Come on Barbie, let’s go latke!
This week, Mattel debuted its first official Hanukkah doll as part of the legendary toy brand’s Holiday Sweaters collection.
The $28 toy is part of the company’s upcoming Holiday Sweater collection, which also includes two Barbies — one blonde, one Black — dressed in red-and-green Christmas sweaters that light up when you press a hidden button.
They have Barbie’s iconic swishy hair, shiny lips and Malibu-approved full smiles, along with the doll’s wide eyes and button nose.
The Hanukkah Barbie is a little different.
First, there’s her outfit: A cobalt sweater printed with a giant menorah, baby blue dreidels, and tiny snowflakes along with blue Stars of David.
The Dreamhouse resident also sports blue checkered leggings and tiny Ugg boots — adorable, but likely the first thing she’ll lose while playing “summer camp color war” with the other dolls.
But although Hanukkah Barbie maintains the same super-skinny shape embodied by bombshell Margot Robbie in the “Barbie” movie, this version has olive-toned skin, a mane of babka-colored brown hair and eyes, and a closed half-smile with a matte finish.
She’s also got a schnoz — one that’s noticeably more pronounced than the noses on her Christmas cousins.
A seeming update to Barbie’s “Violet” mold, which was first created in 2018, the Jewish doll’s punim has an angular, jutting nose that’s more closely aligned with a stereotypical semite than Barbie’s traditional California-girl profile.
“The nose seems to have more of a bump to mimic more ‘Jewish’ facial features,” noted one Redditor.
“She looks different,” mused another commenter. “Her nose appears more prominent.”
On Reddit, several users even claimed the nose was “hooked,” referencing a downward-curving septum used to vilify and “other” Jews for centuries, including in World War II propaganda and as a template for Disney’s Wicked Witch in “Snow White.”
“She deserved better,” grumbled a Barbie fan online about her overall appearance, including her “printed, cheap” outfit.
An Upper West Sider named Alexis, 45, told The Post, “I love that a Barbie celebrates Hanukkah, but why
does she have to have a different nose? It’s so small in the scope of things, and obviously it’s not meant to be harmful. But I can’t unsee it.”
But some Barbie lovers — including conservative Rabbi Yael Buchler of Riverdale — are thrilled that the doll looks like some members of their congregation.
“[Barbie founder] Ruth Handler was Jewish, and I think she would be kvelling to know there’s a Hanukkah Barbie,” said the Jewish educator, who runs the zany Midrash Manicures account on Instagram.
“I’m sure generations of kids have had Barbie celebrate Hanukkah long before Mattel made Hanukkah Barbie. Now Hanukkah is officially part of Barbie’s world, and that feels so special.”
“I do think the nose looks larger on this Barbie,” Daphna Michaelson Jenet told The Post.
The executive director of the David Merage Foundation for Confronting Antisemitism regularly holds workshops for brands and media studios to help avoid anti-Jewish tropes.
But to Michaelson Jenet, bigger is sometimes better, as long as it’s done respectfully — and, sometimes, with tiny pink heels.
She told The Post that the new Hanukkah Barbie “has a beautiful face. It’s nothing little Jewish girls would be ashamed of.”
Mattel representatives were asked if any members of the Jewish community were involved in the making of the doll, but they did not provide comment by press time.
