The Gedolim Cards
Some guy decided to make these “Gedolim cards.” Great. So naïve little me thought, “This is great. This is such a wholesome thing for these kids to get into instead of these perverted pointless baseball and basketball players. They can learn so much from the Gedolim, they’ll familiarize themselves with these important people…” I daydreamed.But once I heard how the system works, I wasn’t surprised, just disgusted. They are sold in a sealed package, so you have no idea which cards you are getting. You also get an album to fill. The guy made more of some cards, and very few of others, so these kids are forced to continue to buy and trade and extort, because who needs 10 of the same card? And you keep getting the same ones over and over. The goal is to be among the first 5 to complete the album. You turn in your album, and you win a free trip to Israel, a bicycle, a set of Sefarim…and other prizes.
This struck me rather strange. I would think the goal of this is to have the kids focus on people that truly contribute to society and Torah, and once they have the cards, they can learn more about them, and consider them role models. But this twist in the system is typical of the Jewish money-hungry mind. He makes the parents spend a lot of money buying packages of cards. The kids compete with one another. They aren’t collecting them for the right reasons. They only want them so they can turn them in (which is defeating the purpose) for a prize.
That doesn't make any sense to me. He's abusing the fact that the Yeshivish community is more willing to spend money on Jewish themed products. So these mothers are shelling out the big bucks...and it's completely against what it stand for itself. These Gedolim are for simple lives, involved in Torah-not immersed in materialism and all that. I just don't get it.
posted by Michelle @ 6:07 PM
17 Comments:
You might be interested in my recent post on this topic. Orthomom has written about it as well...
http://israeligum.blogspot.com/2006/02/nachas-note-from-rebbi.html
Check out my two posts on this subject.
You are overthinking it Michelle. This is America, its called capitalism and there are far worse things they could be spending their $ on..
I too am trying to understand why people are crying out loud that the producer of the cards is making a killing. He capitalized on an idea that would appeal to a sub-set of Orthodox parents and modeled his idea after other collectible cards. It is the parents who need to control their children's spending. I don't see why a person can't make money off selling a religious game using a well-known method (the same one used by every other collectible card manufactuer).
he wants to rape out our money
"I don't see why a person can't make money off selling a religious game using a well-known method (the same one used by every other collectible card manufactuer)."
-- I agree with sephardilady, especially because otherwise, the kids will spend money on stuff that's much much worse.
Know It All-Thank you for clearly enumerating and clarifying my argument. You elaborated and explained it better than I could have.
About the prizes-I am not totally sure-but I know the top 5 are the biggest prizes.
Ugh, the thought of this is getting on my last nerve.
AMD-
I agree with a lot of what you say (I don't have particular problem with Torah themed cards, or capitalism for that matter) but I do take issue with this:
And again, the idea here isn't that the kids should hoard gedolim cards. Rather, it's to get them interested in gedolim.
What aspect of Gedolim are kids learning about by trading cards? At best it is not very educational, and it seems kind of superficial to me. Gedolim don't have stats like baseball players do, so I can't imagine that there is much conversation among kids about the different Gedolim.
If you haven't read Orthomom's take on this: http://orthomom.blogspot.com/2006/01/gedolim-gripes.html
She identifies the real problem with these cards.
AMD-talk about fantasy land-this will lead kids to share???
MGA's story was one in a million, whereas the opposite situation is much more common.
I am still with Know It All on this one.
And the kids in MGA's story, apparently, were very well-raised kids, long before these cards ever came out.
Are we talking about the same 3rd grade? :)
Seriously, I will agree that these kids were a bit different because of the Rebbe they have this year. The story I told was just one of many similar things that have happened this year. This is a Rebbe that the kids really look up to and identify with. Which proves the point I want to make:
You can't blame the cards. You can only blame yourselves. If you think it's the cards that is the problem, well then, there are deeper problems. If a Rebbe talks about Gedolim and if parents give the proper kavod when talking about, and if you tell stories about these gedolim, then the kids really do treasure them.
My son learns with Rav Pam's son and I can't even describe how excited he gets when he adds a new Rav Pam sticker to his book -- because he can identify with it. And when I tell over a story that I heard from my Rav or read in a book somewhere, my son will exclaim that he has that Gadol in his book.
So as a parent, you choose how your son looks at things. He usually will see things the way do (and how you react to them). And if he's lucky enough to have a great Rebbe in yeshiva who continues to drive values and derech eretz, then you can't ask for anything more.
Why is it that some parents have such a hard time setting limits, especially when they have such a seemingly easy time keeping chumrot?
Sephardilady-You have hit on one of my "pending" pieces which is REALLY complicated, and I haven't even thought out completely-let alone start to write. But i believe most women with the chumros who are sincere are not the ones who have trouble putting limits on their children. It's the parents of those collecting baseball cards and X-Box 360 games who have the hard time. You know what I mean?
i've heard all the negatives on this issue, i just wanted to share my experience with gedolim cards. i give each of my boys (first and third grade) a pack of cards each week as positive reinforcement for learning everyday with me. when we open the packs we discuss the gedolim, their seforim and a if i know any stories of them, i share them with my boys. i have had a VERY positive experience with these cards. we recently went to a chasana and when my boys saw one of the gedolim, it was extra meaningful because they knew about him from our discussions.
stuck in high school--you are one in a million. If everyone was like you, the world would be different.
Despite your level-headed way of deling with this, you do not change the guy's greedy intentions, which are: TO MAKE MONEY. There are still those out there to fill the album. If he had the same intentions as you, he would have produced equal numbers of each card.
"greedy intentions"
I don't think it is at all fair to label the producer of the cards as greedy. He is trying to make a living to and is using a business model that is well-known. No one expects to get a rare baseball card everytime that they buy a Topp's pack, nor do they expect to win the lotto everytime they buy a lotto ticket. So, why do they expect this man to conduct his business in a less profitable way? I imagine he has expenses too and I can't see that he is doing anything immoral since he is not promising that one will be able to collect all the cards.
The only issue that these cards pose for the kids is pulling them into a game of chance. Hopefully he consulted a Rav regarding this. But, just like all other games of chance, the parents need to be weary and the schools should have never introduced the game into their schools initially because it is well known that boys take to collectible cards.
i'm not sure why the intentions of the originator are relevant. publisher publish books to make money, we chose which books to read to our kids, regardless of how lishaim shamayim they were written or published. many things in life could be used in a positive or not such a positive way. we choose how to use them. just because someone sells rebbi cards to make a profit, or some kids misuse the rebbi cards doesnt make it a bad thing.
As long as any man exists,there is some need of him;let him fight for his own.
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