Center of the universe Center of the universe

A cartoonist’s view of Jerusalem

Guy Elnathan pays homage to illustrator Saul Steinberg

By Jessica Steinberg
  • Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
 28 September 2014, 4:12 pm
A sample of Guy Elnathan's Hujiman character, telling readers that he won't be in Israel over the holidays, 'like every other good Israeli, he's traveling abroad. So watch over yourselves, because I won't be here to save you." (Courtesy Hujiman Facebook page)

Guy Elnathan is a defender of Jerusalem.

Not in the usual sense. Elnathan, an animator and cartoonist, recently sketched “How Jerusalemites View Israel,” an homage to the work of New Yorker illustrator Saul Steinberg.

Steinberg’s renowned “View of the World from 9th Avenue,” the cover of the March 29, 1976, edition of The New Yorker, depicts how New Yorkers tend to view their city as the center of the world.

Elnathan, a resident of the Jerusalem suburb of Mevasseret who commutes to Tel Aviv for work, said he’s been thinking about the differences between the two cities he lives in and frequents.

“Walking around Tel Aviv, it really feels like the people there think they are the center of the universe (or at least the country),” he said.  “I wanted to show Jerusalem’s perspective.”

‘View of Israel from Jerusalem,’ Guy Elnathan’s tongue-in-cheek homage to Saul Steinberg’s famed New Yorker cover (Courtesy Guy Elnathan)

And he did, drawing the squat buildings of the capitol with a focus on downtown’s Ben Yehuda and King George Streets, the light rail, the shuk and Sacher Park. Beyond, there’s Sha’ar HaGai, the almost-midway point between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Highway 1, then Tel Aviv, with Lebanon, Syria and Turkey just beyond.

“Jerusalem is the real center of the universe,” deadpanned Elnathan. “Then there’s Tel Aviv, and then the north, and then it’s just Lebanon. I don’t get out much.”

Elnathan is a bit of jokester. The creator of Hujiman, a cartoon strip he began while still a student at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design — the name is a take-off on the Hebrew University email addresses, which end with huji.ac.il — his comic character has become the informal superhero mascot of the university.

“Hujiman kind of developed as my own way of giving myself therapy about this,” said the 29-year-old Elnathan. “It’s why I decided to touch on this Jerusalem-Tel Aviv subject as well.”

Like many people who commute to Tel Aviv but don’t live there, Elnathan said he’s continually deflecting the question of why he chooses to stay in the Jerusalem region.

“Maybe it’s because of the weather,” he said. “Every day, when I cross Sha’ar HaGai, it feels like I’m crossing into a different planet.”

And on one of those eternal rides home, he thought about the Saul Steinberg poster that hangs in his home — an image that’s always in the back of his mind, he said.

“I felt like it was something that needed to be said,” said Elnathan.

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