Welcome to Funny; They Don’t Look Jewish, “Where Judaism appears in the panels.” Our purpose is to find characters, stories and issues of comics that explore explicitly Jewish content.

In this episode Brandon and Henry wrap of their coverage of DC's The Golem!

Comics and TV covered in this episode:

Swamp Thing (Vol. 2) #153, Apr 1995

• “River Run, Chapter 2: Twilight of the Gods”
  • Written by Mark Millar
  • Penciled by Chris Weston
  • Inked by Kim DeMulder
  • Colored by Tatjana Wood
  • Lettered by Comicraft
  • Edited by Stuart Moore and Julie Rottenberg

Hellblazer #167, Oct 2001

• “Highwater, Conclusion”
  • Written by Brian Azzarrello
  • Penciled and inked by Marcelo Frusin
  • Colored by Zylonol
  • Lettered by Clem Robins
  • Edited by Will Dennis

Superboy, Season 3: Ep 14 - The Golem

• January 19, 1991
• Director: 
• Robert Wiemer
• Writer: 
• Paul Stubenrauch 
  • “An elderly Jewish man creates the mythical creature Golem to protect him from racial bigotry. But when Golem goes on a rampage, Superboy has to step in and save the day.”

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Welcome to Funny; They Don’t Look Jewish, “Where Judaism appears in the panels.” Our purpose is to find characters, stories and issues of comics that explore explicitly Jewish content.

In this episode Brandon and Henry move over to the "Distinguished Competition" of Marvel and cover DC Comics' The Golem! 

Comics covered in this episode:

Recap of Golems covered in DC:

• Golem (Moyshe Nakhman) - from Suicide Squad and Hayoth, already covered in episodes 15 and 16
• Golem II - first appeared in Ragman #2 (covered in Episode 7), but goes on to:
  • Ragman: Cry of the Dead #4-6 (1993)
  • Primal Force #0-14 (1994)
    • #14, Golem resurrected with TRUTH on forehead
• Golem (of Jewish legend) - Batman #551 (1998), covered in Episode 8
• Golem III - JSA Returns: Thrilling Comics #1 (May 1999)

Detective Comics #631, Jul 1991

• “The Golem of Gotham, Part 1”
  • Written by Peter Milligan
  • Penciled by Jim Apara
  • Inked by Mike DeCarlo
  • Colored by Adrienne Roy
  • Lettered by John Costanza
  • Edited by Dennis O’Neill and Kelley Puckett

Detective Comics #632, Aug 1991

• “The Golem of Gotham, Part 2”
  • Written by Peter Milligan
  • Penciled by Jim Aparo
  • Inked by Mike DeCarlo
  • Colored by Adrienne Roy
  • Lettered by John Costanza
  • Edited by Dennis O’Neill and Kelley Puckett
     

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Brandon and Henry revisit some more old friends! DC's Ragman and Marvel's Moon Knight! Special guest appearances by Batman and the Mishkan Chicago Davening Team!  Brandon and Henry gush over the wonderful writing of Sholly Fisch and also have one of their signature rants over BAD Jewish representation in comics. 

Comics covered: 

Ragman

The All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold (Vol. 1) #14

• “Small Miracles”
  • Written by Sholly Fisch
  • Penciled by Rick Burchett
  • Inked by Dan Davis
  • Colored by Guy Major
  • Lettered by Dezi Sienty
  • Edited by Jim Chadwick

•  Ragman (Vol. 3) #1-4 (2017-2018)
  • Written by: Ray Fawkes
  • Penciled and Inked by: Inaki Miranda
  • Colored by: Eva de la Cruz
  • Lettered by: Josh Reed
  • Edited by: Marie Javins and Diego Lopez

Moon Knight

Moon Knight #5 (Vol. 9, November 17, 2021)

• “Horoscope”
  • Written by: Jed Mackay
  • Penciled by: Alessandro Cappuccio
  • Colored by: Rachelle Rosenberg
  • Lettered by: VC’s Cory Petit
  • Edited by: Tom Brevoort

Thank you to Mishkan Chicago's Davening team for the Chanukah blessings. Check out their soundcloud for more great Jewish music!

Give a follow and start some conversation with us on Facebook and Twitter. 

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Brandon and Henry return after a brief hiatus and some special interview episodes with coverage of some heroes we've already covered!  What?! Already covered?! Since we've started the podcast there have been more instances of explicit Jewish content for characters we've covered. We'll be revisiting our favs, The Thing and Kitty Pryde! We also have a hot take on John Lennon's Imagine, call out some creators for some bad Jewish representation and point the mirror at ourselves for our podcast title!

Thank you to Mishkan Chicago's Soundcloud for their recording of Debbie Friedman's "Mi Sheberach." Check them out at https://soundcloud.com/mishkan-chicago/mi-sheberach

Thank you Rabbi Aryeh Bernstein for a spicy take! 

Comics covered:

Fantastic Four #538 (June 2006)

• “Street Fighting”
  • Written by J. Michael Straczynski
  • Pencilled by Mike McKone
  • Inked by Andy Lanning, Kris Justice, and Cam Smith
  • Colored by Paul Mounts
  • Lettered by VC’s Russ Wooton
  • Edited by Tom Brevoort

Black Cat #4 (Sep 2019)

• “Yancy St. Shuffle”
  • Written by Jed MacKay
  • Pencilled by Travel Foreman
  • Colored by Brian Reber
  • Lettered by Ferran Delgado
  • Edited by Nick Lowe

Immortal Hulk #41 (December 2020)

• “The Man Downstairs”
  • Written by Al Ewing
  • Pencilled by Joe Bennett
  • Inked by Ruy Jose and Belardino Brabo
  • Colored by Paul Mounts
  • Lettered by VC’s Cory Petit
  • Edited by Will Moss

Age of X-Man: Apocalypse & the X-Tracts #1, 2, 4, 5 (Mar-July 2019)

• Written by Tim Seeley
• Pencilled by Salva Espin
• Colored by Israel Silva
• Lettered by VC’s Travis Lankam
• Edited by Jordan D. White

Marauders #11 (Aug 2020)

• “Pour One Out”
  • Written by Gerry Duggan
  • Pencilled by Stefano Caseli
  • Colored by Edgar Delgado
  • Lettered by VC’s Cory Petit
  • Designed by Tom Muller
  • Edited by Jordan D. White

Marauders #12 (Sep 2020)

• “The New Phase”
  • Written by Gerry Duggan
  • Pencilled by Matteo Lolli
  • Colored by Edgar Delgado
  • Lettered by VC’s Cory Petit
  • Designed by Tom Muller
  • Edited by Jordan D. White

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We are so thrilled to share with you our interview with Jerry Ordway from July 15, 2021. Jerry talked about a myriad of topics including, inclusion in comics, religious upbringing, editorial battles, Superman, Infinity Inc, Gangbuster, Bibbo, Proton (creator-owned) and so much more! 

https://jewishcomicspod.simplecast.com/ 

https://twitter.com/JewishComicsPod 

https://www.facebook.com/jewishcomicspod/

Check out more from Mr. Ordway at https://ordstersrandomthoughts.blogspot.com/ and his amazing podcast  https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/thepowercosmic

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Live at Congregation B'Nai Tikvah's HANNUKON, Henry had the wonderful opportunity to interview Roy Schwartz, author of Is Superman Circumcised? The Complete Jewish History of the World's Greatest Hero.

