Black Friday, the craziest day in the American calendar year, when soccer moms descend on local shopping malls like mad zombies (they did, after all, wait in line all night). The day after Thanksgiving is still one of the busiest shopping days of the year, even though “Cyber Monday,” coined in 2005 when retailers noticed an uptick in online shopping on the Monday after Thanksgiving, is threatening to overtake it.
Last year’s Black Friday witnessed one death (stampeding customers crushed and killed a Wal-Mart employee), and this year we had only a fractured knee.
The number one item that got shoppers all riled up this year is, unfortunately, not suitable for our Jewish customers. Zhu-Zhu Pets are two-pound battery-operated robotic hamsters that make forty different noises (“coo,” “chatter,” and “purr”) and move around, interacting with other Zhu-Zhus and external stimuli.
Not kosher, says Ohr Somayach‘s online “Ask The Rabbi” column: “As far as having/playing with a non-kosher animal, there is in fact a Kabbalistic idea that one shouldn’t stare at an unkosher animal.”
Sorry, kids. Why don’t you ask for a Mattel Mindflex instead?
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