Is superman Jewish? or Supermensch: the man of shtetl

Of course he is, according to Howard Jacobson in today’s radio 4 programme (you can listen to it for the next 7 days) and Tomes article. Jacobson gives us ample evidence of the Jewishness of Superman:

• Superman was created by two nice Jewish boys Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster in 1930s post-depression middle America. The comic book industry was dominated by Jews.
  
• Superman’s arrival and subsequent success is the story of Jewish immigration and achievements into the US. He is taken in by a kind couple in a strange land and given a chance to make good.
  
• His story is also the Moses story. Moses is rescued from the waters in a basket. Superman is rescued from a field in a basket-like spacecraft.
  
• He never forgets who he is: he is being a stranger and being at home simultaneously. This is the heart of Jewish tradition, where every Jew is a boundary crosser and Jews remember the stranger and themselves as strangers.
  
• The Jewish answer to Nietzsche’s superman who was above moral issues; Superman in contrast is immersed in moral issues.
  
• Jewish spiritual and mystic dimensions to Superman’s superpowers, such as the Golem, the creature formed out of clay who would throw himself off buildings and similar feats to protect the Jews of Prague; and the rabbis who were granted supernatural powers by virtue of their holiness.
  
• His being in the diaspora, his need for an alter ego and to fit in and be useful without being noticed is an allegory of Jewish assimilation (especially in the 1930s when anti-semitism in the US was rife.)
  
• Kal-El is Superman’s original, Hebrew-like name which was changed to Anglo-sounding Clark Kent as soon as he arrived in the US.
  
• Superman visits the bottled city of Kandor (the only remaining city of his home planet Krypton, shrunk and inside a bottle) just like diaspora Jews visit Israel.

Some more overtly Jewish superheros include MatzaWoman:

“After unknowingly eating an atomic matzah that was accidentally baked in a microwave oven with radioactive water, she was surprised to learn that she could fly, could turn invisible and had microwave vision and Hyperstrength. And best of all, NOTHING could hurt her…except being under water for more than 18 minutes!”