Henry and Roy talked about Siegel and Shuster, the birth of DC comics, Nazism, Jack The King Kirby, Passover, Richard Donner and more! Check it out. This was a good one!

You can find Roy at https://www.royschwartz.com/ 

https://www.amazon.com/Superman-Circumcised-Complete-History-Greatest/dp/1476662908

And on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @realroyschwartz

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Brandon and Henry do a deep dive into future Black Adam star, Atom Smasher aka Nuklon aka Albert Rothstein. We welcomed our first guest, none other than the legendary creator JERRY ORDWAY! 

In this very special episode we talked to the co-creator (along with Roy Thomas), Jerry Ordway! Jerry is best known for his lengthy run as the writer/artist on Superman but here we got to dig a little deeper with him on Nuklon!

We also cover many issues:

Infinity Inc. #48, March 1988 

• “The Making of a Man”
  • Written by Roy Thomas and Dann Thomas
  • Penciled by Vince Argondezzi
  • Inked by Tony DeZuniga
  • Colored by Liz Berube
  • Lettered by Jean Simek
  • Edited by Roy Thomas

CONTENT WARNING: The next several issues were written by Gerard Jones. Jones is currently serving a 6 year prison sentence for, "Possession of images of child sexual abuse." Other than officially denouncing him, and making a brief mention we do not talk about him personally but we do cover his issues. 

Justice League America #95, January 1995 “Where the Wild Things Are”

Justice League America #109, March 1996  “All That Yazz”

Justice League America #110, April 1996  “New Devils for Old”

Justice League America #112, July 1996  “The Purge, Chapter 2: To Say Goodbye”

Justice League America #113, August 1996  “The Purge, Chapter 3: To All Our Company”

• Written by Gerard Jones
• Penciled by Chuck Wojtkiewicz (voit-KEV-itch)
• Inked by Bob Dvorak
• Colored by Gene D’Angelo
• Lettered by Clem Robins
• Edited by Brian Augustyn and Ruben Diaz

Justice League Unlimited #16, December 2005 

• “Smashing Through the Snow!”
  • Written by Adam Beechen
  • Penciled by Carlo Barberi
  • Inked by Jim Royal
  • Colored by Heroic Age
  • Lettered by Travis Lanham
  • Edited by Tom Palmer, Jr.

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1. Iceman #1, December 1984

• Bobby Drake
  • First appearance: X-Men #1 (Sep 1963)
  • Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

2. Arsenic -Gertrude Yorkes

• X-Men/Runaways (FCBD), May 2006 - art by Skottie Young

3. Mettle 

• Avengers Academy #5, October 2010

4. Sasquatch 

• The Infinity Crusade #1, June 1993

5. Wiccan

• Uncanny X-Men #526 (July 2010) (Allan Heinberg)
• Avengers: The Children’s Crusade (November 2010)
• New Avengers (Vol. 4) #3 (Nov 2015) (Al Ewing)

6. Doc Samson

• Incredible Hulk #143, September 1971
  • “Sanctuary!”
    • Written by Roy Thomas
    • Penciled by Dick Ayers 
    • Inked by John Severin
    • Lettered by Sam Rosen
    • Edited by Stan Lee
• Incredible Hulk #373, September 1990
  • “Mending Fences”
    • Written by Peter David
    • Penciled by Dale Keown 
    • Inked by Sam de la Rosa
    • Colored by Glynis Oliver
    • Lettered by Joe Rosen
    • Edited by Bobbie Chase
• Marvel Holiday Special 1992, January 1993
  • “Revisionist History”
    • Written by Peter David
    • Penciled by John Hebert
    • Inked by Mike Decarlo
    • Colored by Glynis Oliver
    • Lettered by Brady Joyce
    • Edited by Renee Witterstaetter

7. White Tiger - Casper Kole

• Black Panther Vol. 3 #56, May 2003 
• “Black and White Part 6: Ol’ Boy Enters the Life”
  • Written by Christopher Priest
  • Penciled by Jim Calafiore
  • Inked by Mark McKenna
  • Colored by Jennifer Schellinger
  • Lettered by Paul Tutrone
  • Edited by Mike Marts

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We'll be looking at:

Sandman Mystery Theatre #39, June 1996
“The Mist: Act Three of Four”
Written by Matt Wagner and Steven T. Seagle
Penciled and inked by Guy Davis
Colored by David Homung
Lettered by John Costanza
Edited by Karen Berger and Keri Kowalski

Sandman Mystery Theatre #40
July 1996
“The Mist: Act Four of Four”
Written by Matt Wagner and Steven T. Seagle
Penciled and inked by Guy Davis
Colored by David Homung
Lettered by John Costanza
Edited by Karen Berger and Keri Kowalski

Vertigo Winter's Edge #1
“Spirit of the Season”
Written by Matt Wagner and Steven T. Seagle
Pencilled and inked by John K. Snyder III
Colored by Bjarne Hansen
Edited by Karen Berger

You can follow along with the comics here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=jewishcomicspod&set=a.2364874963636107

Many thanks to NPR: https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2019/02/20/695941323/when-nazis-took-manhattan

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Brandon and Henry wrap up their discussion of Rabbi Ramban! Possibly FTDLJ's favorite super-hero to date!

We look at issues:

Suicide Squad #63, Mar 1992
“True Minds”
Written by John Ostrander and Kim Yale
Penciled by Geof Isherwood
Inked by Robert Companella and Andrew Pepoy
Colored by Tom McCraw
Lettered by Todd Klein
Edited by Dan Raspler

The Spectre (Vol. 3) #15, Feb 1994
“Old Blood”
Written by John Ostrander
Penciled and Inked by Tom Mandrake
Inked by Robert Companella and Andrew Pepoy
Colored by Carla Feeny and Digital Chameleon
Lettered by Todd Klein
Edited by Dan Raspler and Peter Tomasi

The Spectre (Vol. 3) #16, Mar 1994
“Call for Blood”
Written by John Ostrander
Penciled by Jim Aparo
Inked by Kelley Jones
Inked by Robert Companella and Andrew Pepoy
Colored by Carla Feeny and Digital Chameleon
Lettered by Todd Klein
Edited by Dan Raspler and Peter Tomasi

The Spectre (Vol. 3) #17, Apr 1994
“Into the Dark Side”
Written by John Ostrander
Penciled and Inked by Tom Mandrake
Inked by Robert Companella and Andrew Pepoy
Colored by Carla Feeny and Digital Chameleon
Lettered by Todd Klein
Edited by Dan Raspler and Peter Tomasi

You can follow along with the comics here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=jewishcomicspod&set=a.2365063246950612

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We're covering Ramban! That's right Ramban, no not the medieval Jewish commentator but the DC hero appearing in Suicide Squad! RAMBAN!

