L ifestyle /C ulture
Student’s ‘Torah Comics’ Inspire Book, Activism
ARTS SASHA ROGELBERG | JE STAFF
GROWING UP OUTSIDE of
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and
attending Jewish day school,
Andrew Galitzer was deemed
a “doodler” by his rabbi, who
insisted that if Galitzer were to
draw in class, he should at least
draw something Jewish.

In the sixth grade, Galitzer
heeded his rabbi’s advice. He
began drawing comics from
the weekly Torah portion, a
practice that he would continue
to hone through high school and
into college.

Now 20, Galitzer, a Drexel
University freshman, has gone
from amateur to author, as he
completes the final stages of a
book deal for his comic compi-
lation “Torah Comics,” which
will be published by Israel-based
Gefen Publishing House in the
coming year.

“It brings the Torah and
Judaism to so many more people
and gives them access to it,
whereas before, I might have
just thought of it as just some
drawings I made,” Galitzer said.

Though drawing “Torah
Comics” since middle school,
Galitzer didn’t turn his hobby
Andrew Galitzer, a freshman
at Drexel University, has drawn
“Torah Comics” since the sixth
grade. into a business until eighth or
ninth grade, when he began
sending his Torah comics —
redrawn year-after-year as
he became more technically
skilled — to his school and shul,
charging a small licensing fee
for them to reprint the comics
in their newsletters or Shabbat
announcements. In high school, “Torah
Comics” found its way far from
its birthplace of Hollywood,
Florida. “The Jewish community is so
interconnected,” Galitzer said.

“It just went from there to New
York and then Maryland, and
then it went all the way to Israel.”
“Torah Comics” is now
published weekly by more than
30 organizations internationally,
including in Sweden, Germany
Galitzer’s “Never Again” comics, which won Combat Anti-Semitism’s Emma Lazarus Art Award
Courtesy of Andrew Galitzer
and the Netherlands. More
than 30 families have individual
subscriptions to the comics
as well.

Galitzer runs his “Torah
Comics” distribution through
AndiDrew.com, a domain name
that shares his “AndiDrew”
brand he created in the fourth
grade, when he created an
Instagram account under the
same name.

“I’ve always had an entre-
preneurship mindset, and I’ve
always been very into business,”
Galitzer said.

In addition to “Torah
Comics,” Galitzer offers logo
and graphic design commissions
and art classes for kids, which
began in the early days of the
pandemic. It was something for
which Galitzer had an estab-
lished passion.

“I’ve always thought from a
young age that I wanted to go
into teaching kids instead of just
drawing, myself,” he said.

Religious schools hired
Galitzer to teach art during class;
parents hired him for birthday
parties. He taught an average of
30-50 children per session.

On Tisha B’Av last year,
Galitzer hosted a virtual drawing
class, recruiting from previous
synagogues and parents with
whom he had previously worked.

His Zoom class was attended by
more than 1,000 students.

But Galitzer said he still
prioritizes quality over quantity:
He doesn’t just want to teach
children how to draw; he wants
his art to make a difference in
the way people perceive Jews.

“All art should have a
purpose — even if it’s just to be
AKILADELPHIA CREATIVE CONTRACTING, LLC
CUSTOM BUILDING
GENERAL CONTRACTING
LICENSED & INSURED
215.589.5405// AKILADELPHIA.COM
RESIDENTIAL KITCHEN & BATH SPECIALISTS
A PORTION OF TOTAL CONTRACT PRICE WILL BENEFIT
JEWISH CHARITY OF CLIENT’S CHOICE
SENIOR DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE
18 NOVEMBER 25, 2021
JEWISH EXPONENT
aesthetically pleasing,” Galitzer
said. “Particularly, I found
Jewish activism to be my inspi-
ration for many of my pieces.”
As a high school senior,
Galitzer submitted a comic to
grassroots organization Combat
Anti-Semitism’s art competi-
tion, where he won the Emma
Lazarus Art Award. With the
pervasive “Never Again” theme
in mind, he created a comic
on Jewish resilience, spanning
from Chanukah’s origin to
the 2019 Poway synagogue
shooting. Even since graduating high
school and taking a gap year in
Israel to study at Yeshivat Eretz
HaTzvi in Jerusalem, Galitzer’s
perspective on his art has
changed. “The biggest thing that
changed for me was my connec-
tion to Judaism as a religion and
just how my identity has grown,”
Galitzer said. “I don’t view
the comics anymore as small
drawings I was doing on the side
and making money off of; I view
them now as a passion of mine.”
But as a college student
studying engineering tech-
nology, Galitzer has to work
harder than ever finding time
between classes, teaching art
classes — now in-person — and
his involvement in Drexel Hillel
and Chabad and Hillel at the
University of Pennsylvania.

“All of that definitely does
take a lot of time,” Galitzer said.

“But I always make time to
draw.” l
srogelberg@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0741
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM