Eli and Gold: "Children Absorb Every Line and Word from Comics"

They are the pioneers of the comics trend that has taken the Haredi community by storm in recent years. The pioneers and still the undisputed kings of the field, 'Eli and Gold', met each other long before they dreamed of creating comics together. In fact, they were roommates at yeshiva.

"We both grew up in Switzerland," says Gold, the illustrator of the duo. "At yeshiva, we lived in the same room, so Eli knew that I drew, including comics. Later, our paths parted. I returned to Switzerland for some years, and he got married and lived in Jerusalem."

Gold, the illustrator of the duo

Eli, the comics writer, eventually became a reporter for the Haredi newspaper 'Mishpacha'. One day, quite by chance, he discovered that the children's supplement of the newspaper was looking for a comics creator. "This was about 17 years ago. I entered the office, which was then still housed in the old Kanfei Nesharim offices, and saw the editor of the children's newspaper and the graphic editor looking at comics samples sent to them. That’s how I discovered they wanted a regular comics column in the newspaper and were looking for someone suitable to create it. I remembered then Gold, who was with me in yeshiva and used to draw comics. He had already returned to Israel at that time, and I suggested he provide me with a sample to take back to the office."

Gold sent Eli a pencil sketch of the story of the Golem of Prague. "It was nothing like today's sketches—it was drawn on 'graph paper' that architects and graphic designers used back then," Eli recalls.

The editor and the graphic editor liked the illustrations but pointed out that the sketch's format simply wasn't suitable for a newspaper: "He didn't draw it as a serialized story, so one scene sometimes stretched over several pages. Also, he thought of releasing it in English or German, so everything was from left to right. The width of the sketch was also larger than the length—the opposite of what is needed for the newspaper's back page."

Eli decided to take the sketch home and try to arrange it on the computer. "I knew nothing about graphics, but I decided to try. The sketch was scanned onto a floppy disk—that's what it was back then—and I went home and sat down to work. I worked 14 hours on the first chapter to get it ready for printing."

Eli, the comics writer

The work was exhausting, but Eli taught himself on the job exactly how the comics section should look. "Gold provided illustrations for 25 chapters of the Golem of Prague story, and I was responsible for the writing, graphics, and coloring. The rest is history. When the story ended, they immediately asked for another one from us, so we started writing 'Yossele the Holy Miser'. Overall, to this day, we have created about 800 chapters of comics." He remembers only one week when the comics section wasn't included in the newspaper. "They put some advertisement instead. Neither the readers nor the management liked it..."

After publishing several adaptations of well-known stories, it was time for the narratives that emerged from Eli's imagination.

"Based on some historical facts, I wrote 'The Rescued Crown'. By this stage, we had already become the well-known brand 'Eli and Gold Comics'. Until then, the credit was simple: Writer - Eli, Illustrator - Gold..."

How did two Haredis without comprehensive professional backgrounds manage to create comics of such high quality? They invested heavily in learning the genre to ensure the stories were of the highest standard. "My background in writing didn't help me, because comics is a completely different type of writing," Eli says. "The only thing close to it is writing plays. Like in plays, you need to write stage directions, and the texts in the boxes at the top—they are the equivalent of narration pieces. And of course—the main point of writing is dialogue.

"We really did a doctorate on different types of comics. Of course, anyone who looks at our comics can easily see that we were most influenced by Hergé, the creator of Tintin. Someone even suggested to Gold that he continue the Tintin series. Although, in my opinion," Eli adds serious praise to his creative partner, "Gold is a better illustrator than Hergé. He has a much wider range of facial expressions and body movements."

Alongside learning from the greatest comic artists, Eli and Gold also introduced their own groundbreaking innovations. For example, at the bottom of every published comic chapter, there are notes and explanations that make the story accessible to very young children. "This way, we clarify concepts that the average child might not fully understand, and we also help readers differentiate between the historical facts at the story's base and what brewed in my fevered mind," explains Eli.

On Chanukah 5764, Eli and Gold published their first comic book— the first Haredi comic book released in a large format and full color. "By Purim, someone else had already released a comic book in the same format. People saw the insane sales and recognized the potential."

As strange as it sounds today, Eli and Gold initially struggled to find a publisher for their book. "I approached Yoni Pozen, owner of the 'Yefe Nof' publishing house, and offered him to publish our comics. He told me he didn't think it would sell. On the Saturday night after, he called me and said that his sister and brother-in-law had visited him, and when he told them he rejected the offer to publish our comics, they, along with his wife, started yelling at him that he was crazy." Pozen told Eli and Gold that, in his opinion, he could sell a thousand copies. They decided to publish two thousand. "We knew that if he sells a thousand, at least we would cover the expenses, even if we didn't make a profit," Eli explains.

Two thousand books came out two weeks before Chanukah, at a price that broke the market back then—only 56 shekels per book. "Two days before Chanukah, we printed a second edition—the first edition sold out completely. We sold another 1500 books by the end of Chanukah." A historical precedent in terms of the Haredi book market in Israel. Since then, they have published many more books—in Hebrew, Yiddish, and English. "And French and Spanish are in the plans as well."

Despite their great success and rave reviews from even non-religious comic enthusiasts, Eli emphasizes that making comics is much more than a creative endeavor for them. "Without exaggeration, there are nights when I wake up in a cold sweat from the fear of the responsibility that rests on us. Comics are a very powerful medium, and kids absorb things from them in a way that's hard to change later. I lecture at summer camps and day camps and give kids pop quizzes on our books—they know every line and word by heart. They internalize the story completely. Not long ago, a mother called me; her child had drawn all over the walls of their house the symbol that appeared in the book 'Sign of Life'. Last Sunday, a rabbi from Lakewood called with a similar story: he went to Shacharit prayer on a very cold day and saw that all along the street, someone had drawn that symbol on the frost-covered windows of the cars...the children absorb every nuance in the story, and it is an enormous responsibility."

Accordingly, he advises parents to carefully examine the comic books they give their children. "And I am specifically saying this about our comic books as well. Do not blindly trust anyone. There are, in the market, even in the Haredi book market, shocking comic books. With serious violence, with worldview problems, with inappropriate language. Check carefully what you give your children. Comics are very visual—and because of that, for better or for worse, they have a much greater impact."