Suicide Squad #45, Sept 1990
“The Jerusalem Serpent”
Written by John Ostrander and Kim Yale
Penciled and Inked by Geof Isherwood
Colored by Carl Gafford
Lettered by Todd Klein
Edited by Dan Raspler

Suicide Squad #46, Oct 1990
“Choice of Evils”
Written by John Ostrander and Kim Yale
Penciled by Luke McDonnell
Inked by Geof Isherwood
Colored by Carl Gafford
Lettered by Todd Klein
Edited by Dan Raspler

Suicide Squad #47, Nov 1990
“Choice of Dooms”
Written by John Ostrander and Kim Yale
Penciled and Inked by Geof Isherwood
Colored by Tom McCraw
Lettered by Todd Klein
Edited by Dan Raspler

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Back in July 2020, Brandon and Henry were welcomed by the Association of Jewish Libraries to present at their Digital conference. Originally the conference was supposed to take place in person, in Evanston, IL. Obviously, because of the pandemic it was moved to Zoom. This was a unique opportunity to share the world of Judaism and Comic books with people who deal with books on a daily basis. Brandon and Henry first shared highlights of the podcast, spotlighting The Thing, Batwoman and Kitty Pryde, followed by all of the Jewish references to Colossal Boy including a live reading of TEEN TITANS GO! #49.

Rundown of the episode below:

1. The Thing vol 2 #8 (2006) - The Thing's Bar-Mitzvah
2. Detective Comics #860 (2009) - Batwoman and her Jewish table
3. X-Men Unlimited #38 (2002) Kitty Pryde Lighting a Yahrtzeit candle
4. Legion of Super-Heroes and Paul Levitz bio
5. Colossal Boy - DC Special Series #21 (1979), Secrets of the Legion of Super-Heroes (Vol. 1) #1 (1980), Legion of Super-Heroes (Vol. 2) #308 (1984), Legion of Super-Heroes (Vol. 6) #6 (2010)
6. Live reading of Teen Titans Go! #49, November 2017
   “Oil’s Well”

   Written by Sholly Fisch

   Penciled and Inked by Lea Hernandez

   Colored by Bob Sharen

   Lettered by Wes Abbott

   Edited by Kristy Quinn


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Brandon and Henry continue the coverage of the various Golems in Marvel Comics! 

Comics  (and more) covered:

Invaders #13, Nov 1976

• “The Golem Walks Again” 
  • Written by Roy Thomas and Ed Summer
  • Penciled by Frank Robbins
  • Inked by Frank Springer 
  • Colored by George Roussos
  • Lettered by John Costanza
  • Edited by Roy Thomas

Invaders (Vol. 2) #2, Apr 1993

• “Havoc in Hollywood!” 
  • Written by Roy Thomas
  • Penciled by Dave Hoover
  • Inked by Brian Garvey 
  • Colored by Paul Becton
  • Lettered by Pat Brosseau
  • Edited by Mike Rockwitz

4 #22, Sep 2005

• “The Yancy Street Golem”
  • Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
  • Penciled by Valentine DeLandro
  • Inked by Frank Springer 
  • Colored by Avalon's Dan Kemp
  • Lettered by VC's Dave Sharpe
  • Edited by Warren Simons

The Simpsons: Season 18, Episode 4 - Treehouse of Horror XVII: "You Gotta Know When To Golem

Written by Peter Gaffney and Directed by David Silverman and Matthew C. Faughnan

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In this episode we conclude our discussion of the Israeli super-hero, SABRA!

We go back to Sabra's second appearance in

Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions Vol 1 #2
Published
July, 1982
"Frenzy in the Frozen North!"
Writer Mark Gruenwald, Bill Mantlo
Steven Grant
Penciler John Romita Jr.
Inker Pablo Marcos
Colourist Michele Wolfman
Christie Scheele
LettererJoe Rosen
EditorMark Gruenwald
Tom DeFalco

Followed by a story from two issues:

New Warriors #58, April 1995
“Shalom, Shalom (Goodbye, Peace)”
Written by Evan Skolnick
Penciled by Patrick Zircher
Inked by Bruce Patterson and Andrew Pepoy
Colored by Joe Rosas
Lettered by John Costanza
Edited by Tom Brevoort

New Warriors #59, May 1995
“Radicals”
Written by Evan Skolnick
Penciled by Patrick Zircher
Inked by Sam de la Rosa and Russ Sever
Colored by Joe Rosas
Lettered by John Costanza
Edited by Tom Brevoort

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In this episode Brandon and Henry travel to Israel (via Zoom) to meet the Israeli and Jewish, SABRA!
Brandon and Henry have their first episode over Zoom since shelter in place started. We discuss a character we don't know that much about but are learning a ton! Sabra appears in three HULK issues here, spanning 2 decades.

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We conclude our deep dive of MOON KNIGHT! We discuss the very dark but fascinating story in Moon Knight #194 written by pop-punk singer and comic book writer, Max Bemis

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Our tenth episode! A full set of Kabbalistic Sefirot!
This is Part 2 of our exploration of Moon Knight. We look at Moon Knight #38, part 2 of the story of the villain Zohar!

Moon Knight #38, July 1984

“Final Rest”

*- Written by Alan Zelenetz

• Penciled by Bo Hampton
• Inked by Armando Gil
• Colored by Christie Scheele
• Lettered by Joe Rosen
• Edited by Denny O’Neill*

Incredible cover that seems to have concentric circles of Hebrew text
Looks like an amulet

Page 1
Our hooded figure lays out Rabbi Spector’s body
“Master, thy soul has shed its skin and ascended the ten spheres to union with God. Thence hast thou returned to thy disciple with the hidden wisdom of angel and seraph… from thee, Elias Spector, I have learned the Lord’s names of power to summon forth the Divine Spark from within my mortal form. Such secrets must remain mine alone and none others. Now, as Zohar, I shall illumine truth and scourge the sinful in God’s name, bringing atonement and a cleansing to this world.”
I LOVE THIS
10 spheres = Sefirot
But what about Kaddish and soul taking time to ascend?
Wisdom of angel and seraph - reminds me of heichalot lit
God’s names having power
Zohar - central text of Kabbalah - literally splendor

Page 3
Marc goes after Curly, the gangster the hoodlums named last issue
“I’m the angel of death, beer-belly. You don’t want to make me angry.”

Page 8
Mr. Weiss drops by the Spector home to pick up the Rabbi’s books and papers
All donated to the seminary
“Most of these manuscripts are one of a kind, aren’t they?”

Page 9
Marlene looks at a photo of Elias with his students. Elias in a chair, all his students standing behind him
Traditional Jewish learning
Megillah 21a explains a teacher should sit on the ground while disciples stand around him
Zohar is stealing materials, including an actual scroll

Page 10
“In the name of heaven, do you think Zohar will allow this mystic wisdom to pass into the hands of the sinful and ignorant? Know the divine spark of justice, mortal woman--”
He shoots electric blasts at her
Spark of justice - Din of the sefirot is the one most inclined towards sitra achra, the other side
Ezekiel 1:4
וָאֵ֡רֶא וְהִנֵּה֩ ר֨וּחַ סְעָרָ֜ה בָּאָ֣ה מִן־הַצָּפ֗וֹן עָנָ֤ן גָּדוֹל֙ וְאֵ֣שׁ מִתְלַקַּ֔חַת וְנֹ֥גַֽהּ ל֖וֹ סָבִ֑יב וּמִ֨תּוֹכָ֔הּ כְּעֵ֥ין הַחַשְׁמַ֖ל מִתּ֥וֹךְ הָאֵֽשׁ׃
I looked, and lo, a stormy wind came sweeping out of the north—a huge cloud and flashing fire, surrounded by a radiance; and in the center of it, in the center of the fire, a gleam as of amber.
Maimonides identifies Chashmalim as the fourth rank of angelic hierarchy
Word used in Modern Hebrew for electricity

Page 12
Zohar has written אמת on Elias’ forehead
“The secrets are safe with me, father of my soul, and through them mankind shall be brought to do penance.”
Christian term
Marc and Marlene go to the seminary library at Rabbi Reuben Davis’ request
Wind up chatting with Mr. Weiss
Declares Elias as world’s expert in Kabbalah
Marlene asks what Kabbalah is
Marc doesn’t know, he resisted Jewish “religious” studies

Page 13
Mr. Weiss starts explaining Kabbalah
“You see, those initiated in the secret traditions claim to own passwords that open the gates of heaven to the soul searching for its creator.”
Again, this is heichalot literature. Meditative ascent
Between late antiquity and early Middle Ages (3rd century to 6th or 7th?)
Hekhalot Rabbati (“Greater Palaces”), detailing the ascent of Rabbi Ishmael
This is the most solid Jewish mysticism in a comic book we have encountered. Beats Rucka
“Union with God brings great bliss and knowledge. But it can also lead to madness. Some have attempted to wield magic power through Kabbalah, to pervert the knowledge of God to selfish ends.”
Hagigah 14b: Four men entered the pardes — Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Acher, and Rabbi Akiva. Ben Azzai looked and died; Ben Zoma looked and went mad; Acher destroyed the plants; Akiva entered in peace and departed in peace.
Long a concern of such perversion, rabbinic hesitance to looking behind the veil
Marlene asks why someone would desecrate a grave
“The soul of a dead man, free of the body, journeys to God more easily than a living man’s soul. There are legends suggesting that a soul can be brought back to its dead body by necromancy and made to utter its knowledge of God to a living Kabbalist.”
Practical Kabbalah = essentially magic
Writes of forbidden and permitted activities
“This is the word EMETH, ‘truth’ in Hebrew. INscribing it on the forehead of one dead and reciting appropriate spells is believed to bring the breath of life back into its form.”
That form being, essentially, a golem

Page 14
“The body can be returned to death by erasing the first letter, which leaves the word METH or ‘dead’ in Hebrew”
Marlene attends a Kabbalah lecture with Mr. Weiss
Marc goes to the “seminary chapel”

Page 15
Zohar shows up, citing Deuteronomy 21:18
Ben sorer u’moreh
“It is written, a wayward and rebellious son shall be put to death that you might rid yourselves of evil in your midst.”
Sanhedrin 68b - limiting of a possible ben sorer u’moreh
From when he grows two pubic hairs, which are a sign of puberty and from which time he is considered an adult, until he has grown a beard around. The reference here is to the lower beard surrounding his genitals, and not the upper beard, i.e., his facial hair, but the Sages spoke in euphemistic terms. As it is stated: “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son” (Deuteronomy 21:18), which indicates that the penalty for rebelliousness is imposed upon a son, but not upon a daughter; and upon a son, but not upon a fully grown man. A minor under the age of thirteen is exempt from the penalty imposed upon a stubborn and rebellious son, because he has not yet reached the age of inclusion in mitzvot.
משיביא שתי שערות ועד שיקיף זקן התחתון ולא העליון אלא שדברו חכמים בלשון נקיה שנאמר (דברים כא, יח) כי יהיה לאיש בן בן ולא בת בן ולא איש קטן פטור שלא בא לכלל מצות:
Zohar again cites the Isaiah 1:18 motivation of cleansing sinners through punishment
Marc realizes the same quote is from Reuben Davis’ eulogy....
“Thou shalt honor thy father”

Page16
“I have become as a God to mete out justice in the name of the Creator”

Page 17
“For the suffering Zohar inflicts upon your body, your soul will be redeemed.”
Connected to concepts of Gehenna, of suffering to redeem a soul
Zohar either psychically moves or materializes stained glass ark that he shatters over Marc
Wishes to continue, lest the ignorant learn the names of God

Page 18
Mr. Weiss giving a lecture on Kabbalah
Pointing to an image of the sefirotic tree behind him
Writes גדולה in place of חסד or רחמים
A: this allows for direct parallel with גבורה
B: I Chronicles 29:11 - lecha Adonai hagedulah...
“It is a fundamental belief among Kabbalists that the Tetragrammaton and other secret names of God are the most powerful tools for conjuring occult forces and commanding nature itself.”
Marlene thinks she hasn’t been this fascinated since first learning hieroglyphics
How does this relate to the tension of the very Jewish Moon Knight being in service to the Egyptian God?
Jewish slaves in Egypt
Word Balloon Podcast May 1, 2017, Dan Slott Part 2 Talks Secret Empire Silver Surfer Silk’s Origin
31:05-32:02 - “It took until Moon Knight...when you think about it, is the worst Jewish character”

Page 19
Zohar attacks the seminary students who fight back
Zohar keeps citing verses
Seems to cite Proverbs 10:6, 10:8
“Violence filleth the mouth of the wicked, but the prating fool shall fall”

Page 24
MK uses a mirror to reflect a blast back at Zohar

Page 25
“Father of my soul, I, who have slain the evil son of your loins, call thee up against this stranger… with the charmed vowels of the Tetragrammaton, KELSHADDAY”
El Shadday is not Tetragrammaton. IS a name of God
But I LOVE that he write KEL
Suddenly Elias Spector’s corpse rises up

Page 26
Elias goes to choke his son
Marc thinks he’ll die before laying hands on his father again
Asks dad for forgiveness

Page 27
Marlene runs in, erases the aleph
Elias starts to fall

Page 28
Marc mentions feeling like a new person
Seems like a play on multiple identities
But also a possibility that Zohar was victorious in redeeming him?
Has he performed teshuva?
Hilchot Teshuva 2:4
Among the paths of repentance is for the penitent ...to change his name, as if to say "I am a different person and not the same one who sinned;"
מִדַּרְכֵי הַתְּשׁוּבָה...וּמְשַׁנֶּה שְׁמוֹ כְּלוֹמַר אֲנִי אַחֵר וְאֵינִי אוֹתוֹ הָאִישׁ שֶׁעָשָׂה אוֹתָן הַמַּעֲשִׂים

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Moon Knight (1980) #37
Published:
May 01, 1984
Writer:
Alan Zelenetz
Penciler:
Bo Hampton
Cover Artist:
Michael Kaluta
At long last…the secret history of Marc Spector’s father! Plus, a reveal at the end of this issue that will leave you gob smacked!

