James Rudin
  • Home
  • About
  • Appearances
  • Books
    • Why (Not Me? Searching for God When We Suffer
    • The People in the Room
    • Pillar of Fire - A biography
    • Christians & Jews: Faith to Faith
    • Cushing, Spellman, O'Connor
    • The Baptizing of America
  • Publications & Reviews
  • Contact

Book Review: Is Superman Circumcised? The Complete Jewish History of the World’s Greatest Hero

3/14/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
​"Is Superman Circumcised? The Complete Jewish History of the World's Greatest Hero" (McFarland) is the provocative title of Roy Schwartz' detailed analysis of the most famous comic book hero in history. The book is very big, as befitting Superman: it weighs a pound and a half, contains 364 pages and measures 7x12 inches.

Israeli-born Schwartz, a director of marketing and business development for a law firm, has merged his keen knowledge of all things Jewish with his childhood love of comics. The result is a highly readable volume replete with many pages of notes, numerous illustrations, website listings, and a bibliography.

Schwartz presents a fascinating thesis: in 1934, a year after Hitler gained power in Germany, two Jewish young men from Cleveland - Joe Schuster and Jerry Siegel - created Superman. Their mythical "Man of Steel" provided their fellow Jews, and indeed the entire world, with an invincible and beloved anti-Nazi warrior who ultimately morphed over the ensuing decades into a universal fighter for Tikkun Olam, the need to repair a world filled with injustice, evil, and brokenness.

As millions of people know, Superman was born in outer space on the planet Krypton and his father had the Hebrew sounding name Jor-El. The youngster, named Kal-El, leaves Krypton in a rocket ship and is deposited in rural "Smallville, Kansas" at the home of Martha and Jonathan Kent. The couple take in the mysterious visitor and give the child from space a mundane, earthly name: Clark Kent. In time, "the mild-mannered" Clark becomes a newspaper journalist in a Manhattan look-alike city called Metropolis.

Read More
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Rabbi James Rudin

    Check in often to see the latest publications from James Rudin.

    Archives

    July 2024
    December 2023
    October 2023
    August 2023
    May 2023
    March 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    September 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    October 2014
    March 2012
    February 2011
    December 2006
    August 2005
    April 2005
    September 1987
    June 1987
    February 1987
    September 1986
    May 1984
    December 1974
    August 1972

    Categories

    All
    Appearances
    Articles
    Religion News Service
    Reviews

    RSS Feed

Picture
All Titles
Picture
All Titles
Picture
All Titles
HOME
ABOUT
PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS
APPEARANCES
CONTACT

The Official Website of James Rudin - ©2015-2024 - All Rights Reserved.
​Website by Stage Door Designs