Jerusalem Post cartoonist Yaakov Kirschen, creator of Dry Bones, Israel’s
longest-running comic strip, has announced the launch of The Dry Bones Passover
Haggada project on Kickstarter, the world’s largest crowd-funding platform for
creative projects.
Kirschen hopes to raise $5,000 to create the new
Haggada.
“The Passover Haggada is the story of the birth of the Jewish
people, the exodus from the land of Egypt, and our relationship to the Land of
Israel, so it’s a natural fit for Dry Bones,” Kirschen said. “Even the first
identifiably Jewish joke can be found in the story of the Exodus: ‘Are there no
graves in Egypt, that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?’ Exodus
14:11,” he said.
Creating a Dry Bones Haggada has been a long-held dream
for Kirschen.
“I always thought of it as a personal project and so it got
put on hold, time and time again. Then I saw that this year could be ‘different
from all other years,’ the year that I would fulfill my dream. I could use
Kickstarter to reach out globally to fans of Dry Bones to make the Haggada a
reality. The Jewish community is spread out across the world but we’re all on
the Internet.”
Funding through Kickstarter works on an all-or-nothing
basis. Project creators set a funding goal and deadline.
Interested
funders pledge money; if the project reaches its goal, the backers’ credit cards
are charged. If the project falls short, no one is charged. If successful, the
backers are rewarded for their pledges, no matter how small.
The Dry
Bones Passover Haggada project will close on November 16.