Follow along with the issue with this link -
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Writer Alan Zelenetz, before becoming a film producer, he was a junior high school principal at the Yeshiva of Flatbush, an Orthodox Jewish school in Brooklyn. One of the science teachers under his supervision was the father of Darren Aronofsky, director of Pi (1998).

BRANDON'S NOTES:

BB Notes on Moon Knight Episode

History of Moon Knight - Brandon
First Appearance: Werewolf by Night #32 (august 1975)
Marc Spector - a marine-turned-mercenary left for dead in Egypt. Resurrected by the Egyptian God of the moon, Khonshu.
Identities
Start off as just guises, retconned into multiple personalities
Dissociative Identity Disorder
Steven Grant - wealthy
Jake Lockley - a cab driver
Allies
Jean-Paul “Frenchie” DuChamp - pilot
Marlene - longtime lover
Brandon- Interview from Comic Foundry (Tim Leong), a conversation between Doug Moench and Charlie Huston (Moon Knight Volume 5, 2006-9)
https://www.cbr.com/comic-book-legends-revealed-553/3/
Getting back to how much was accidental and incremental, the other thing is, I had a habit of naming characters in stories after friends, and it started spreading. And soon I had people coming to me saying, “When are you going to name a character after me?” So I used to go to Ed Summer’s comic shop, I think it was called Comic Snipe? Something Snipe. It was the best comic shop in Manhattan at the time. And one of the guys that worked there was Marc Spector.

And he was saying, “When are you going to name a character after me?” So then I was trying to figure out this villain for “Werewolf by Night.” What am I going to call him? I’ll name him after Marc Spector. Then it turned out Marc Spector was Jewish. Ah, I guess this is a Jewish name. Well, I guess I just made up the first Jewish costumed hero. So maybe I should research some Judaism and stuff about the Mideast and Mossad and all this other stuff, and that’s where all that stuff came from.

MOENCH: It was all an accident. I didn’t say, “I’m going to sit down and create a Jewish character.”
The second series was Marc Spector: Moon Knight, initially written by Chuck Dixon. Dixon blogged in the 2000’s
When I wrote Moon Knight over at Marvel I wanted to explore the fact that Marc Spector was Jewish. I was uncomfortable with the fact that a Jew wielded a power born of Egyptian myth. I wanted to deal with this in a storyline. My editor told me to ignore that aspect of his personality. And I was told this by an editor who is a Jew. Is there something in the mind of comics fandom and professionals that finds religion repugnant? Or are they simply avoiding the familiar?

Moon Knight #37, May 1984
“Red Sins”
Written by Alan Zelenetz
Penciled by Bo Hampton
Inked by Armando Gil
Colored by Ben Sean
Lettered by Joe Rosen
Edited by Denny O’Neill
RABBI Alan Zelentz
Formerly principal of Torah and General Studies of the Yeshivah of Flatbush Middle School and principal of the Solomon Schechter High School of Brooklyn
Currently Director of the Idea School Institute
Page 1 - Rabbi dying in the hospital
Page 3 - Balfus Hospital in Chicago!
Made up hospital
Page 5
Marc’s parents came to U.S. from Czechoslovakia after Hitler
“Knew the Bible and Talmud by heart before he was fifteen, was ordained a rabbi at eighteen, and went on to become a brilliant scholar in the Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism. In America, he was lucky just to be alive.”
Grew up on the “poor side” of Chicago
Father beaten up by a gang that carve swastika into his forehead
Picture of young Marc in kippa
“But why? Why were you a coward?” “God will punish them. We’ve enough red sins of our own to atone for. I leave justice to God.”
Frequent critique levied against rabbinic Jews. Is Moon Knight a Zionist “New Jew”?
Page 6
Appointment to the faculty of the theological seminary, wants Marc to enroll
Have they gone to JTS? Or does this mean Chicago?
Likely a reference to the Hebrew Theological College, aka “Skokie Yeshiva” (est. 1921)
Moved to Skokie in 1958 from North Lawndale
Father discovers his son has taken up boxing. Discovers him, tries to talk him out of it
Page 7
Marc punches his own father in the ring
“You want to be an animal, go -- be an animal. But not in my house, not with my blessing, never as my son.”
Pirkei Avot 2:5 - Hillel would say
וּבְמָקוֹם שֶׁאֵין אֲנָשִׁים, הִשְׁתַּדֵּל לִהְיוֹת אִישׁ:
Page 8
Marlene tries to convince Steve to make amends
Moon Knight patrols the Lower East Side where his aunt used to live
Page 9
A synagogue is burning!
Top two panels show a beautifully drawn shul
Fairly generic, might be Kehila Kedosha Janina
A man in a green kippa ran into building to save a Torah scroll
Moon Knight: “The five books of Moses. He put his life on the line for this.”
Page 10
Reflects his father would have also risked his life to save a Torah, but wouldn’t put up a fight
Painted swastika on the door
Moon Knight’s off to hunt some Nazis….
Page 12
“It’s not enough to leave justice to God’s sweet time.”
Page 13-14
Moon Knight confronting the hatemongers
“This here’s private property--”
“So’s the synagogue you turned into a flaming Holocaust, you rotten son of a pig!”
“Hey, what’s a Jew church to you?”
As Moon Knight holds a guy out the window by his ankles: “I belong with the persecuted.”
Page 16
Moon Knight was especially violent. Detective says he woulda charged cops with police brutality
I wonder why MK is so upset in this situation…
First glimpse into his Jewish identity
This gets him to book tickets to Chicago
Page 17
Marc gets back in time for his father’s funeral
It’s so quick! Kavod hamet
Marlene and Marc walking in, no gender separation though the physicality reads Orthodox
A man approaches Marc with a kippa in hand
“Excuse me, sir, would you mind covering your head?”
Rabbi Elias Spector
“To pay final tribute to rabbi Elias Spector, of sainted memory, who has been called from among us this day...that his eternal soul might bask in the heavenly glory of God”
So Christian sounding in English
Likely said zecher tzadik livracha
Page 18
Eulogy delivered over image of Rabbi Spector pouring over Hebrew books
One has on the cover ליער
“In his religious and mystical studies, Elias Spector struggled for the knowledge to see beyond the physical, to know the universe as a reflection of the Divine Image... and to see mankind redeemed as is written in the visions of Isaiah -- Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
Isaiah 1:18
I learned in school the importance of checking surrounding verses of a prooftext
Isaiah 1:15-17
And when you lift up your hands, I will turn My eyes away from you; Though you pray at length, I will not listen. Your hands are stained with crime—Wash yourselves clean; Put your evil doings Away from My sight. Cease to do evil; Learn to do good. Devote yourselves to justice; Aid the wronged. Uphold the rights of the orphan; Defend the cause of the widow.Surrounding verses are pretty
awesome
Then goes into Psalm 23
Page 19
Meet the Rabbi, Reuben Davis - a student of Rabbi Spector’s
Marc has been separated 18 years - significant?
Page 20
Marc goes to visit his father’s grave, discovers a vandal spraypainting a swastika
Page 22
A thug LIFTS A JEWISH GRAVESTONE FROM THE GROUND
Marc and Marlene defeat the punks
Discover someone paid them to desecrate the graves…
And that father’s grave is empty
Page 23
We see a hooded figure in purple robes, who looks like a purple KKK member
Over the casket of Rabbi Spector

