Rabbi Cards Are Rage Among Orthodox Youth

They’re more than twice the size of baseball cards, come four to a pack and show faces considerably older than the average sports hero. But even without bubble gum, rabbi cards are the rage among Orthodox Jewish youngsters.

“I used to collect baseball cards,” said Meyer Brull, 12. “I gave them up after a while. I gave them to my brother. These are more interesting.”

His brother, Yossi, 10, agreed.

“They’re something different from baseball cards. My teacher used to give out pictures if you were good in class. So I got a lot that way.”

36 Religious Leaders

Like their counterparts in the baseball world, rabbi cards are collected by youngsters--and some adults--who buy them by the pack and trade to get pictures of all 36 of the Orthodox religious leaders featured thus far.

The card back includes the rabbi’s place and date of birth, schooling and other facts in both English and Hebrew.

In Judaism, rabbis are teachers as well as spiritual leaders, and in closely knit Orthodox communities they are usually revered role models.

The cards, produced by Torah Publications, are the brainchild of Arthur B. Shugarman. More than 300,000 cards from the first series have been sold since their introduction last August, and a second series will be out in about a week, said Shugarman, 34, an accountant who lives in Baltimore and works in suburban Towson.

Profits Lower Costs

Torah Publications is nonprofit, and any money it makes probably will be used to lower costs for the next series of cards, Shugarman said.

“It’s for the children,” said Shugarman, the father of two young daughters. “It’s educational.”

Shugarman said the next five-card pack is expected to sell for 99 cents. The current four-card packs cost 79 cents in most locations. They are sold at religious goods stores throughout the United States and Canada and in some European countries, he said.