a smaller group or subset
called subtribes. For example, the American tribe includes the subtribe of Democrats
and the subtribe of Republicans, as well as many others subtribes. Although subtribes
disagree, they remain members of the larger tribe. Within the tribe of girls, there's the
subtribe who love horses and the subtribe love Barbie dolls. Even within the tribe of
boys there's a subtribe who loves Barbie dolls. There’s also a large subtribe who
doesn't love Barbie dolls, but all subtribes can agree Barbie doesn't look Jewish.
Barbie’s Creator was named Ruth Handler. Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent
Robert, not such a Jewish name.