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TRIGGER WARNING - Please note, in this episode we discuss the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh, PA along with a few other instances of hate crimes perpetrated towards Jews.

In this episode we complete our exploration of the VERY Jewish RAGMAN!

Batman #551, 1998
“Suit of Evil Souls”
Written by Doug Moench
Drawn by Kelley Jones
Inked by John Beatty

Colored by Gregory Wright and Android Images
Lettered by Todd Klein
Edited by Dennis O'Neil and Jordan B. Gorfinkel

Batman #552, 1998
“The Greatest Evil”
Written by Doug Moench
Drawn by Kelley Jones
Inked by John Beatty
Colored by Gregory Wright and Android Images
Lettered by Todd Klein
Edited by Dennis O'Neil and Jordan B. Gorfinkel

Ragman: Suit of Souls #1, Dec 2010
“Tattered Remnants”
Written by Christos Gage
Drawn and inked by Stephen Segovia
Colored by David Curiel
Lettered by Rob Leigh
Edited by Joey Cavalieri and Chris Conroy

Shadowpact #8, 2018
“Ragtime”
Written by Bill Willingham
Drawn by Shawn McManus
Inked by Raul Fernandez
Colored by Mike Atiyeh
Lettered by Pat Brosseau
Edited by Joey Cavalieri

BRANDON'S NOTES:

Batman #551, 1998
“Suit of Evil Souls”
Written by Doug Moench
Drawn by Kelley Jones
Inked by John Beatty
Colored by Gregory Wright and Android Images
Lettered by Todd Klein
Edited by Dennis O'Neil and Jordan B. Gorfinkel
Page 2
Batman hunts Hitler Youth swastika tattooed man
Member of the Aryan Reich
"You murdered Benjamin Mizrahi! Half the Congregation of Temple Beth Israel saw you!... why did you hate him?"
"He was a Jew! And Jews take over everything-- even this stinkin' slum!"
Temple Beth Israel
There's an M.O. Congregation Beth Israel West Side Jewish Center at 34th and 9th Ave (1925 built current building - Hell's Kitchen!)
There's Temple Beth Israel in Port Washington, NY (Nassau county Long Island, Conservative, building opened in 1960)
How satisfying to see Batman beat up Neo Nazis
Page 4
Jewish cemetery
Page 5-6
Rory Regan meets the victim's rabbi, Isaac Ben Luria
Rory is wearing a kippa!
A shooting on "the Sabbath" outside the synagogue
...oy, Pittsburgh, Poway
Humboldt Street Synagogue in Halle, Germany
Someone throws a brick through the shul window
Page 11
"A new shred of the Ragman… forever bonded by a protective shem."
Emet written in wrong direction (top to bottom, tav first)
Page 12
Radio interview between Vesper Fairchild and Dr. David Levy on anti-semitism
Diaspora
I guess that's one word for the exiles
Lachrymose Conception of Jewish History - Salo Baron, 20th Century historian, taught at Columbia University, opposed this concept
Should have ended with the creation of modern Israel
Seems to be a summary of the thought behind Zionism. That if Jews became like the rest of the world…
Page 13
"The scriptures speak of a 'dispersion of divine light' throughout the universe -- and this has been interpreted, on a human level, as the purpose behind the constant wandering of the Jews… dispersing and disseminating the truth of God throughout the world."
Seems to be a possible reading of Lurianic Kabbalah, in which mitzvot help restore shattered vessels
Carl Friedman's 1993 novel, The Shovel and the Loom. Character Chaya studies Luria
"With the dispersion of the divine light began the Diaspora of the Jews, whose task it was to gather the stray sparks and in that way restore the cosmos to its former perfection… Under the influence of Luria, the Diaspora became a positive force, the condition for, as well as introduction to, Olam HaBa, the World to Come. The person of the Messiah became less important. The crucial thing was to prepare the way."
Light unto the nations?
Isaiah 42:6 I the LORD have called unto you in righteousness, and have taken hold of your hand, and submitted you as the people's covenant, as a light unto the nations
Mentions xenophobia, how kashrut may be to discourage socialization with other peoples
Page 14
Vesper asks if that means Jews are also xenophobic
Dr. Levy says the traditions derive from God's law
Page 15
Review of golem, meaning "body without soul"
Kind of…it's inchoate form, mass without animating force
Review of Ragman mini
Page 18
"Know that we shall seek God together- through piety and prayer, humility... and love.

