The Lamed Wufniks: Chapter 66

The Wufniks

36 of the buggers. Oof. Who would have thought that the most humble of creatures would take the longest? the Wufniks are the righteous men who keep the world going, as related by Borges from Talmudic thought. They are Wufniks only as long as they do not know they are Wufniks- as soon as they figure it out, Gd scoops them up, they cease to be Wufniks, and a new Wufnik is created to fill the void.

The Wufniks are also the first (eventually there will be others!) mask I've made for the 75dollar reward level. Here's the deal- you tell me which one of the 36 you like, and I will pick him up, put a ribbon in him, whisper in his ear what he is, send  him off to you, and make a new Wufnik. If you can find it in your heart to take a photo of your new friend, worn by either yourself or someone else, in a crowd, wherever you live, I would like to include that photo in whatever the final version of this piece ends up being (only with your permission, of course). If you pledged in the original kickstarter at some level other than 75, but really want in on the Wufniks, an additional pledge of 50dollars will get you your original pledge reward PLUS a Wufnik. Because I didn't explain the Wufniks in the kickstarter, and I think they're pretty awesome, and i wouldn't want you to miss out. Plus, the more Wufniks there are, the better the world will be. There are photos of all the individual Wufniks on my Flicker, because this blog just isn't intended to support that number of photos for browsing.

Each of the Wufniks has a number tattooed on his side. those numbers will count up from 1, and never be repeated. Each also has a scar of some sort across at least one eye, because being righteous enough to support the whole world does not come without pain.

From Borges: " There are on earth, and always were, thirty-six righteous men whose mission is to justify the world before God. They are the lamed Wufniks. They do not know each other and are very poor. If a man comes to the knowledge that he is a Lamed Wufnik, he immediatly dies and somebody else, perhaps in another part of the world, takes his place. The Lamed Wufniks are, without knowing it, the secret pillars of the universe. Were it not for them, God would annihilate the whole of mankind. Unawares, they are our saviors."