Wisdom Wednesdays - Gali Girls

Welcome to Wisdom Wednesdays, where I take it upon myself to teach/educate my readers about a doll line. Let me just say beforehand if I come off as insensitive or offend anyone with, which I doubt I will but I just need to get this out of the way just in case, this post is not meant to attack anyone or anything because of religious beliefs. 
Sorry for the low-quality logo, it was the only one I could find. 

What are Gali Girls?



Well, they are, in the (now defunct - it redirects to an Amazon store) brand website's FAQ's words - 
"Gali Girls are the first Jewish dolls of their kind. Gali Girls represent Jewish values such as modesty, kindness, respect, and charity, among others. Gali Girls are modestly dressed in trendy shirts and skirts to distinguish them from most other dolls on the market that are dressed to accentuate their bodies."1

The word 'Gali' in Hebrew means jelly, wavy, undulant (having a rising and falling motion/appearance like waves) or Gallic. I doubt the last one because it isn't made up of the same letters as the Hebrew logo for the dolls, while the rest are. Thank you, Google Translate.

The dolls were thought up by Aliza Stein1,2 after a trip to the doll aisle of a toy store shocked her thanks to the abundance of scantily-clad, makeup wearing, boy loving dolls 1,3. Mrs. Stein came up with an idea to make dolls that would be perfect for Jewish girls learning about and connecting to their heritage. 

Gali Girls started selling in November 2004 1,2 (with the website first being up in September)4 and you could choose from three dolls at first and had your choice between Chanukah 4.2 ($5: comes with "decorate-your-own" dreidel and menorah)4.1 or Shabbat accessories 4.2 ($12: features candle, wine, decanter, cup, challah and challah cover that can all be painted) 4.1. The dolls are dressed in the three outfits available at the time - each one cleverly named: lavender outfit, the blue outfit and the pink outfit 4.3.




















In February 2005, they were joined by a 'redhead' Gali doll.4.4 She was $60, and came with a Hebrew and English name birth certificate, a bracelet for the girl and the doll. She came with the lavender outfit.

New items got added over time included the Queen Esther outfit 4.5, 2.1, and books and characters got added on later. 
By May 2006, Miriam's Journey was out 4.61 with a corresponding doll 14.7 and outfit that matched the illustration on the front cover 4.8 with promises of a new book featuring a Chinese-Jewish girl to come in July 2006 4.9 with a doll made by still up and running slim doll maker Carpatina 1.
Miriam with her outfit, credit - Dollation
Reyna, the aforementioned Chinese-Jewish doll.
Also in July of that year, the Gali Girls' modern line expanded to include an African American girl. 4.10 

 Starting on December 6th of 2008, Shosana (a Latin girl who moves to America) began to be sold 4.11 along with a corresponding book. 

The clothing offered almost always seems to be in the form of dresses. While not necessarily a bad thing, it's still a thing that has been noticed by more than one person.3 The following images come from the internet archive I found through the years - the pants suits that were offered have no images with them, so I can't show you what they look like. 
Lavender Gown
Pink Tartan Outfit



Plaid dress with green jacket
Apparently pants outfits were so seldom that they had their own tab on the GaliGirls website. 4.12 A multitude of sweaters were later made starting in 2011 4.13 that could be mixed and matched. 


Gali Girls also sold furniture at one point starting in 2009 - a doll bed, what sounds like a bedroom set with cabinets, bunk beds, a table and chairs. 4.14 A day bed, horse, wheelchair were added later. 4.15 The production of these items ended sometime between February and October 2012. 4.13
Canopy bed
Gali Girls' apparent marketing scheme was to point out how scantily clad Barbie is. 3 An animated video was posted on the site with the below image linking to it. Click the image if you wish to watch it for yourself.

In my honest opinion, it's an odd way to try and advertise your dolls. The narrator and animation make this ad seem like a parody of a doll company catering to a certain group. The stereotyped grandmother character seems out of place for a company like this.  I understand the point they were trying to make, but it just comes off wrong. Please note that that is just my opinion and is not meant to make fun, demean or belittle any person belonging to the Jewish faith. 

Sometime between January 2012 4.16 and June 2012 4.17, Gali Girls started to have a sale on their dolls. They used to be $35 but then got reduced to $25 or $30. Back in January, the brown-haired doll sold out and was never restocked. Clothing started to go on sale as well. 4.18 Shosana disappeared from the website sometime between January 2012 4.19 and April 2012 4.20. It could be because she sold out. The historical dolls also went on sale, jumping down from $55 to $45 4.20. The red-haired girls were the next two to sell out in between October 4.22 and February 2013, leaving only two blonde dolls and the African-American doll for sale at $25 4.21. By September of 2013, only the African-American doll was left 4.23 before the site went offline. 

