A few firsts: This is the first stick figure vignette in, oh . . . a couple of years now. Woohoo! Next, it’s the first Parshah in the Book of Devarim. Yay! And the third first (is that a bank?)—this is the first stick figure vignette cowritten by myself and my good friend DovBer Naiditch (who will chime in after me).

Our first imagining of this cartoon was a couple of guys complaining about mundane problems, while they are being carried around on some other guys’ shoulders. And the bottom guys are swatting away bears with golf clubs. So, that conveys the idea of G‑d protecting us and taking care of us, even when we may not be aware of or appreciate it. Then I did some digging through chassidic teachings, and found some more insight on the verse. Basically, we get lifted up so we can lift up other things. So instead of the oblivious men being rescued from bear attacks, we began to imagine people with a job to do, things to put into their proper places. I like that image of Jews better. And I like how that guy wobbles when he gets walked across the warehouse. I don’t understand the stacked cars, though. That may just be for laughs. Or not. Here’s DovBer . . .

-Dovid

This was a really fun vignette to write, and I honestly feel privileged to come on board with these. Dovid and I sat on it, and we had more than one script change and even theme change before we got to the end. I still liked the one with the bears, but I’m really happy how this turned out. I like the idea behind it too. That in everything we do, we get lifted up. All of our actions depend on an equal and initial action from G‑d lifting us up. I imagine a giant Chinese finger trap, with G‑d’s metaphorical finger on the one side and ours on the other. I’m not sure why that image came to me, but this is why Dovid does the heavy lifting. I guess the point is we kind of go about our lives without thinking about that. That G‑d is constantly lifting us. Maybe that’s why the traffic scene at the end is so important, because it shows that even in our irritated and bored times, there is G‑d, stuck in a mess with us. I think this should make us happy if we really think about it.

-DovBer