Rugrats was unusual among contemporary animations in its attention to Jewish ritual and tradition. The episode also marked the first Passover special Nickelodeon had broadcast, while "A Rugrats Chanukah" marked the first televised animated Hanukkah program. Fan reaction to Jewish themes in Rugrats have been overwhelmingly positive. The Passover special achieved a Nielsen Rating of 3.
The Hanukkah special, meanwhile, received a 7. Chartoff received an abundance of fan letters praising the series for detailing Judaism in sensitive fashion. She only received one complaint, from her mother, who claimed that the characterizations of Boris and Minka were anti-Semitic. Critically, Rugrats' treatment of Judaism has also been acclaimed. Danny Goldberg wrote in his book How The Left Lost Teen Spirit: "I cannot think of any other TV show, animated or otherwise, in which Jewish traditions were so clearly expressed in the context of a mass appeal entertainment [than in Rugrats].
They also wrote that if someone had yet to see either one of the holiday specials, their "Jewish education is incomplete. The series has received several accolades for its Jewish themes.
The controversy erupted when a Rugrats comic strip was published, featuring Boris in a synagogue reciting the Mourner's Kaddish. The ADL issued a statement saying that the design resembled Nazi-era depictions of Jews, and the fact that the character was reciting the sacred prayer perverted its solemnity.
The Washington Post, the newspaper who published the strip, issued a similar statement in their Editor's Note section, criticizing Nickelodeon for not showing better judgment in editing the strip. On Passover, he showed minimal interest in the holiday and ended up leading a dry and unenthusiastic seder. For Chanukah, Stu wants to redeem himself in the eyes of his wife and son. I also appreciate that they spell Chanukah the correct way. Holidays aside, how did we get our Jewish fix on Rugrats for the rest of the year?
I find that there is something endearing about old couples, so this much screen time for Boris and Minka is a real treat.
They constantly fight throughout the episode, but in the end they demonstrate their unwavering love for one another. Their thick-accented dialogue is peppered with all sorts of Yiddishisms, like fakata , tchotchke , and tatela. Minka even asks Boris if he hurt his shmegegge which we assume the writers subtly meant his penis. After the Passover and Chanukah specials, the show did not spend much more time building the Jewish world of the Pickles family.
Instead, Rugrats honed in on other important things, like how many diaper jokes they could include per minute. The next time that Rugrats explored Judaism was not in the show itself, but in its spinoff series All Grown Up , where the kids have aged from babies to preteens. After production of the Passover episode wrapped, the crew returned to the Chanukah idea.
Nickelodeon broadcast "A Rugrats Chanukah" on December 4, ; the episode received a Nielsen rating of 7. Along with other Rugrats episodes featuring Boris and his wife, the special attracted controversy when the Anti-Defamation League compared the character designs to anti-Semitic drawings from a s Nazi newspaper. The babies imagine that they are the story's characters; Judah Tommy is outraged by King "Antonica" Angelica , who has taken over the Jewish kingdom and forced Greek culture on its inhabitants.
Judah leads an army of Jewish Maccabees to war against Antonica's Seleucid Empire , emerging victorious. The story is left unfinished as Minka stops to help make latkes in the kitchen with her daughter Didi. Meanwhile, Grandpa Boris is furious Schlomo, a rival from his youth in Russia, is pictured in the local newspaper for playing the Greek king in the local synagogue's Hanukah play, where Boris is portraying Judah.
The babies find out about Schlomo and form the impression that he truly is the Greek king, whom they dub the "Meany of Chanukah". At the play that night, they attempt to storm on stage to defeat the "Meany of Chanukah", but are stopped and taken into the synagogue's nursery. Angelica is in the nursery already and, vehement in her desire to watch a Christmas special that is airing that night, convinces the babies to help her break out and steal a television set from the custodian's office.
Boris and Schlomo begin fighting on stage during the play, interrupting the production and inciting an intermission.
Backstage, Schlomo and Boris argue once more, with Boris mentioning Schlomo's dedication to his business pursuits over familial values. Schlomo informs Boris that he had a wife who died before baring him children, making Boris feel sympathy for his rival.
Angelica sprints backstage, bumping into Schlomo and inadvertently destroying the television set. Schlomo unsuccessfully tries to console her, but eventually lets Boris take over. Tommy hands Schlomo the Hanukkah story book Minka read to the babies earlier; Boris convinces Schlomo to read it to the children. In the conclusion of the story, the Maccabees rededicate the Holy Temple, and discover that there is only enough oil to light the Temple's eternal flame for one day; miraculously, it remains lit for eight.
Schlomo's reciting dissolves both the babies' assertion of him as the "Meany of Chanukkah" and his and Boris' rivalry. Nickelodeon executives pitched the idea of making a Hanukah special to the Rugrats production team in Paul Germain , the show's co-creator, responded with a Passover special instead, as he considered it to be a "funny idea" [ 3 ] and of "historical interest".
Christmas plays a significant part in the Hanukkah episode. Everyone knows the story of Christmas. Nick was specifically the first network exclusively for kids, period. Other networks like ABC and NBC would provide programming for children and if it worked well in terms of ratings that was that. Meanwhile, Nick wanted to cast as wide a net as possible and prioritized diversity.
Nickelodeon encouraged the creators to talk about Judaism in their episodes and they did, though the writers and creators did sometimes backlash.
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