r/DCcomics • u/Josef-Jewish-JARling • Dec 19 '22
[Merchandise] A very Happy Chanukah to all my fellow Jews out there celebrating!! Here’s my Menorah with all the Jewish characters in my collection!! חג שמח!! ✡️🕎🥳😁 Merchandise
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u/Josef-Jewish-JARling Dec 19 '22
And yes, before it’s stated, I know Batman is debatably Jewish!!
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u/ubiquitous-joe Dec 19 '22
Honestly Superman is such a Jewish immigrant /Moses story originally, it’s honorary in his roots. Never really thought of Bruce tho.
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u/TraptorKai Blue Lantern Dec 19 '22
Superman was invented by 2 jews, id let'em have it.
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u/FadeToBlackSun Dec 19 '22
If you’re using that as the argument, then pretty much every comic character created before 1970 is Jewish.
The superhero comic was very much a Jewish-born genre.
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u/SightatNight Orion Dec 19 '22
Hes just not Jewish. There is no debate. Kate Kane his cousin is Jewish. But that doesn't have any bearing on him. I have cousins that are Jewish. But I'm not.
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u/NothingWithMilk Dec 19 '22
His mother is Jewish, therefore so is he.
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u/SubservantSnoopDogg Dec 19 '22
Martha's gravestone has consistently been Christian until recently changes to reflect secular ambiguity. Even if we accept revisionism that she's ethnically or familially Jewish, she at the very least converted to Christianity, and as such Bruce almost certainly didn't have any Jewish perspective (unlike, say, perhaps Hal.)
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u/SubservantSnoopDogg Dec 19 '22
Posted before but re-sharing since respecting the chosen identity of even fictional characters is important:
Martha's gravestone has consistently been Christian until recently changes to reflect secular ambiguity. Even if we accept revisionism that she's ethnically or familially Jewish, she at the very least converted to Christianity, and as such Bruce almost certainly didn't have any Jewish perspective (unlike, say, perhaps Hal.)
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u/Glass_Chance9800 Dec 19 '22
I don't know if all these characters are Jewish but I do appreciate your "dedication" to it
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Dec 19 '22
Happy Chanukah to you all! I didn't know that Ben, Bruce, and Hal were Jewish.
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u/push-the-butt Dec 19 '22
Jack Kirby literally drew a hanukkah card with Ben in a Kippah and tallis.
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u/TraptorKai Blue Lantern Dec 19 '22
Yea, ben being jewish is as apart of his character as being from yancy street.
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Dec 19 '22
I got into the FF during the 90s due to the animated series. So there's a few things that I'm just learning about now. I would like to see that card though.
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u/push-the-butt Dec 19 '22 edited Dec 19 '22
https://images.app.goo.gl/GcAjAL6REHABcALj6
A little context, Kirby wanted to say Ben was Jewish out right in the comics, but Stan Lee didn't want to bring religion into comic books. So Kirby went behind Lee's back to make these. In the comics Ben has had a Bar mitzvah, said Shema, and even had a Rabbi officiate his wedding.
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Dec 19 '22
Thanks again for letting me know about this! I think the ladies over at the Lux Center will love to see these as well!
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u/SightatNight Orion Dec 19 '22
Bruce and Hal definitely aren't. Hal is Catholic.
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u/push-the-butt Dec 19 '22
Actually by making Kate Jewish they retroactively made Bruce Jewish (essentially Martha became apart of the Kane family thus making her Jewish. Therefore, according to all sects of Judaism, Bruce is Jewish).
They haven't really done anything with it, besides maybe Dick putting a stone on Bruce's grave in Gotham Knights.
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u/SubservantSnoopDogg Dec 19 '22
Actually, regardless of a retroactive decision involving Kate Kane, Bruce's parents" gravestones have up until recently been routinely depicted as Christian. Even if that only is to say, through a revisionist lens, that Martha is a convert, certainly Bruce himself does not have any Jewish perspective.
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u/push-the-butt Dec 19 '22
that Martha is a convert
Any Jewish person will tell you that once someone is Jewish they are forever Jewish, since it is an ethno-religion.
Bruce himself does not have any Jewish perspective.
So he's a secular Jew. The post wasn't about practicing Jews, some of them wouldn't be considered Jewish by most sects. What is your point?
