'Dry Bones' cartoonist Yaakov Kirschen dies at 87

by Steve Linde
April 14, 2025

Original posting on JNS

Considered "a national treasure of the Jewish people,"
the Brooklyn-born artist won the 2014 Nefesh B'Nefesh Bonei Zion Prize
for his contribution to Israeli culture.

Yaakov Kirschen at the drawing board in his home.
Photo by Sali Ariel

(April 14, 2025 / JNS) Israeli cartoonist Yaakov Kirschen, whose iconic daily cartoons were published by JNS for the last several years, died at Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba on Monday after a lengthy illness, aged 87.

After making aliyah in 1971, the Brooklyn-born Kirschen began sketching his trademark “Dry Bones” cartoons in 1973. The cartoon was internationally syndicated and published in The Jerusalem Post for 50 years, after which Kirschen moved to JNS.

The name of Kirschen’s comic strip referred to the biblical vision of the “Valley of Dry Bones,” with its main character named Shuldig, which is Yiddish for guilty/blame.

“The cartoon started on January 1, 1973,” he once explained. “I named it Dry Bones, thinking that everyone would immediately connect the name with the ‘dry bones’ that will rise again, from the Book of Ezekiel. But the question that I get asked most often is ‘Where does the name ‘Dry Bones’ come from?’ So what I thought would be most obvious was not obvious at all.”

A member of the U.S. National Cartoonists Society and the Israeli Cartoonists Society, Kirschen won several awards and was considered a “national treasure of the Jewish people.” Among the prizes he received were the Israeli Museum of Caricature and Comics’ Golden Pencil Award and the 2014 Nefesh B’Nefesh Bonei Zion Prize for his contribution to Israeli culture and the arts.

He is survived by his artist wife, Sali Ariel. Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.

With permission from his widow,
one final cartoon has been made,
using Yaakov's original drawings.





In case you want to donate and help his wife,
here is a link:
Donate to the Dry Bones project:
tiny.cc/3oncvz

Note by Jacob Richman:
Baruch Dayan Ha'emet
He brought smiles to many faces.
He will be missed.
May his memory be for a blessing.