Thread by @Mottel

In terms of other things that were due today though perhaps not as momentous:
My profile on MAD's Al Jaffee (and other comic legends!) decades long partnership with @chaba dropped today!

https://twitter.com/Chabad/status/1281267978550611968

When he put down his pencil last month at the age of 99, the creator of the Fold-In spoke to me about his masterful work on The Moshiach Time's hero: the Shpy!

"The Shpy wasn’t just some superhero. I had to draw a character I could get into. I really put myself into [him].”

In 1980 the Rebbe launched Tzivos Hashem, his youth organization. The cover of the flagship magazine,The Moshiach Times, was sent to him for editing.

For example, the Rebbe wanted to make sure that every cover had a girl on it, not just a boy.

In a note to the editors: “It’s not fitting that people should be drawn with unnaturally oversized bodies & cartoonishly large noses, even though that style is common. ” It was a “huge educational mistake.”
He didn't want children to laugh at how others looked.

The Shpy was there from the beginning someone that the children could identify with.

The original artist drew a man in a trenchcoat with a full beard and a fedora. He looked not unlike a Chabad rabbi.
chabad.org/news/article_c…

David Masinter, a rabbinical student from South Africa who joined the Tzivos Hashem team in 1983, thought the magazine could use an even more contemporary touch to reach a wider audience, and his colleagues agreed.
He went to Al Feldstein of MAD for names

chabad.org/news/article_c…

Feldstein introduced them to Dave Berg, also of MAD, Joe Kubert, an accomplished artist for DC and Marvel, and Al Jaffee.

Berg and Kubert were traditional Jews. Kubert actually joined after his father told him to. . . in a dream!
"Yossel, helf zei arois - Yossel help them!"

Al Jaffee however, was a more surprising catch.
He spent his childhood shuttled between America and Lithuania. He told me how he first used his artistic talent to decorate lamps for Simchat Torah. It was the highlight of his year.
chabad.org/news/article_c…

It wasn't always so easy for Al. His mother's "ultra religiosity," which shlepped him repeatedly from America to Zarasai, Lithuania - and cost her life when she didn't leave before the Holocaust - was deeply painful for him.
He'd argue with Berg and others at MAD about religion

In many ways, working with Chabad, giving a face to the Shpy, was a cathartic experience for him. And through it he inspired countless children to grow as Jews.
chabad.org/news/article_c…

Just look at these brilliant and hilarious elements he added to the art he made!

If you look at the Shpy's face you'll notice it doesn't look unlike Jaffee's own self portrait he embeds in his signature at times.
"I want to be the Shpy" held told me.
chabad.org/news/article_c…

When his hands trembled with age, he began illustrating with both hands—holding a pencil in his right hand while steadying it with his left.
chabad.org/news/article_c…

There so much more in this article - about Jewish tragedy and healing and humor and art.

I really hope you read it and share it!
chabad.org/news/article_c…

(Videos taken a few years back)

How Cartoonist Al Jaffee Found His Inner Jewish Superhero

The 99-year-old illustrator’s not-so-secret identity as creator of the Shpy, hero to generations of children

chabad.org/news/article_c…

@jack - see autocorrect messed up the handle @Chabad here. I'd love to be able to *edit* it and fix it