The Koren Tanakh Graphic Novel - Bereshit Volume 1: The Beginning with Jordan B Gorfinkel (Koren Publishers, 2026)

October 20, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In the new Koren Tanakh Graphic Novel: Bereshit Volume 1, the fruit that Adam and Eve eat is not an apple. It is an amorphous, alien-looking "space fruit" that deliberately resists the familiar Christian iconography of a red apple. This choice is not arbitrary; it reflects a deep commitment to rabbinic tradition, where the Talmud lists seven possible fruits—wheat, grapes, pomegranate, and others—but never an apple. The artist, Yao Natan, designed the fruit to be visually ambiguous so that readers cannot pin it down to a single known species, preserving the mystery of the text while honoring the Midrash. This single detail encapsulates the entire philosophy behind the project: a graphic novel that is not an adaptation of the Torah but a version of it, one that uses the tools of visual storytelling to bring out both the plain meaning and the layered subtext of the original Hebrew.

The Operating System: Text and Image Fused

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What you'll learn

1 (00:00) **Episode Introduction & Guest Background** - Host Rabbi Mark Katz introduces guest Jordan B. Gorfinkel (Gorf) and the subject: the Koren Tanakh Graphic Novel, Volume 1 (Bereshit & Noach).
2 (02:33) **The Core Format: Facing Pages & Visual Integration** - Gorf details the book's unique two-page folio structure: the original Hebrew on one side and the English translation fused into illustrated panels on the other.
3 (08:46) **The Challenge of Visualizing the Text vs. Midrash** - Rabbi Katz asks how Gorf fills in textual silences visually, contrasting this with a reader's private imagination.
4 (12:43) **Using Midrash and Scholarship as a Filter** - Gorf explains his process for incorporating Midrash, Talmud, and modern commentators like Rabbi Sacks and Nechama Leibowitz.
5 (20:10) **Case Study: The "Space Fruit" of the Tree of Knowledge** - Rabbi Katz and Gorf use the forbidden fruit as a microcosm for the entire creative process.
6 (27:28) **Defining Terms & Finding the Story's "Spine"** - Gorf defines the difference between a comic book (serialized) and a graphic novel (self-contained story) before revealing the narrative spine for Bereshit.
7 (33:01) **Balancing Adult Themes with Accessibility** - Rabbi Katz notes the book is safe for his 8-year-old despite containing adult themes, and asks how Gorf handles violence and nudity.

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Show Notes

What if you could experience the opening chapters of the Torah as a graphic novel—without losing the depth, complexity, or ambiguity of the original text? In this episode, Rabbi Marc Katz sits down with writer and creator Jordan B. Gorfinkel to discuss The Koren Magerman Tanakh Graphic Novel: Bereshit, Volume 1: The Beginning (Koren Publishers, 2026), a visually stunning reimagining of Genesis.

From the first light of Creation through Eden, the Flood, and the Tower of Babel, the book brings the opening chapters of Bereshit to life in an entirely new way. But this is more than an illustrated Bible. Gorfinkel and his creative team ask a fundamental question: What kind of human being can become God's partner in creating a just and compassionate world?

Working alongside Israeli artist Yael Nathan, Gorfinkel combines cinematic storytelling with traditional Jewish interpretation, drawing on Tanakh, Midrash, archaeology, history, and centuries of Jewish commentary. The result preserves the full Hebrew biblical text while using the visual language of graphic novels to illuminate details, tensions, and layers of meaning that readers may have overlooked.

Together, Gorfinkel and Katz explore what happens when one of the world's oldest stories is told through one of its newest visual forms—and whether seeing Genesis differently can help us understand it differently, too.

About the Guest:
Jordan B. Gorfinkel (“Gorf”) is a cartoonist, musician, producer, and storyteller best known for his nearly decade-long career managing the Batman franchise at DC Comics, where he oversaw more than 2,000 stories across multiple media. His work has inspired comics, films, television, and games, including Birds of Prey and The Dark Knight Rises. He is also the creator of the bestselling Passover Haggadah Graphic Novel, which combines traditional Jewish text with the visual language of comics. Through his studio, Avalanche Comics Entertainment, Gorf creates and teaches storytelling across entertainment, education, and Jewish life. He is the writer and producer of The Koren Magerman Tanakh Graphic Novel, bringing his decades of experience in visual storytelling to the ancient stories of the Bible.

About the Host:
Rabbi Marc Katz is the Senior Rabbi at Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield, NJ. He is author of the books Yochanan’s Gamble: Judaism’s Pragmatic Approach to Life (JPS) chosen as a finalist for the PROSE award and The Heart of Loneliness: How Jewish Wisdom Can Help You Cope and Find Comfort (Turner Publishing) which was chosen as a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award.

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