NEWSRAEL EDITOR: As a teen growing up in Israel, "Dry Bones" was one of my Zionist heroes. Later on, we became friends. Israel has lost one of the most famous Anglos in Israeli history - a man with a huge heart and a great Zionist who loved and laughed at our society in the same breath.
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.
(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.