Israeli cartoonist Yaakov Kirschen passed away on Monday at 87 at the Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba, following a lengthy illness.
The famed cartoonist, known for Dry Bones, has been published by many leading newspapers in both Israel and the Diaspora - including The Jerusalem Post, which was the first to enjoy publishing Kirschen’s work in January of 1973.
"Bones, as his friends and colleagues called him, was a wonderful artist and satirist who always hit the nail on the head with his cartoons," former Post editor-in-chief Steve Linde shared. "He really was a national treasure."
Hirsh Goodman, The Jerusalem Report's founder and former Editor-in-Chief, shared: "Kirschen, as 'Bones' as we called him after his iconic cartoon, was one of the most diversely creative people I have known. In addition to being able to sum up complicated situations of the day in a small box with few words, he created computer games before many had even heard of the word, a timeless book named Trees still relevant today, years later, and a wonderful rendition of the Haggadah, word perfect and faithful to the original text, but unique in its approach and illustration.
"While some, including myself, were not always aligned politically with his thinking, there was never any doubting his deep intelligence and creativity. As a friend, colleague, and astute observer, he will be deeply missed."
A long and successful career
The artist had received much recognition for his works, including the Nefesh B’Nefesh Bonei Zion Award and The Golden Pencil Award.
He studied art at Queens College and became a cartoonist after he graduated in 1961.
Beyond his extensive works published by Jewish and Israeli newspapers and syndicates, Kirschen had drawn for the controversial men’s lifestyle Playboy magazine before he made aliyah from Brooklyn in 1971.
Beyond being a talented artist, Kirschen was deeply passionate about Jewish activism. In 2010, the world-renowned Yale University published his article entitled “Memetics and the Viral Spread of Antisemitism through 'Coded Images in Political Cartoons.'"
"At the beginning of the study, it became apparent that the cartoons that are the most undeniably antisemitic can be recognized even if they are in a language that the observer cannot read," he prefaced his work with. "The graphic images themselves speak clearly without the words of the cartoon, as many of the same powerfully communicative images appear over and over again in the work of different cartoonists. They are like a familiar cast of characters."
"For more than forty years, I have been putting ideas into people’s heads. It is what I do. I am a political cartoonist," he wrote. "Some of my cartoonist colleagues define the purpose of our work as showing the 'truth,' others as 'expressing our opinion,' but the fact is that what we do is to attempt to put our own ideas into other people’s heads… and we use cartoons to do it."
Kirschen is survived by his artist wife, Sali Ariel, three children, and eight grandchildren.