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Moscow Circus Monkeys Around

With Jews-as-primates imagery

by
Ari M. Brostoff
July 13, 2009
(Ynetnews.com)
(Ynetnews.com)

One of Russia’s most venerable circuses appears to be sticking to its 19th-century roots in at least one current act: a “Jewish wedding” starring a troupe of monkeys. According to an offended Israeli audience member, men dressed as Hasids led four monkeys dressed as a bride, groom, and proud parents onto the stage and under a chuppah, where they enacted the traditional nuptials. The audience member took the issue to the Israeli embassy, which shrugged it off as a case of “bad taste and/or poor humor.” And the circus’s response? “They have also been dressed in traditional Russian clothing and sang, ‘How drunk I am,’ but no one complained,” an official said.

Ari M. Brostoff is Culture Editor at Jewish Currents.