Though Joan Sfar’s The Rabbi’s Cat is centered around different Jewish traditions, we also see another important aspect of the story that loss at the relationship between one’s language and one’s identity. Throughout the graphic novel we see how not only do people identify you because of your language, but also through the clothes you wear. Language is one of the things that sets one another apart. In the 15th century, when this story takes place, it was easy to tell where one was from by what language they spoke. We see this when, “The old man speaks the same kind of Arabic as the Jews di, literary Arabic. He must come from far away, because the Arabs here speak differently” (Sfar, 83). Even though the Rabbi and the old man both speak…show more content… Sfar comes from “Sofer,” which means “to write” in Hebrew. Sfar is a Jewish name. You ass, Sfar comes from “yellow” in Arabic. It evokes the sulfur flower used by coppersmiths. Sfar’s Arab through and through” (Sfar, 84).
This block quote is an argument between the old man’s donkey and the Rabbi’s cat. The both speak Arabic, but have two completely different meanings for “Sfar”. This shows us that it may be hard to identify someone or something through language because it could lead to confusion and or miss interpretation. Throughout this graphic novel we see language being given and taken, and we also see different languages being spoken. Even though the Rabbi’s cat gets his voice taken away he can still speak to the other animals. This shows us that even if your voice is taken away there is always some type of language you can speak. The story also shows us the mother languages you know the father you will go in your career. We this when the Rabbi is taking is dictation. The dictation is in French, but the only languages he really knew were Arabic and Hebrew. The Rabbi learns French and the becomes the official Rabbi of his town. He can now speak and reach out to those who speak French, Arabic, and
