Graphic novel tells emotional tale of Jews in 1930s aimed at modern audience

Judessey is a fast-moving and attention-grabbing tale, not without moments of real emotion, told in a series of vivid hand-drawn pictures, embellished with speech bubbles.

By NEVILLE TELLER NOVEMBER 4, 2024 03:00

NAZI LEADER Adolf Hitler inspects troops at Prague Castle in 1939. (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Judessey is a graphic novel. That term may be unfamiliar to some. It is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “A story that is presented in comic-strip format and published as a book.” The earliest use of the term “graphic novel” was in 1964, but it was 1978 before the first works specifically categorized as graphic novels were published. 

The origins of the format go back to the early 19th century. Its development history takes in the emergence of comic strips, and later gathering a number together and publishing them in book form. The iconic Adventures of Tintin is a prime example. But it was only in the middle of the 20th century that a number of authors began to write full-scale literary works specifically conceived in graphic form. 

Shay Charka is in this company. His Judessey is a novel written primarily for the adolescent market but to be enjoyed by a much wider readership. If the title is at first somewhat puzzling, it unpacks to mean an odyssey with a Jewish theme. 

Charka was born in Israel in 1967. A cartoonist, caricaturist, illustrator, and comics artist, he works for the Israeli newspaper Makor Rishon, which publishes his work weekly. In addition, Charka illustrates books for a wide range of authors, and he creates puppets and figures for television programs and advertisements. He is married, has four children, and lives in Tzufin, Israel. 

The story Judessey tells

Judessey tells the adventure-packed story of Leon. In the 1930s, married and with a young son, he is a professor of classics at Poland’s Krakow University. Then comes World War II, beginning with Germany’s invasion of Poland. The Nazis set up a series of ghettos inside Poland and herd the Jewish communities into them. 

An Israeli flag flutters in front of the Israeli consulate after German police opened fire on a suspect who appeared to be carrying a gun near the Israeli consulate and a Nazi history museum in central Munich, Germany, September 5, 2024 (credit: REUTERS/Gintare Karpaviciute)

One day Leon takes a short trip outside the ghetto and returns to find that in his absence there has been what the Germans called an “aktion,” and his wife and son have been captured together with most of the rest of the ghetto. The rabbi, who managed to evade the soldiers, tells him there is no time to weep. The Germans will be back. He must flee to the forest with the few others who remain in the ghetto. 

The Orthodox men all change out of their religious garb, cut their hair, and make their escape. Leon‘s long odyssey has begun. The group wanders in the forest, runs out of food, and are soon starving. Leon decides to do something about it, and manages to kill a rabbit. All religious objections are put to one side, and the group roast and eat it. 

Now Leon takes charge, and the story progresses by way of hallucinatory magic mushrooms, an encounter with a platoon of Nazis whom they manage to overcome, and a meeting with a modern witch with psychic powers. She tells Leon that if he wants to know what has happened to his wife and son, he must enter hell. And indeed Leon, donning the uniform of one of the Nazis that the group has killed, actually gets into the Auschwitz death camp.

It would be unfair to reveal what he learns inside Auschwitz and what happens next, beyond saying that Leon experiences many more hair-raising adventures before his odyssey ends on a beach in Tel Aviv.

Judessey is a fast-moving and attention-grabbing tale, not without moments of real emotion, told in a series of vivid hand-drawn pictures, embellished with speech bubbles. It is clearly designed to inform the modern generation about some basic aspects of the Jewish experience in the 20th century in a way that appeals, and is relevant, to them. But it can certainly be read and enjoyed by readers of any age.

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One major advantage of the graphic novel is that the basic content, the drawings, can be universally understood and appreciated. In order to reach a global market, all the publisher needs to do is translate the speech bubbles. If any book deserves this treatment, Judessey does. The tale it tells, and the way it is presented, merits the broadest readership. It tells the 20th century Jewish story in a way that can be appreciated and understood worldwide. ■

Judessey by Shay CharkaWicked Son, 2024128 pages; $16