By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – We hear often about declining rates of affiliation in the Jewish community, but retailers apparently are not overly concerned. Affiliated or not, many Jews still identify with Jewish traditions, customs, and history, and therein lies some marketing opportunities.
For example, Daniela and Gabriela Apeloig have created a new line of designer Judaica that they say features “elegant, minimalistic designs.” The line began with see-through acrylic mezuzahs, enabling one to see the scroll within. Next, they created acrylic challah boards with a built in dish for salt and honey, and a magnetic knife designed for cutting on acrylic.
Other products offered by the Apeloig Collection are a Passover seder plate, and a laser-cut challah cover.
Another company appealing to the Jewish market are the makers of He-Brew Beer, who currently are tying in with Star-Trek lovers to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Trekkies will recall that on the space station known as Deep Space Nine, a central meeting place was Quark’s Bar, where one could imbibe intoxicating beverages from any part of the known universe, or perhaps book a holo-suite to participate in a virtual adventure.
Quark, the barkeeper, was played by the Jewish actor Armin Shimerman, who in a 2009 interview with San Diego Jewish World, said that in preparing to take the role of Quark, he said, he drew heavily on his study of Shakespeare. He saw a parallel between Quark, the Ferengi bartender, and Shylock, the Jewish merchant, in the Christian society of Italy.
“The Merchant of Venice was actually a touchstone for the Ferengi because Shylock is an alien in the true sense of the word, living in a Christian society—something that is alien to him. He must learn to hold onto his own identity and at the same time compromise in a way in order to live in the alien world,” Shimerman said.
“And, that is exactly Quark’s existence; he must hold onto his values and at the same time learn to live with the Bajorans (near whose planet the Space Station is situated) and the Star Fleet people. So very much, Shylock was at the forefront of my head when I was playing Quark.”
Shylock, the moneylender, long has been considered an anti-Semitic character, and some critics of the Ferengi have suggested that this avaricious group of people—for whom profit was the prime motivation of their existence—were little more than an anti-Semitic stereotype.
While agreeing Shylock was indeed such a stereotype, Shimerman said Quark was intended not to be a caricature of a Jew but rather a portrayal of “the ultimate other.”
“I know that the producer is Jewish, the writers are Jewish, I am Jewish, and most of the other (actors who played) Ferengi are Jewish, so keep that in mind,” Shimerman said. “When I traveled to Australia, they said to me, ‘C’mon the Ferengi are the Chinese, right?’ When I travel to England, ‘C’mon, the Ferengi are the Irish, right? When I travel to different parts of the world, it is the outsider in their community that is the Ferengi. It happens that here in America, perhaps we think it is the Jews. But in other parts of the world, they don’t think of that at all—they just think of another stereotype.”
He-Brew is calling its new golden ale “Profit Motive.”
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com