Batman #552, 1998
“The Greatest Evil”
Written by Doug Moench
Drawn by Kelley Jones
Inked by John Beatty
Colored by Gregory Wright and Android Images
Lettered by Todd Klein
Edited by Dennis O'Neil and Jordan B. Gorfinkel
Page 6
Aryan Reich attacks Rabbi Luria, "and this ain't Israel!
Rabbi Luria is unphased, claiming no fear or hate
Claims Jews tricked America into joining the wrong side, "but America's changed, Jew, and now you're"
Terrifyingly relevant
Page 7
Rory asks rabbi to use fire from a menorah
come on, Rory
Page 8
"It is said that the sound of smashing glass chases away demons and evil spirits!"
wedding
Rosh Hashanah 16b - why blow the shofar? To confuse Satan
Chullin 105b - Rav Ashi uses horns to excommunicate a demon (מזיקין)
Page 9
A single will of righteousness to overcome the evil souls
Feels very Sodom or zadok
Page 10
"You must use the power of evil to do good… think and feel before you act."
Very rabbinic. Kovesh et yitzro
Yoma 69b - rabbis capture the evil inclination and find nobody possesses a sex drive anymore
Idea is even base inclinations can be ok if guided to holy purpose
"But...how can I not hate evil? " "By loving God more."
Proverbs 8:13
יִֽרְאַ֣ת יְהוָה֮ שְֽׂנֹ֫את רָ֥ע גֵּ֘אָ֤ה וְגָא֨וֹן ׀ וְדֶ֣רֶךְ רָ֭ע וּפִ֨י תַהְפֻּכ֬וֹת שָׂנֵֽאתִי׃
To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride, arrogance, the evil way, And duplicity in speech.
Psalm 97:10
אֹהֲבֵ֥י ה שִׂנְא֫וּ רָ֥ע שֹׁ֭מֵר נַפְשׁ֣וֹת חֲסִידָ֑יו מִיַּ֥ד רְ֝שָׁעִ֗ים יַצִּילֵֽם׃
O you who love the LORD, hate evil! He guards the lives of His loyal ones, saving them from the hand of the wicked.
א֭וֹר זָרֻ֣עַ לַצַּדִּ֑יק וּֽלְיִשְׁרֵי־לֵ֥ב שִׂמְחָֽה׃
Light is sown for the righteous, radiance for the upright.
Makhloket in Judaism
Page 12
Explanation of Kabbalah
"Thirty-Two Paths to Wisdom"
From 32 mentions of Elohim in Genesis 1
"It was developed in the thirteenth century as ecstatic contemplation of Ezekial's vision - a chariot believed to be God's 'throne'...and it espouses mixed doctrine that man himself embodies the universe and all its mysteries."
Mixes it up with chariot mysticism - yordei merkavah
Bits of Shiur Komach
13th century, yes. Though it strikes me this rabbi would claim earlier
Connects Kabbalah to Hasidism, all accurate
"The entire universe- taken together- is God, and man is made in God's image. Man is therefore a miniature embodiment of the universe."
Links to Adam HaRishon as giant, cosmic, essentially all
Refers to God as being in everything
Amazing page
Page 13
"Seek and find God everywhere, even in evil--and evil's power will wither before God"
Very Rav Nachman nekudah tovah.
Likutei Moharan 282:1, quoting Psalm 37:10
וְעוֹד מְעַט וְאֵין רָשָׁע וְהִתְבּוֹנַנְתָּ עַל מְקוֹמוֹ וְאֵינֶנּוּ
Why the fuck are they praying on their knees?!
Page 18
Rabbi reminds Rory of command not to kill, then gets shot
Page 19
Take vengeance, but within the law
Din within strict bounds, tempered by love and chesed

Ragman: Suit of Souls, Dec 2010
“Tattered Remnants”
Written by Chritos Gage
Drawn and inked by Stephen Segovia
Colored by David Curiel
Lettered by Rob Leigh
Edited by Joey Cavalieri and Chris Conroy
Page 1
Rory visits Rabbi Mandel
“I had a question..I read about this guy, in the sixties, a grand dragon of the Ku Klux Klan. The New York Times revealed he was actually Jewish. He killed himself because he couldn’t live with people knowing. Rabbi, how does someone hate himself so much?”
Daniel Burros
Former member of American Nazi Party
Recruiter for the United Klans of America
Most violent group at time
John McCandlish Phillips revealed Burros’ Jewish background in New York Times article
Hours after the article, Burros shoots himself in chest and head
While listening to Richard Wagner
Self-hating Jew
Rory worries father was self-hating Jew because he grew up without Judaism in house
Page 3
“I didn’t even know I was Jewish until I was sixteen. My father gave me an Irish name, after some actor he liked. What kind of father doesn’t tell his son where he came from?”
Rehashes entire 1991 mini
Page 11
Rabbi notes Ragman left a day before the uprising ended.
“Why did he leave when there was still a chance more could be saved?”
“DON’T YOU THINK I’VE ASKED MYSELF THAT?”
Page 17
“Since I’ve worn this suit, my faith and my heritage have become very important to me. I wish I’d known about them earlier in my life.”
YES
“Rabbi Mandel, my father was a good man, a proud man. He wasn’t ashamed of being a junkman, or poor, or old..so why was he ashamed of being a Jew?”
Rabbi suggests Rory speak to a soul in the suit who knew his father
Page 19
Jaegar Brandt reveals the fire would have destroyed all the trapped souls
They overtook Jerry and forced him to leave
He would have stayed to fight
Page 20
Gerry never knew they could do that, he thought he was just a coward
“He changed his name to Gerry Regan telling himself it would be easier to find work that way. He put aside his religion, his past, telling himself it was to spare his family from anti-semitism. But the truth is that he was ashamed, not of who he was, of what he thought he’d done. He was the protector of his people, yet, at the moment of their great need, he fled. Your father wasn’t ashamed to call himself a Jew. He didn’t feel worthy.”
Page 21
Brandt fades, he found redemption in telling story

Shadowpact #8, 2007
“Ragtime”
Written by Bill Willingham
Drawn by Shawn McManus
Inked by Raul Fernandez
Colored by Mike Atiyeh
Lettered by Pat Brosseau
Edited by Joey Cavalieri
Willingham not Jewish, but fan of Israel
Page 4
"Why is ours the only ethnicity where the correct term for us is also the most popular pejorative used against us?"
Originally Reganiwiecz (Polish?)
Page 5
Changed to Irish name
Get into American dream
Didn't realize Irish weren't accepted
Clever retcon to keep things smooth
Except...now his father can't have been in Warsaw Ghetto
Rory is inside his rags, getting beaten by evil souls until a Marcus Liberius comes to him
Page 14
Mention his death at the siege of Masada
Martyrdom
Before it was rags, there was a cloak, a spear, a dagger
Stretches back to days of Abraham
Magical Jewish weapon. Moses' coat? Or Judah's?
Reminds me of Noah, where Noah wears tefillin made of snakeskin
page 15
Judgment resembles Gehenna
Redemption engine
Teshuva like

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Arrow Season 5
Arrow S5E2 “Recruits”
34:40, 7:58 left
Rory mentions father saved his life with rags from the time of Devarim
(bad pronunciation)

Thank you to https://twitter.com/EstherK of https://www.facebook.com/TVGoneJewy/ for this one:

Arrow S5E7 “Vigilante”
3:10 min in 39:15 left
Ollie asks Rory if a quote is from the Torah (it’s Moby Dick)

Arrow S5E8 “Invasion”
36:22 in
Realize Dominators language is decodable through gematria
Explains Gematria

Arrow S5E10 “Who Are You?”
11:17 min 31:05 left
Rory calls Prometheus a Dybbuk

Arrow SE11 “Second Chances
5:10 in, 37:05 left
Rory explains what bashert means

Arrow S5E12 “Bratva”
32:50 9:33 left
Recites shema while covering a nuclear bomb

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Episode 7: 1991 mini and Arrow episodes (maybe Suit of Souls)
Episode 8: Batman two-parter, Shadowpact #8

Henry - Excerpted from p. 124, From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books by Arie Kaplan
“Rory Regan, a character [Robert] Kanigher and [Joe] Kubert created in 1976. A Batman-style vigilante who operated out of Gotham City and wore a dilapidated costume made of the rags from the junk shop he shared with his dad, Ragman first appeared in five issues of his own short-lived series in 1976-1977. Appropriately enough for a character dressed in rags, Ragman fought crime in the ghetto, and his targets were often average gangsters and hoods rather than supervillains. This gave Ragman the air of a social crusader, not unlike Siegel’s and Shuster’s early Superman stories.”
Originally Irish - Rory Regan
1991 series, he was reimagined as a Jewish character
Brandon
16th Century Edict limiting Jews to work ragpicking
That same section in From Krakow to Krypton weirdly claims
The decision to make the character Jewish was a mutual one. “We created him with a Jewish heritage, although we didn’t make a big to-do about it,” said Kubert.

