AAN Association of Alternative Newsmedia

Philadelphia Weekly's Jewish Hamster Ruffles Some Feathers

By AAN Staff

november 26, 2007 08:55 am

Philadelphia Weekly's Jewish Hamster Ruffles Some Feathers

The cover of the paper's annual gift guide depicts a tan-and-white hamster with a yarmulke and traditional payes, resting a front paw on a dreidel. "A rodent as a symbol for the Jew has a long and notorious history, which becomes apparent even if you do a rudimentary search on the internet," the Jewish Exponent reports. An angry letter to the Weekly reads: "Where did your art director receive her training? At the Heinrich Himmler Academy of Design?" The hamster, ironically enough, is the pet of the Weekly's Liz Spikol, who is Jewish. She tells the Exponent she doesn't find the image offensive, and she doesn't "understand why Orthodoxy would be offensive. I just thought it was a fun image in context of our theme," Spikol says. "I didn't find it problematic," adds an Anti-Defamation League regional director. "We don't find anything objectionable about this."

View full article at The Jewish Exponent