EL ENTRAÑABLE GATO DE SFAR SIGUE INVITÁNDONOS A REFLEXIONAR SOBRE LO DIVINO Y LO MUNDANO

De nuevo en Argel, el rabino Sfar y su primo el imán intentan acercar sus irreconciliables posturas. Sin embargo, cuando la mezquita se inunda, ambos acuerdan que los musulmanes puedan, durante las obras, rezar en la sinagoga. Mientras tanto, el gato del rabino atraviesa momentos difíciles: no solo siente celos del bebé de Zlabya, sino que, para empeorar las cosas, unos gatitos se han refugiado en la sinagoga. ¿Cómo se atreven esos gatos extranjeros a beberse su plato de leche?

Joann Sfar (La mazmorra, Klezmer) vuelve con esta bella fábula que mezcla poesía, una historia fascinante y una reflexión inteligente sobre cómo las creencias religiosas determinan los actos humanos.

This volume features a slow buildup on the theme of religion separating humanity into opposing clans with clashing views, despite humans having every advantage in working together. The story begins when the rabbi’s cat is incensed as two kittens make their entry into his house in Algiers and charm his mistress into keeping them for good, thus depriving him of some portions of cuddles and affection and milk. Meanwhile, the local mosque is flooded and the imam asks the rabbi to accommodate his followers into the synagogue so they can all pray at their different schedules in the same space. But though both religious leaders are united in purpose, the Jewish and Muslim followers are gathered in the street to protest: they refuse to pray in the same temple. Things get even more ridiculous when both groups are forced to go to the Catholic Church to find a place to pray when the synagogue is flooded in its turn. Another common interest unifies both clans: they are convinced the Rabbi’s talking cat is a devil and must be drowned and/or burned at all costs to appease God and restore order, something both the cat and his Rabbi strongly object to.

Meanwhile, a quest is begun by the Malka of Lions, an enigmatic character who is always accompanied by his fierce yet loyal lion; the second volume in this series is devoted to this character. A prophet of sorts and always in his cups, he is convinced that this new Noah’s Flood is a call to search for the original Fruit of Eden which is at the origin of the fall of humankind and the separation between people according to different clans. Finding this object will help heal the division among brothers and sisters. The Rabbi’s cat of course takes part in this quest and is eventually singled out by a personage of great learning and age-old wisdom towards the end of the book, by being told where this mythological object can be found in what will become the adventure in the following episode of volume 8, which I cannot wait to get started on.

So far this has all sounded awfully dry and rather left brained and perhaps boring and doesn’t begin to convey the animated world of Joan Sfar’s gorgeously nervous, splotchy and amazingly expressive ink pen drawing style in an ornate oriental setting, with a beautiful, somewhat muted yet rich palette of colours. Nor his wonderfully clever and sarcastic cat, nor all the humour expressed in countless ways through dialogue and comments and little touches in his drawn panels.

I’m not quite sure how many more volumes are left before this saga reaches its conclusion, especially as things had seemed to reach a close with volume 5 in 2011, only to be revived again with a fresh start in 2015. But I’ll be following wherever Sfar chooses to go with this right through to the end with much anticipation, tempered with patience. This is a series I’ll also want to revisit from the beginning in one prolonged period to better appreciate the scope of the amazing body of work Sfar has produced with this profoundly funny and humorously insightful The Rabbi’s Cat series. ( )