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Simchat Torah

Dry Bones cartoon by Yaakov Kirschen.

Dry Bones Simchat Torah
Credit: Yaakov (DryBones) Kirschen.

One aspect of this “Joy in the Torah” holiday is the tradition of dancing while holding the Torah.

In Chabad Chassidic thought, dancing with the Torah allows the Jew to symbolically act as the Torah’s “feet.’' For hasn’t it been our mission to carry the Torah to the farthest corners of our dispersion?

So the dance is either an act of joy or a deep and serious metaphor.

Or maybe both.

Political cartoonist Yaakov Kirschen grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., made aliyah to Israel in 1971 and began drawing “Dry Bones” in January 1973. The internationally syndicated, award-winning cartoons ran in The Jerusalem Post for 50 years. They were reprinted in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, TIME and other mainstream media publications. The “Dry Bones” story has been covered by CBS, CNN and Forbes, among other outlets. He was a member of America’s National Cartoonists Society and the Israeli Cartoonists Society. Kirschen died at 87 on April 14, 2025.
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