I really like this one. I like the way the animation turned out on the rope guy. He spins and turns very nicely. Good job, me.

When we were writing this one, DovBer and I had some trouble figuring out what we wanted to do with it. The rope metaphor seemed perfect, as it is very visual, and the message of connection seemed both simple and important. But the problem was figuring out a way of illustrating the rope’s effect without making that effect be restraining. We had a robot tethered to an electrical outlet, a man chained to a tree . . . all of them presented the rope as a limitation. So, we went for the easy way out—instead of showing what we meant like a cartoon should, we just had the guys say it. Hooray for lazy writing!

But a funny things happens when you listen to the same dialogue over and over again, frame by frame, and watch the same little dudes for several days straight. As I animated their conversation, it became their own, and I was just observing. And what I saw was a typical Jewish person: He’s got his own way of being actively involved in Judaism, but at the same time his Judaism is never entirely of his own making, because there’s always this rope tethering him to tradition, history, family and his Creator. No matter how much or how little his own interaction with Judaism is, there’s another facet of his connection that is beyond his control. So, yeah, when we want to run, that might feel restraining. But when we’re done running, it’s incredibly comforting to know that we’re still connected.

Dovid