Little is actually known about why Gali Girls ended. Blue, an author at A Doll's Day, e-mailed Aliza Stein and got this e-mail in response: "It’s been a wonderful 8 years, serving each and every one of you, hearing your stories, your amazing feedback, and your love for our modestly clad dolls and educational book series. We hope that in some way, shape, or form, we have inspired your children to “play the Jewish way.” I want to thank you all for your incredible support, words of wisdom, and even friendship. I will be eternally grateful.”2.2

Aliza went on to mention an Amazon store where she would be continuing to sell outfits and children's books named The Paradoxical Press 2.2. The store has apparently changed its name to Dolls n More and hasn't had a review since 2015 5. This is also the store that galigirls.com redirects to. 

To summarize: a quaint idea for a business ending up closing its doors. On one hand, it feels like Gali Dolls never stood a chance against the doll giants like American Girl (who have released dolls like Lindsey, the first Girl of the Year and Rebecca Rubin, a Historical doll from the year 1914). Yet on the other hand, I really liked the ideas explored by this brand. I never even thought there was a Hebrew minority in 1100s China. Other cultures/ideologies have always interested me. If I can get my hands on a copy of Reyna's book, I'll be sure to discuss it with you guys. 

If I could have any doll from this line, it would have to be Reyna. Even though she looks like Carpatina's Ana Ming doll, but with bangs. 

Sources
  1. http://www.justmagicdolls.com/meet/GaliGirls/galigirls.htm (I got the logo and Reyna pictures from here as well). 
  2. https://adollsday.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/end-of-the-line-for-gali-girls/ A blog that explains the downfall of Gali Girls in a little detail. 
    1. https://adollsday.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/gali_doll_girl_esther.jpg From another post reviewing Gali Girls' Leah
    2. https://adollsday.wordpress.com/tag/gali-girls/
  3. https://jwa.org/blog/gali-girls-ad-promotes-questionable-jewish-values This is a site about Jewish lifestyles. 
  4. https://web.archive.org/web/20040906025209/http://galigirls.com:80/ (The pictures of the dolls offered come from this page). 
    1. https://web.archive.org/web/20041018080649/http://www.galigirls.com:80/generalaccessories.html
    2. https://web.archive.org/web/20041013234520/http://www.galigirls.com:80/Gali2.html
    3. https://web.archive.org/web/20041018075809/http://www.galigirls.com:80/clothing.html
    4. https://web.archive.org/web/20050213044649/http://www.galigirls.com:80/Gali4.html
    5. https://web.archive.org/web/20060117183736/http://www.galigirls.com:80/clothing.html
    6. https://web.archive.org/web/20060524190728/http://www.galigirls.com/Miriambook.html 
    7. https://web.archive.org/web/20060507055404/http://www.galigirls.com/Miriamdoll.html 
    8. https://web.archive.org/web/20060507055147/http://www.galigirls.com:80/miriamoutfit.html
    9. https://web.archive.org/web/20060507055102/http://www.galigirls.com:80/Reyna.html
    10. https://web.archive.org/web/20070703122752/http://www.galigirls.com:80/index.php?cPath=48
    11. https://web.archive.org/web/20080622174435/http://www.galigirls.com:80/product_info.php?products_id=268
    12. https://web.archive.org/web/20080622132151/http://www.galigirls.com:80/index.php?cPath=51_72
    13. https://web.archive.org/web/20111106051233/http://www.galigirls.com/clothes-dolls-coats-sweaters-c-51_66.html
    14. https://web.archive.org/web/20120213165112/http://www.galigirls.com:80/doll-furniture-c-80.html
    15. https://web.archive.org/web/20111007023435/http://www.galigirls.com/galigirlsmovie.html
    16. https://web.archive.org/web/20120108023848/http://www.galigirls.com:80/gali-girls-c-48.html 
    17. https://web.archive.org/web/20120619152101/http://www.galigirls.com:80/gali-girls-c-48.html
    18. https://web.archive.org/web/20121025010810/http://www.galigirls.com/clothes-dolls-c-51.html
    19. https://web.archive.org/web/20120108023925/http://www.galigirls.com:80/historical-gali-girls-c-49.html
    20. https://web.archive.org/web/20120403201338/http://www.galigirls.com/historical-gali-girls-c-49.html
    21. https://web.archive.org/web/20130213214005/http://www.galigirls.com:80/gali-girls-c-48.html
    22. https://web.archive.org/web/20121025011027/http://www.galigirls.com/gali-girls-c-48.html
  5. https://www.amazon.com/sp?_encoding=UTF8&asin=&isAmazonFulfilled=&isCBA=&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER&orderID=&seller=A1W7R25982LSJF&tab=&vasStoreID=

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