Virtual Opportunities From The Clergy

One of the most celebrated contributions Jews have made to popular culture is the invention of the superhero.  Almost every major superhero character known and beloved to generations of American children-and many adults too-came to us courtesy of a Yiddisher Kup.  Superman was invented by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster; Joe Simon and Jack Kirby came up with Captain America; Bob Kane and Bill Finger introduced us to Batman; Stan Lee, whose real name is Stanley Lieber, gave us the impressive line up that includes Spider-Man, the Hulk, the Fantastic 4, Ironman, the X-Men, Thor, and the Avengers.  But the very first Jewish-inspired superhero of all comes courtesy of the Haftarah this week.  It is none of other than Samson, Shimshon, the only character in the Bible who is referred to as a Gibbor, meaning a hero or a champion.  His extraordinary strength was bestowed upon him by God so that he could defend the Israelites against their menacing enemies, the Philistines.  Indeed he slayed 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of an ass!  Maybe this is why, many generations later, Jews invented superheroes, who they imagined would protect them, fight their battles, and vanquish their enemies...it’s telling that many of those famous comic book characters were created in the nightmarish timeperiod of the 1930’s and 40’s.  If only one of those superheroes could have jumped off the pages and come to the rescue of millions of Jews...
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