Is That Kosher?

"Is That Kosher?"
Season/Series:	12
Number in season:	1a
Original Airdate:	October 6, 2008 January 23, 2009 April 7, 2009 November 15, 2012
Credits
Written by:	Allan Neuwirth
Storyboard by:	Robert Yap
Episodes
Previous "Big Brother Binky"	Next "Never, Never, Never"
Read transcript

"Is That Kosher?" is the first half of the first episode in the twelfth season of Arthur.

Summary

Francine makes a bet with Catherine of fasting through Yom Kippur with her family, but Arthur's pizza party is on the same day.

Plot

At the beginning, Francine's family gets ready for the biggest Jewish holiday; yom kippur. Catherine makes Francine dust the furniture. She thinks she has it all hard, but Catherine says she has it harder by fasting. Francine thinks she can fast better than Catherine so they both make a bet. Then Bubby arrives and greets everyone. After that she takes the feather duster out of Francine's hand.

At school, Muffy is surprised that Francine's family won't drink or eat on Yom Kippur, Arthur mentioning afterwards that his Turkish pen-pal, Adil Akyuz, also fasts an entire month during Ramadan. Arthur gives Francine Adil's e-mail address, which is follow by Buster eating Francine's desert to help her train. At home, Arthur gets a call from Pizza Paula's, saying he is having a pizza party with his friends and they will be taking a picture of everyone eating the pizza. Arthur sends an e-mail to Francine about the pizza party.

Francine is excited, but remembered she made a bet with Catherine with fasting on Saturday. She goes to Bubby and hangs her head. Bubby thinks Francine is sick so she gets a thermometer, but Francine says Arthur is having a pizza party on Yom Kippur and that it is too late to change the date. Catherine tells Francine that she wouldn't be able to fast on Saturday, but Francine tells her that as long as Catherine's not eating, she's not eating.

At the Congregation Shaaray Shalom, Francine tells Catherine that she is going to be able to fast. Her father compliments her and she sticks her tongue out at Catherine. The next day is Yom Kippur and Francine wakes up not hungry at all, making her think that it is going be easy. But Catherine, who is brushing her hair nearby, gives expressions that relate to food, which Francine simply ignores while stating that she will be able to fast. At the synagogue, her stomach growls and makes Bubby think a dog is in the temple, so the pair goes home.

At home, Francine watches TV, but all the shows have food advertisements. She decides to read, only to find that most of the books have titles relating to food, but Francine finds "Little Dorrit" by Charles Dickens. However, while she reads, the sentences have food listed so the lies back with her stomach growling. Then she e-mails Adil for advice and he says that during Ramadan, he tries not to think about food by visiting friends.

Francine thinks Arthur and his friends are done with the pizza so she visits him for company. It turned out that Arthur had pizza in his hand. Arthur invites Francine in and sees everyone eating pizza. Soon, it was time to take pictures of everyone eating pizza. The camera lady gives a slice of pizza and Francine accidentally devours some of the slice, shocking her friends. As she walks home, Francine imagines Catherine and Bubbie have found out she ate on Yom Kippur, which is represented by little angels with their heads on the sun. She goes disappointingly until she finds Bubbie eating a sandwich on Yom Kippur—Francine's surprised by this, and Bubbie explains that there are certain exceptions to the rule for fasting (like you shouldn't fast on Yom Kippur if it endangers your health). Bubbie also figures out that Francine must have eaten some pizza at Arthur's party after seeing a mushroom stuck to the front of her shirt.

Francine's still upset with herself about what happened, but Bubbie assures her that it's no big deal—though certainly proud of her for trying, Bubbie explains to Francine that she's actually not required to fast on Yom Kippur until she's 13, so it really isn't a big deal that she ended up eating something. Francine then sees Catherine in the kitchen, initially thinking she's eating something, but it turns out that she's making cake for the holiday. Catherine, like Bubbie, assures Francine that it's not big deal she ended up eating something on Yom Kippur, admitting that she herself didn't make it through her first fast on Yom Kippur after she turned 13.

In the end, no one in Francine's family ends up fasting and the family ends up having pizza for dinner. Bubby, like in the scene where she accuses Francine of failing to fast in the cloud like an angel, says grandfather would be so proud of Francine and Catherine before the end of the episode.

Characters

• Francine Frensky
• Catherine Frensky
• Laverne Frensky
• Oliver Frensky
• Bubby
• Arthur Read
• Buster Baxter
• Muffy Crosswire
• The Brain
• Binky Barnes
• Adil Akyuz
• Luke (cameo)
• George Lundgren (cameo)
• Maria Pappas (cameo)
• Alex (cameo)
• Jane Read (cameo)
• Jenna Morgan (cameo)
• Sue Ellen Armstrong (cameo)
• Nigel Ratburn (cameo)
• Mrs. Tibble (cameo)
• Unknown Male Adult Rabbit (Number 3) (cameo)
• Bubby's husband (mentioned)

Trivia

• While Jews fast for a full day (sundown to sundown) on Yom Kippur, Muslims like Adil fast during the day (sunrise till sundown), every day, during the month of Ramadan.
• The pizza Mr. and Mrs. Frensky buy seems to have sausage on it. Mixing dairy products (cheese) and meat is not considered kosher. However, not all Jews follow the kashrut (the set of Jewish dietary laws). In fact, only about 20% of American Jews actually keep kosher.
• This is the first episode where Dallas Jokic and Lyle O'Donohoe voice Arthur and The Brain, respectively.
• This is also the first episode to be animated by Animation Services HK instead of AKOM.
• Joan Rivers makes her first appearance as Bubby.
• When Bubby talks to Francine, she mentions that Francine isn't required to fast until she's 13 years old, meaning that Francine and her family practice Reform Judaism.
• The main image is in 16:9 wide-screen this is a rare time season 1-15 (13 outside the US) to have widescreen.
• Timeline: The pizza party that Arthur had in this episode is mentioned in "Grandpa Dave's Memory Album."
• Moral: Don't do stuff you are too young for.

Errors

• Bubby says Francine has to go wait until 13 to fast. In reality you have to be 12 to fast.
• When Francine says to the other Francine "But why would I want to keep myself from eating?", the other Francine's pants turn white.
• When the kids pose for a picture at the pizza party, they face the viewer as if the TV is the camera, but the actual camera is shown in the scene, angled to the left on the right side.

Cultural references

• The books Francine pulls out are real books, namely Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Food of the Gods, Who Moved My Cheese, and Little Dorrit.

Gallery

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