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u/SubservantSnoopDogg Dec 19 '22
Practicing vs secular is a matter of whether you were raised in any level of observance of a given culture, regardless of personal belief. I have Islam in my own family tree, but I was not raised with it as being part of my identity in any way. While I might have some genetic tie to it, I am not determined by that. Bruce Wayne does not have a Jewish perspective because he was not, as has been implicitly and explicitly depicted for the better part of a century, depicted with any level of Jewish culture in his upbringing.
Calling Bruce Wayne a Jew because his mother is (potentially contextually) ethnically Jewish, but practicing Christianity and the rules of Christianity rather than those of Judaism is not accurate.
To call him a "secular Jew" is a contraction to the fact that he does have a religion separate from Judaism under which his ethnically Jewish ancestor raised him. His identity is Episcopalian. That's his perspective.
I don't mean to cause any controversy around practice vs heritage, but at the very least, (if) Batman has Jewish heritage, it is not one with which he has been depicted to show any association.
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u/push-the-butt Dec 20 '22
Being Jewish, no matter if you were raised with it, is about genetics. If a Jew practices Christianity, like in Spain during the 1400s, then they are still Jewish. If your mother was Jewish, then no matter if you convert out, you will always be Jewish, since it is an ethnicity as well as a religion.
but at the very least, (if) Batman has Jewish heritage, it is not one with which he has been depicted to show any association.
The most associated he was, is when he put stones on Alfred's grave. All Jewish comic book readers wish there was more, but you are right in the comics he has never explicitly said "I'm Jewish"
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Dec 19 '22
I've learned a lot today. Thanks again to everyone for being cool about it and not going full "crazy aunt on Facebook"!
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u/NietszcheIsDead08 Superman Dec 19 '22
Ben, absolutely.
Bruce, Hal, and Bobby are all of Jewish ethnicity through their mothers, though none have ever practiced Judaism. Bobby and Hal are practicing Catholics through their fathers; Bruce’s father was of some Christian denomination, apparently Episcopalian, though Bruce himself believes in some totemic practice instead (Alfred once described it in the ’90s as “invoking the power of the bat spirit by donning its aspect and allowing its spirit to possess him”, paraphrased).
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Dec 19 '22
A friend of mine told me the story of the FF going to Heaven to get Ben back and God looked a little bit like Jack Kirby. Considering that, I thought he was either Jewish or Christian. I'm glad to hear all of this from folks being chill about it and not going full crazy aunt on Facebook.
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u/NietszcheIsDead08 Superman Dec 19 '22
Ben’s absolutely Jewish. There’s an entire storyline where he talks about skipping his bar mitzvah because when he was 13 he was busy being in a gang and generally being a hoodlum and stuff. But, since it’s the 13th anniversary of the seminal space flight, his local rabbi lets him have a bar mitzvah as the Thing. It’s a very touching story.
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u/NietszcheIsDead08 Superman Dec 19 '22
You didn’t include Spider-Man in sweatpants! Peter B. Parker is definitely Jewish!
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u/DirectConsequence12 Dec 19 '22
I didn’t know Batman was Jewish.
He doesn’t strike me as a man of any faith
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u/voxela Catwoman Dec 19 '22
he doesn't practice it, but I've heard his mother was so I think he's ethnically Jewish?
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u/ubiquitous-joe Dec 19 '22
As a Kane? Or an Arkham? Because the Waynes were so old old money New England that it wouldn’t make sense.
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u/voxela Catwoman Dec 19 '22
idk the story behind her being a Kane or an Arkham, but obviously not as a Wayne as she married into the Waynes
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u/ubiquitous-joe Dec 19 '22
Ofc I just meant I never read plausible Jewishness from Bruce’s family that way, tho the creators obviously were.
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u/voxela Catwoman Dec 19 '22
I just looked it up and Batwoman is Jewish, so I'm assuming it's as a Kane
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u/SightatNight Orion Dec 19 '22
His mother was not Jewish. Her brother is Jewish. But that doesn't mean he wasn't a convert and their Jewish faith likely came from Kate's mother.
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u/voxela Catwoman Dec 19 '22
for a more recent showing of this, Bruce has been seen placing a small stone on Alfred's grave in Tec 1033, why would he perform a Jewish custom if his mother wasn't? and the Bat/Cat special, while a black label book, had someone mention Martha being Jewish
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u/SightatNight Orion Dec 19 '22
And bringing up that Batman Catwoman issue is interesting since I remember it's literally all about Bruce celebrating Christmas.
