The rabbi's cat

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The rabbi's cat (original title: Le Chat du rabbin ) is a comic series by the French illustrator Joann Sfar , who started it in 2001 . In 2011 an animated feature film of the same name was made.

The plant had already sold 450,000 times in France by mid-2006. The second band, Malka, the Lord of the Lions , was nominated as Best Album at the 2003 Festival International de la Bande Dessinée d'Angoulême .

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A Sephardic rabbi lives with his daughter Zlabya ​​in Algiers at the beginning of the 20th century . One day, the daughter's cat eats a parrot and thereby gains the ability to speak. The rabbi therefore wants the cat to study the Torah in order to become a good Jewish cat. This then insists on a bar mitzvah . The rabbi's rabbi forbids this after the cat engaged him in a theological argument. The rabbi therefore decides to teach the cat himself and eventually gives it back to the daughter.

The cat, who acts as a commentator on the story, leads discussions with those involved, as used by the Talmud as a stylistic device to present its teaching. She does not question faith, but as an animal she finds herself in a field of tension that makes her see religion differently than people. It is also now easier for her than for people to recognize the weaknesses and contradictions of others, because she can follow them inconspicuously and therefore sees that their words and deeds sometimes contradict each other. In this way she gains insights into the human soul, but also the power of faith and the weakness of believers.

The rabbi is asked to write a French dictation in order to be recognized by the Israelite council of France . His spelling skills are rather modest, however, and when he is sitting in the exam, the cat forbidden calls out God's name to ask for help. She then loses the ability to speak.

The rabbi receives a visit from his cousin Malka, who is always on the move with a rifle and a lion. On the occasion of the death of a parishioner, a visitor comes from France, whom the rabbi takes in. When he learns that the young man is himself a rabbi and is about to take on a new position, he goes on a journey, at the end of which he learns that he has passed the dictation. When he returns, however, he discovers that his guest is asking for his daughter's hand. She leaves the house, the rabbi and the cat are deeply affected.

The rabbi accompanies his daughter and her husband to his family in Paris after the wedding. On the crossing from Algeria, the rabbi strained the young couple's nerves by demeaning Jewish life in France. Eventually he refuses to enter his son-in-law's father because he is not religious enough. He walks through rainy Paris, gets no hotel room and stands in front of the locked synagogue . Finally, he sleeps on a bench in a church, where the Christian symbols frighten him. When hunger overwhelms him, he goes to a restaurant where he breaks every rule for kosher food. He meets his nephew, who survives as a street performer and pretends to be an Arab. He spends a few days with him and even develops understanding for his son-in-law's father.

The rabbi's cat returned to Algeria from rainy Paris in Volume 4. In “The Earthly Paradise” the cat wanders through the country with Malka and his lion. Malka turns out to be not only a resourceful storyteller, but also a big rascal when it comes to earning a living. But his tricks don't always work, and so he gets into a crisis of meaning. And since the lion is not entirely innocent of this, he decides to say goodbye to life.

A Russian painter came to Algiers as a stowaway in a wooden box full of religious writings that the rabbi's son-in-law had acquired from the anti-Semitic Communist Party of the Soviet Union . He is looking for a legendary ancient Israelite city called " Jerusalem ", which - according to the Soviet secret service - is said to have survived for millennia in the heart of Black Africa. The rabbi agrees to travel through the African continent in search of the city together with the young Russian artist (and of course his cat, who is finally finding the language again). Although the artist wins a waitress as his partner on the trip, he is disappointed to find that the city, which actually exists hidden, is not exactly open to visitors of other skin color.

Parts published so far

  • La Bar-Mitsva (2001), with a foreword by Éliette Abécassis ( Eng .: The Bar-Mitsva , 2004)
  • Le Malka des lions (2002), foreword: Mohamed Fellag (Eng .: Malka, the Lord of the Lions , 2004)
  • L'Exode (2003), foreword: Georges Moustaki (Eng .: Exodus , 2004)
  • Le Paradis terrestre (2005), foreword: Jean Giraud (German: The Earthly Paradise , 2006)
  • Jérusalem d'Afrique (2006), foreword: Philippe Val (German: Jerusalem in Africa , 2007)
  • Tu n'auras pas d'autre dieu que moi (2015) (German: You shouldn't have any other gods besides me, 2019 )
  • La Tour de Bab-El-Oued (2017) (German: The Tower of Bab-El-Oued, 2019 )
  • Petit panier aux amandes (2018) (German: The almond basket, 2019 )

filming

Based on several parts, the award-winning animated feature film Le Chat du rabbin was created in 2011 , directed by Joann Sfar together with Antoine Delesvaux . François Morel (as a cat), Hafsia Herzi (Zlabya), Maurice Bénichou (Rabbi), Mohamed Fellag (Sheikh Sfar) and Jean-Pierre Kalfon (Malka, the Lord of the Lions) were hired as spokespersons for the original French dubbing .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Elena Senft: Comics are not always funny in France. In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung. August 17, 2006, accessed December 20, 2015 .

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