Dry Bones

When I learned Yaacov Kirschen had passed away, I was deeply saddened. Yaacov’s Dry Bones comics were my favorites. I loved reading the strip in The Jerusalem Post. I even bought a Dry Bones Haggadah, which I proudly read on Passover. I bought Dry Bones coffee mugs for my friends on Hanukkah, and I love drinking my morning brew from my Shuldig mug. I loved Shuldig (a portly middle-aged Israeli with an almost completely bald head except for three black hairs on each side of his head) and his dog Doobie (A lovable smart-ass mutt with black fur ring around one of his eyes, long black ears and a long snout with a black button nose. Doobie wore a bright red collar.)

Dry Bones made me laugh and think.

So, in honor of Yaacov Krischen, I have written the words for today’s Dry Bones comic strip. You’ll have to draw the frames in your heads.

Shuldig and Doobie sit at the kitchen table as Shuldig breaks two matzos into a blue and white bowl. “Doobie, I’m making your favorite treat, matzo brei.”

Doobie wags his tail, for he loves listening to the sound of matzo cracking. And as Shuldig’s plump fingers cracked the matzos into tiny pieces, he yells, “Kanye West, you dumb black antisemite, you Hitler-loving pea-brained Nazi, if I ever see you I’ll break your neck and all the bones in your body the same way I’m crushing these matzos.” Shuldig then hears his silver stainless steel kettle whistling. He pours the hot water in the bowl, and as he pours, he exclaims, “Kanye, may your blood boil and may your white bones end up in the Valley of Dry Bones.”

Doobie looks into Shuldig’s eyes and says, “Shuldig, you make one hell of a mean matzo brei.”

My dear Yaacov, you were a mensch and a true practitioner of Tikkun Olam. As long as people enjoy your cartoons, your memory will be a blessing. I will miss you.