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Eli Valley is finishing his first novel. His column, “Comics Rescued From a Burning Synagogue in Bialystok and Hidden in a Salt Mine Until After the War,” appears monthly in The Forward. His Web site is www.evcomics.com.
Scroll down to view a slideshow of Eli Valley’s photographic inspirations for some of the panels:
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Thanks for Eli Valley's work -- a cartoon is definitely worth a thousand words.
I do hope these appear in the paper, not just on the web.
Valley's work offers hate, stereotypes and even a touch of anti-semitism to vilify those he disagrees with and to justify his positions.
Yeah, he hates Jewishness. He's unsettled particularly by Chareidi no longer being anti-Israel. What's wrong with Ir Zion temale & Ivneh ha-Mikdash?
It seems real easy to say he "hates Jewishness". Unfortunately it's equally easy to claim you didn't even read the comic. To reiterate: the dude got assaulted by a thug at an Israel Day parade. He saw people chanting that Arabs must die, in coincision with pro-Israel statements. Worst of all, he saw Jews arguing with other Jews about who was the really, truly "Jewish."
Or maybe you're just playing a clever joke into his stereotype? Claiming to know the ultimate truth? I don't, and I'd rather throw my lot in with Eli.
I understand Valley's desire to distance himself from the Jews he encounters at the Israel Day parade. However, in distinguishing himself temporally (as an "earlier breed of Jew'), he indulges in the same myths he usually so cleverly exposes and critiques. Earlier, when? Jewish history (both ancient and modern) is rife with "thugs" who resort to violence. David Assaf's recent work on the tensions between early hasidic sects is just one example.
I have been to numerous Israel Day Parades, and I have never heard death calls for Arabs. I wonder what would happen if one showed up at an anti-Israel rally proclaiming that one belives in the Jews... Politics is a thug game, but we Jews have too many enemies to have the luxury of non-chalant "dog-walking" away from the conflict. We must be careful that we don't cast our lot with those who want to destroy us regardless whether we are haredi or secular.
Mr Smythe:
1. Eli Valley looks like Ira Glass, who happens to be something of a sexy symbol.
2. The difference between Eli Valley and Goebbels is this: one had to fabricate horrible lies about us Jews, while the other unfortunately had to observe horrible truths about us at an Israel Day Parade, of all things.
I can validate the latter because I saw them too.
Eli:
Your "photo essay" assumes that the Truth is always to be found in the extremes. Somewhere between the "not one inch" crowd at the concert and the marginal lunatics of Neturei Karta is a vast Jewish polity. Perhaps some of them were even among the hundreds of thousands actually marching in the parade, which seemed not to have captured your attention. That's not to say you wouldn't have found some of the marchers equally appalling -- in fact, you might have found some fairly violent and ultra-nationalist voices among the kids from suburban day schools. In some ways that would have been more interesting: Every religion has its crazies; the question is how much of the craziness has become part of the mainstream.
Keep it up, Eli. It's great to see you grow as a cartoonist, and as a human. I loved the last image -- glad you found peace amongst the furor.
I didn't realize I was so well-known.
The Forward again censors comments that criticize nazis who claim to be Jewish. Eli is an anti-semitic pro-terrorist nazi who supports the destruction of Israel. David Duke cartoons depicting Jews are less offensive. Erin is well-known in the Jewish blogsphere because she's a nazi who attacks Israel and supports the murder of Jews. It's not surprising that this piece of trash is a fan of Eli. The Forward has reached a new low, publishing nazi cartoons and nazi comments. Hitler would be proud.
Where is the real picture of the guy you punched, or did you make that part up?
I think my earlier comments, likening Eli Valley's Jews to those found in Der Sturmer, is having an effect. Notice how Eli made the "Kahane Was Right" guy's nose smaller than in real life?
I fully approve of Eli Valley's cartoons because he sees Juden the same way I see Juden. I wish I could give him the title "Herr Valley", but since he is a Juden too, he cannot be called "Herr". I normally dont approve of anything Juden do, but the fact that even a Juden can come to the same conclusion as a staunch National Socialist like myself is proof of the veracity of my conclusions
Robert Crumb meets Art Spiegelman, I love it! Pay no attention to the shtetl, Eli. Their not used to having their crap-stained underwear laundered in public.
Kol HaKavod L'Cha
Shoded Yam
I read Valley's comics and what always comes through, after the bravado and the posturing, is fear. He's still that pintele yid, stuck in the ghetto, dependent on the whims of the goyim for his life and his livelihood. In that respect, Valley is a mere mirror image of those he castigates in his comics. They fear the destructive effect of their sons marrying hot shiksas, he fears hot shiksas won't want to be with him. They fear the threats that face Israel from a hostile world, he fears the threats that face his cushy diaspora life from goyim annoyed by Jewish particularism. Ultimately, militant secularists like Valley will always be filled with self loathing, for their kind sprang from the very loins of those he hates. Not only that, but they need those fundamentalist assholes, for without them there would be no off the derech cosmopolitan "smarter than you" Jews like Valley, because everyone knows, that kind of Judaism is simply not sustainable. Generation after generation, secular Jews fade away into the morass of assimilation, and more join their ranks from the traditional Jews that they hate. And they think they're so clever and so original and so smart. They're not. They're predictable and banal. Like Valley's comics.
Hmm...
Predictable and banal. I'll take that over constantly being surprised by the despicable nature of Jewish racism.
Oh, wait. Particularism. My bad.