It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s – a group of four superheroes from different religions, all working together to save the world.
That’s the premise of God’s Gang, a series of interfaith cartoons on YouTube that was created by Israeli hi-tech entrepreneur Nimrod-Avraham May, who developed this channel out of a desire to promote tolerance and love.
May said that he was inspired to create this interfaith story when he thought, “I know many people who are not Jews or Israelis who are kind and compassionate and truthful and positive and friendly and loving, and why not build these bridges instead of bombing them?… The show is not a show about religion or faith…. It’s a show [whose] underlying message is promoting coexistence and unity, the teaching of love,” he said. But he chose to convey these messages via children’s action-adventure and comedy cartoons.
The hit success of God’s Gang
Since the series began running last September, it has become wildly successful, acquiring 1.5 million subscribers in just a few months. May has added to the YouTube channel, in addition to the cartoons themselves, videos about different aspects of the series, with everything from lessons on how to draw the characters to content about how the series was developed. There is even a video where May reads what he calls the “mean comments” out loud and discusses them.
But the heart of it is the cartoons themselves, which feature the four superheroes – and heroines: Sumuslim, a Muslim who fights sumo-style and whose power is “hypno-storytelling,” with which he mesmerizes listeners with tales from Arab lore; TaekWonHindu, a “big sister” to the group, who loves heavy metal and fights with Taekwondo, and uses “third-eye telepathy” with animals and can multiply her arms like various Hindu gods; Ninjew, a basketball-loving Jew who has a kind of laser vision and employs “special Kabbalah invisibility powder”; and Chris Cross, a Southern Baptist street preacher who uses karate (with an unbeatable flying kick), whose power is that when he turns his cheek, he can deflect anything thrown at it.
Their leader is a dog named Ms. Dogma, who has wings and a halo, and whose office seems to be located in heaven. They are aided by Le Dove, an aerial reconnaissance dove that specializes in intelligence-gathering from on high.
There is also a colorful cohort of villains, both human and supernatural. And, naturally, they travel in a very cool vehicle.
The cartoons are done in a retro ’70s style, and much of each episode shows the gang just having fun together, but there are action-adventure plots.
In the first episode, “Love Is in the Airhole,” they save whales that are being kidnapped from Earth by aliens. In the second, “What’s Cooking?” they find that even having a meal together has its challenges: Chris Cross thinks he has prepared a treat for them when he makes cheeseburgers, but it turns out that none of the others can eat them, for different religious reasons, so a compromise is found – in the shape of a tasty platter of French fries.
As the lyrics of God’s Gang’s theme song, set to a high-energy electronic beat and vocals that sound like soul music, say, “Four different faiths/One God, one love/Saving the day with some help from above/We may not agree on when to pray/But when we join hands, help is on the way…. Together we’re better/For now and forever.”
May said the target audience is nine- to 19-year-olds but that the series has a universal appeal that has attracted many adult viewers.
THE IDEA for God’s Gang first came to him in 2006, May said. “I had joined Disney Channel right after they acquired Fox Entertainment from Haim Saban; two months after I joined, we were all invited to the Disney Channel Executive Summit, and I was in the marketing department. We all pitched ideas about what can make Disney great, and I offered them an interfaith Power Rangers.”
But the entertainment giant didn’t go for the idea. “Luckily, they left it for me. I feel it’s my life’s mission.”
Over the past 17 years, he said, “I’ve been pursuing two paths. One was in the world of matter – doing business, launching companies…. I also did a lot on the venture capital side – angel investing, and advisory boards. These are all great, working on strategies and branding and chasing KPIs [key performance indicators], and these are all valuable. But at the same time, I had a spiritual awakening.”
May said that he had grown up in a liberal, secular home, where his father was a Holocaust survivor and his mother was an orphan, with no family. Being without a family “was a proof for her that there is no God,” he said.
But after life threw some unexpected experiences at him, “I realized that I might have been wrong in thinking that this universe doesn’t have a governing entity, aka creator, source, God, the universe,” he said.
He began exploring his identity and studying Judaism, on his own and with rabbis, and gradually realized, he said, that all the teachings could be summed up in “two simple words: ‘one’ and ‘love.’”
The more he delved into Jewish mysticism, he realized “I had to do a big tikkun…. We were chosen to spread light…. I decided to commit myself to bringing people together. It’s a difficult mission.”
Coming from the world of marketing and entertainment, he said, “I was ready to tell the story of how we can get together.” Keeping in mind The Beatles’ lyrics to the songs “Give Peace a Chance” and “Come Together,” he chose to launch God’s Gang, which he had put aside for over a decade. “I decided to bring them to life during COVID, not knowing what the future would bring.”
Aware of the sensitivity of creating a cartoon with characters from different religions, he appointed a board of advisers, an “interfaith council” from all religious points of view, with whom he consults on every detail of the series, “just to make sure that we’re not harming anyone or touching on any sensitive topics that we shouldn’t get into.”
Among those he has brought on board is Rob Kutner, the head writer, who has won five Primetime Emmys, whose credits include The Daily Show and The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. He also hired creators from Disney, Netflix, and DreamWorks.
He said he was pleasantly surprised that although the series has had its share of criticism, the responses have been overwhelmingly positive. He also said that the audience response is growing more positive with each episode.
“That makes me motivated,” he said.
May is currently funding God’s Gang himself, and he said he is actively looking for partners, which will enable him to produce more episodes. He hopes to create four new episodes this year.
There is also an online store selling God Gang-themed merchandise, the profits from which May is channeling back into the cartoons: “This logo promotes love, and I want this to be the most recognized trademark in the world associated with the values that we’re promoting.”
In the upcoming episodes, new characters will be added, possibly a Buddhist and an atheist, although May said that the core of God’s Gang would remain the same. So will the message.
“Promoting love in a very polarized world where people are mostly afraid now, it’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it, and I’m happy that I’m one of those who are doing it,” he said.
Learn more: godsgang.com/. YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@GodsGangGo
This article was originally published at www.jpost.com
