On Kabbala Toons, an Animated Rabbi Offers “Cosmic Consciousness”

As he plummets toward earth at 300 miles per hour after jumping out of a plane, Rabbi Infinity serenely irons a sock in freefall while expressing confidence that his parachute will open in time. “When life sends you spiraling downward, stay calm and rely on the creator of life for a smooth landing,” he says.

Whether skydiving or sifting for gold, Infinity teaches adults and children Jewish mysticism as the two-dimensional narrator of “Kabbala Toons.” He promises a limitless return for a small investment of time. “Give me one minute,’’ he says, “I’ll give you cosmic consciousness.”

Rabbi Infinity’s mission is to engage and enlighten his followers through “Kabbala Toons,” a biweekly series of Web cartoons that present the teachings of religious philosophy with the ease and access of YouTube. Viewers subscribe to the free videos on Chabad.org, the Web site of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, and share their favorite “webisodes” via Facebook. Rabbi Infinity is the animated alter ego of real-life Rabbi Tzvi Freeman of Toronto, Canada. Each webisode and corresponding blog is written by Freeman and animated by Pilar Newton of Park Slope, Brooklyn.

With more than 900,000 unique visitors per month, Crown Heights-based Chabad.org is the most prominent Jewish educational and informational portal on the Web, according to an August 2009 study by 4Wall, a Jewish media strategy firm. “Kabbala Toons” reach 19,000 subscribers from Montevideo, Uruguay to Melbourne, Australia.

Show topics range from the Yom Kippur-themed “Big Trouble Meets Small Shofar” to the “XTreme” Kabbalistic Sports feature “Power Tefillin.” Tefillin are leather boxes containing passages of scripture that Orthodox Jewish men strap to their heads and arms for morning weekday prayers.

Kabbala is a method of interpreting the Old Testament based on mystical theories developed by medieval rabbis. Originally, kabbala was only shared with older male scholars within yeshiva walls due to the belief that wisdom comes with age. Age and gender restrictions are less of an issue today.

“The founder of the Hasidic movement actually encouraged and emphasized the need to share mysticism with less-educated Jews in the community, and non-Jews as well, as a way to educate, to inform, to enlighten, and to illuminate,” said Rabbi Simcha Weinstein, author of “Up, Up and Oy Vey: How Jewish History, Culture and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero.”

Kabbala has become popular among celebrities like Madonna and Britney Spears.

“As a rabbi, I do cringe when I see pop stars like Madonna in fishnet stockings and suspenders and in her underwear dancing in concerts with the Jewish mystical names of God projected on giant screens in the background,” said Weinstein.

Rabbi Freeman has a more family-friendly demographic in mind. Although Freeman’s concept for “Kabbala Toons” was originally geared for adults, people often assume that the cartoons are meant for children. Freeman says he is trying to capture the right message for “an adult with a kid sitting on their lap, or a kid sitting on the lap of an adult.”

Freeman hired animator Pilar Newton to create the world of Rabbi Infinity. She used bright colors and sharp lines to define her characters, techniques she honed while designing for Nickelodeon.

The first webisode was posted in October 2007. Freeman continues to collaborate with Newton 68 episodes later. He lends his religious expertise to the project, and she incorporates her quirky sense of humor and knowledge of pop culture.

Freeman draws from ordinary and extraordinary life events to illustrate religious principles. He was fascinated when he saw hang gliders in flight on a trip to Mexico.

In the hang gliding webisode, Rabbi Infinity narrates as he takes a flying leap into the unknown: “What could be more serene, more transcendental, more spiritually elevating than jumping off of a cliff?” he asks.

While suspended in mid air, he muses about the need to have multiple plans of action when confronted with the problems of daily life.

“That was an epiphany for me,” said Freeman. “You always have to have in mind, ‘Where am I going to land, and if I can’t land there, where else am I going to land?’ ”

“Kabbala Toons” viewer Yisroel Munitz and his three young children watch from their home in Niagara Falls, N.Y.

“They’re really for anybody, even if you have a very basic knowledge of the issues and probably even if you have no knowledge of it,” said Munitz. “It’s done in such a way that really I think anybody can gain from it.”

Viewers have expressed interest in “Kabbala Toons” storybooks and DVDs, and Freeman said he is interested in the idea of merchandising. He would also like to release a new webisode each week. However, his plans are on hold. Several major Chabad.org donors were hard hit by the recession.

“Kabbala Toons” is featured alongside other video series on the Chabad.org Web site, where Rabbi Freeman serves as the adviser for the popular “Ask the Rabbi” column.

Chabad.org representative Rabbi Motti Seligson described the site as a “spiritual lifeline” for its audience.

“The idea is to use the Web as a means of empowering Jews around the world with more knowledge of their own faith and traditions,” he said.