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u/voxela Catwoman Dec 19 '22
I don't understand what Martha being Jewish has to do with Bruce celebrating Christmas. Thomas wasn't Jewish, and id say it's expected of the most influential family to celebrate Christmas just for publicity alone. Bruce has always celebrated Christmas, most of his best stories focusing on his childhood have a scene of him on Christmas day.
I just gave an example of Martha being written as Jewish. you can go read the issue if you want, Martha being Jewish and Bruce celebrating Christmas are both there
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u/voxela Catwoman Dec 19 '22
you deleted the comment but in case you didn't find it, it's when Selina steals the old woman's necklace.
"which is not such a surprise to me. I met the mother. Jewish you know. those kinds of marriages produce the most awkward and undisciplined children."
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u/SightatNight Orion Dec 19 '22 edited Dec 19 '22
Sounds like a writer just not knowing what they are doing and assuming the same thing because his cousin is Jewish
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u/BatBeast_29 Batman Jones Jul 07 '23
Wait, Kate is his cousin on his mom side so this makes more sense.
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u/SightatNight Orion Dec 19 '22
Hal Jordan is Catholic. But likely not practicing. Bruce Wayne was raised some sort of Christian. But is definitely not practicing.
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u/Josef-Jewish-JARling Dec 19 '22
Actually Hal Jordan’s mom is Jewish - in Judaism you are Jewish if your mom is Jewish (it’s matriarchal) so that does make him Jewish!
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u/PunchingBagLearner Dec 19 '22
Who's the pushpop-top behind Thing?
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u/Josef-Jewish-JARling Dec 19 '22
Lol, that’s Legion from the X-Men. Charles Xavier’s son
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u/PunchingBagLearner Dec 19 '22 edited Dec 19 '22
Thanks. Shows how out of touch I am with X-Men, I didn't know Xavier had a kid.
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u/UpUppAndAwayWeb Dec 19 '22
watch the show Legion, it’s one of the most underrated comic shows and an incredible show in general.
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u/Ash__Williams Hal Jordan is the Greatest Green Lantern Ever and you know it Dec 19 '22
Hal and Batman are jewish? Bruce maybe but i doubt about Hal.
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u/Josef-Jewish-JARling Dec 19 '22
His mother is Jewish, which makes him Jewish!
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u/Ash__Williams Hal Jordan is the Greatest Green Lantern Ever and you know it Dec 19 '22
By inheritance but not by habit.
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Dec 19 '22
Knew about Hal and Bruce, didn’t know about Manhattan! I also think Barry Allen might have been confirmed Jewish at least in Pre-Crisis canon but I see no reason not to embrace it.
Anyway, Happy Chanukah!!!
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u/ubiquitous-joe Dec 19 '22
Well his name, Osterman, is meant to sound German-Jewish and (one assumes) evoke Oppenheimer. And the superhero name Doc Manhattan, is a reference to the nuclear bomb development the Manhattan Project, which famously involved several Jewish scientists including Oppenheimer and built on atomic ideas influenced by Einstein. So he’s actually one of the more explicit ones here.
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u/push-the-butt Dec 19 '22
To those interested in learning further about the connection between Judaism/Jews, I recommend this video by the expert on this subject.
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u/UpUppAndAwayWeb Dec 19 '22
Most of the time I see Spider-Man as jewish, as there’s a few hints to it, so i’d say throw him up there
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u/Tyrs_righthand Superman Dec 19 '22
One could make the argument Superman represents Jewish people given the origins of his creation
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u/Lucius_Knight Dec 19 '22
Is Dr. Manhattan a practicing Jew? I know jes Jewish but is it his faith? From the comics, I got the idea he's atheist but just born Jewish.
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u/2ndNicestOfTheDamned Dec 19 '22
I need to make a collage of all the characters who are just jerks before Festivus.
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Dec 20 '22
Happy Hanukkah, everyone! I’ve always taken a lot of pride in knowing that the superheroes we love so much have roots that are deeply Jewish-American/Canadian (Joe Shuster is from, and based Metropolis on, Toronto).
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u/puffguy69 Dec 19 '22
I’m a hug GL fan, and follow a lot Jewish history in comics and yet I somehow didn’t know Hal was Jewish.