Dare to Dress: Cross-Dressing and Intercultural Shifts within an Israeli Literary Children's Closet

Abstract

Abstract:This article suggests a new cultural reading of children's clothing in children's literature through a 2021 Hebrew picturebook, Swirl Dress (Śimlah mi[inline-graphic 33]ovevet; [inline-graphic 02]), written by Meira Firon and illustrated by Tamar Lev. Although this is a contemporary Israeli book, it deals with universal values such as accepting the "other," whether depicted in terms of skin color or gender identity. The story is analyzed from a cross-cultural perspective that connects it to an older poem, also with a clothing item: Kadia Molodowsky's Yiddish canonical poem "The Life of a Coat" ("Gilgulav shel Me'il"; "[inline-graphic 03]"), which was translated and adapted into Hebrew several times throughout the last century.