Superman: A Jewish hero?
by Peter Beyfus
The BBC has launched a new programme entitled ‘Superman and Lois’. Unlike the usual plot where the “man of steel” confronts the evil doers of the Universe, this series, along with doing battle to save us from danger, sees Clark Kent and Lois happily married with two sons, one of whom, Jordan has inherited his father’s powers. It is surprising Superman is still so popular and perhaps there is a deeper, underlying reason for this, a theme I will explore in this article.
January 16 2022 marks an anniversary, one that is unlikely to be celebrated by the majority of people, for eighty-three years ago the fictional character Superman appeared in a daily comic strip in 1939 and continued to do so until May 1966. At its peak, the strip was in over 300 daily newspapers and 90 Sunday papers, with a readership of over 20 million.
The first actor to play Superman was Kirk Alyn, who in 1948 starred as the man of steel in a 15-chapter serial ‘Superman’. This production was the most successful movie serial of its time. Perhaps, though, the man who established Superman as an iconic figure for the twentieth century was Christopher Reeve. He played the title role in four Superman films. In 1995 he became quadriplegic after being thrown from a horse. Following this dreadful accident Reeve became a tireless campaigner for embryonic stem-cell research. He lobbied Congress, gained enormous support from the acting fraternity and generated world-wide support for his avowed aim to use science to help people with spinal-cord injuries; his foundation continues the work he inspired. Christopher Reeve died in 2004; he showed great courage, worthy of the role he played on screen for many years. Apart from noting the enduring appeal of heroes, what has Superman to do with Judaism?
In Bereshit we are told that G-d created man in his own image. The exact meaning of this phrase has generated debate among biblical scholars for many decades. Does it mean we resemble the Creator physically, or do we share with the Almighty knowledge of good and evil, or is that we possess something of G-d, the divine spark, that on our demise returns to source? What is evident from human creativity is that we project our self-awareness on the materials we use to fashion the world in which we inhabit, and art is but one manifestation of that tendency. Literature, with its rich cast of characters, often tells us a great deal about the attitudes and experiences of the author, and this is the case with the creators of a famous comic-strip hero. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Superman! The answer wouldn’t have quite the same appeal if the punch line was Adam Haelyon or Moshe Krytonitsky. What I am about to relate was inspired by Howard Jacobson’s article Up, up and oy vey (The Times, March 2005). Jacobson postulated that the man of steel was Jewish, and as we shall see this is not such a crazy idea.
Superman, Clark Kent when in civvies, was born Kal-El, son of Jor El. Now we know from Torah that the Hebrew El is used to refer to G-d and originally meant might, strength, power. So in Hebrew we could refer to Superman as Adam Haelyon: supernatural man. There is another intriguing connection, this time from Kabbalah. Ein Sof, the term for the infinite, has a rhythmic resemblance to Kal-El.
The discovery of Superman as a baby also has a Jewish resonance. The Kents find a tiny spacecraft, no bigger than a crib. Ring any bells? He was raised in Smallville, a town of no significance; perhaps one could liken it to a shetl. Destined to do great things for the American people, as Moses did for the Israelites, Superman pays a price for being special. Just as Moses was denied entry into the Promised Land, so Superman will never fully enjoy human relationships.
So this latter day worker of miracles is homeless, orphaned, isolated and vulnerable. Kryptonite, the poisonous mineral remains of the planet Krypton, has the power to deprive him of his strength, and prevent from fighting against evil. We are reminded of Samson, one of the Judges of Israel, who was rendered weak and helpless by Delilah’s deception. Disabling Superman strikes at the raison d’être for his existence: to perform mitzvoth – you can’t be more Jewish than that!
The creators of Superman, Siegel and Shuster, were working-class Jewish boys who met in Cleveland, Ohio. They like many other immigrants or children of immigrants encountered those who made them feel different, as outsiders. In creating a hero who would fight for justice for all and defend the weak from the strong, the two lads from Ohio were following a tradition of folklore stretching back into antiquity. In our own tradition, the Golem was a superman, a protector. It is true that the creature sometimes got out of control, wrecking havoc rather that offering security!
Interestingly, in 1939, a year after the very first Superman comic-strip appeared another champion of law and order hit the press: Batman. How very different the heroes are. Batman, Bruce Wayne, is an all-American boy. He is a millionaire and socialite to boot. The need for another national defender of the American way of life is significant in its timing: the eve of the Second World War.
We continue to invent fictional heroes to resist the force of evil, a motif we find in fairy tales, myths, the Bible, and works of later creation such as Lord of the Rings. We never seem to tire of the cosmic struggle between good and evil. There appears to be a real need to create champions of the oppressed or to idealise people who exhibit outstanding abilities whether they be footballers, rock stars, scientists or religious charismatic leaders. But just as we create icons we also have the capacity to destroy them and that is no bad thing – a natural defence against idolatry, or as Tennyson put it in Morte d’Arthur: ‘And G-d fulfils Himself in many ways, Lest one good custom should corrupt the world’.
Peter Beyfus