{"id":19507,"date":"2013-01-03T09:32:41","date_gmt":"2013-01-03T14:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=19507"},"modified":"2016-09-30T17:01:08","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T21:01:08","slug":"superman-was-jewish-who-knew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/01\/superman-was-jewish-who-knew\/","title":{"rendered":"Superman was Jewish? Who knew?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

An intriguing little item from today\u2019s New York Times:\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Years before\u00a0Superman<\/a>\u00a0could be easily spotted in the sky among the birds and planes \u2014 or in motion pictures, or on billboards or lunchboxes or the many other pop-cultural artifacts he now occupies \u2014 his co-creator Joe Shuster met him in person on the street.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In 1945, some seven years after he had been regularly illustrating Superman adventures written by his partner, Jerry Siegel, Shuster encountered a young man who looked exactly like the Superman character as he imagined him. He asked the man, named Stanley Weiss, if he could draw him, resulting in some sketches that have gone largely unseen for nearly 70 years, as well as some insights into the origins of this long-lived American champion.<\/p>\n

Shuster\u2019s pencil sketches of the square-jawed Weiss, who strongly resembles a certain Kryptonian immigrant and his earthly alter ego, Clark Kent, will be shown publicly at the Center for Jewish History in Chelsea, at a Jan. 27 event celebrating the 75th anniversary of Superman.<\/p>\n

Larry Tye, the author of\u00a0\u201cSuperman: The High-Flying History of America\u2019s Most Enduring Hero\u201d<\/a>\u00a0and a participant in the Center for Jewish History event, said in a telephone interview that Siegel and Shuster, who were both the children of European Jewish immigrants, drew upon many sources when they created Superman in the 1930s. They looked at classical heroes like Samson and Hercules, pulp characters like\u00a0Doc Savage<\/a>\u00a0and, of course, themselves\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026\u201cThey were planting little hints as to his ethnic heritage and the fact that he was Jewish,\u201d Mr. Tye said. For example, Superman\u2019s arrival on Earth as an infant in a rocket ship parallels the biblical story of baby Moses being delivered to Pharaoh\u2019s daughter in his papyrus basket. And his Kryptonian name, Kal-El, sounds like the Hebrew for voice or vessel of God.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read more.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An intriguing little item from today\u2019s New York Times:\u00a0 Years before\u00a0Superman\u00a0could be easily spotted in the sky among the birds and planes \u2014 or in motion pictures, or on billboards or lunchboxes or the many other pop-cultural artifacts he now occupies \u2014 his co-creator Joe Shuster met him in person on the street. In 1945, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[469,49],"tags":[11207,1363],"class_list":["post-19507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jews","category-this-that","tag-jews","tag-superman"],"yoast_head":"\nSuperman was Jewish? 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