Interview with Pat Broderick

Joe Kubert discusses Ragman as Jewish from the start (not Irish) in From Krakow to Krypton

Ragman 1991 mini series
three or four panels from issue 1
two things from issue 2
a lot in issue 3
one Jewish thing from issue 8
issue 1, page 11 starts the word Emet, pages 12-13 show the Golem and Emet in Warsaw
and page 15 has him placing a stone on his father's grave
issue 2, page 16 has a sentence "true repentance requires acknowledgment of the sin," pages 23-24 have golem and the rabbi showing up
Issue 3 - whole issue
issue 6 has the Golem fight page 1. the 42 thing
issue 7, page 3 has the lady offering to cook spam for the rabbi - spam ain't kosher
and in issue 8, page 4, we have the rabbi heading to Tel Aviv

Ragman #3, Dec 1991
“The Folktale”
Plot and Breakdowns by Keith Giffen
Scripted by Robert Loren Fleming
Art by Pat Broderick
Colored by Anthony Tollin
Lettered by Albert Deguzman
Edited by Kevin Dooley and Andrew Helfer

Ragman #6, March 1992
“Shreds”
Plot and Breakdowns by Keith Giffen
Scripted by Robert Loren Fleming
Art by Pat Broderick
Colored by Anthony Tollin
Lettered by Albert Deguzman
Edited by Kevin Dooley and Andrew Helfer

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Previously on Funny, They Don’t Look Jewish
Your hosts, Brandon and Henry, explored the Jewish roots of Chicago’s own mutant superheroine, Kitty Pryde of the X-Men. Under the pen of creator and writer Chris Claremont, Kitty Pryde confronted demons, vampires, and the shadow of the Holocaust, with her Jewish identity always prominent. Now, we look at where later writers guided both the evolution of Marvel’s Merry Mutants and Kitty Pryde’s own Judaism. Excelsior!

Marvel Holiday Special 1996
“Unto Others”
Written by Evan Skolnik
Drawn by Josh Hood
Inked by Derek Fisher
Lettered by Jack Morelli
Colored by Chi Wang
Edited by Tom Brevoort
Page 1
Open on Kitty visiting her home in Deerfield, IL, staring at a church that has been burned
Page 2-3
Phasing into the ruins, Kitty runs into a young girl of color, Anita Foster
She left her locket in the pew before the burning, a gift from her now dead father
Page 4
Kitty says she came home to spend Hanukkah with her family
Anita says her mom said church was burned down because they’re black
Kitty makes general statement about people who hate what’s different
Anita says, “But you don’t really understand, anyway. You’re not black!”
Page 5
Kitty tempted to say she knows about being different because she’s a mutant, but decides to say a Jew instead
Anita: “Right. Same thing. Not.”
Kitty: “Actually, A nita, this whole thing sounds a lot like the Hanukkah story itself.”
Anita: “Whaddaya mean? The Jews burned churches?”
Kitty explains the story of Hanukkah, saying Syrian Greeks drove Jews out of Israel and desecrated the Temple.
Page 6
Anita: “Nice. Sounds like people have been burning each other’s temples for a long time, huh?”
OUCH
Kitty: “Underneath our skin, beyond all our differences, languages and customs, we’re all the same. Blacks, whites, Jews, Asians, mutants…”
Anita seems to think mutants aren’t human
Page 7
Anita finds the locket, but she can’t reach through the fallen beams. Kitty could phase, but…
Page 8
She reminds Anita what she said about all being human. Phases through the beams, giving away her secret, and recovers the locket.
Page 9
The two hug in tears
“Merry Christmas, Anita. And happy Hanukkah.”
Couldn’t find anything about a church burning in IL in the mid-90’s, but…
More than 30 black churches were burned in an 18-month period in 1995 and 1996, leading Congress to pass the Church Arson Prevention Act, passed July 3, 1996
Professor Julius Lester, a Jew of color, said in a 1996 with the J, “Jews make the assumption that they have a lot in common with blacks. It's not an assumption that blacks share,"

X-Men Unlimited #38 (November 2002)
“Yartzeit”
Written by Greg Rucka
Drawn by Darick Robertson
Inked by Darick Robertson
Colored by J.D. Smith
Lettered by Randy Gentile
Edited by C.B. Cebulski
The issue is told through the narrative device of a yartzeit. Opens with Kitty lighting the candle, goes through the entire day, repeatedly checking back in to see how far the candle has burned
Background: Colossus died in UXM #390 (March 2001) to cure the Legacy Virus, that took the life of his younger sister, Illyana. Kitty was best friends with Illyana, former lovers with Peter
Page 2
Full page spread of Kitty, in an XAVIER t-shirt, lighting a yartzeit candle, noting it’s one year to the day since Colossus died
Blue candle with a star of David on the glass
Yartzeit is Yiddish for, depending on how you translate, “time of year” or “a year’s time”
Page 3
After lighting, Kitty recites:
“Sustained by words of faith, comforted by precious memories, we kindle the yartzeit light in remembrance. The human spirit is the light of the Lord. As this light burns pure and clear, so may the memory of the goodness...and...and the nobility of our dear Peter...our dear Peter Nikolievitch Rasputin...illumine our souls...Zichrono livracha. His memory is a blessing.”
Then Kitty collapses onto her bed in tears
No formal prayer associated with lighting the candle, but this particular reading can be found in Reform books published by the CCAR
Jdoe Schwartz: Apparently it first appeared in 1977 in "Gates of the House: The New Union Home Prayer Book - Prayers and Readings for Home and Synagogue" edited by. . . Chaim Stern. Ding ding ding.
Includes Proverbs 20:27 - ner HaShem Nishmat Adam, chofes kol chadrei-vaten - the soul of man is the light/candle of God, searching all the innermost parts.
Textual source of lighting a candle
Zichrono livracha - traditional honorific for the dead
How can it be that reading two simple words in print can bring up so many emotions for me? Pride and amazement and a deep, deep sadness.
I’ve cried every time I’ve read this issues
Page 4
As Kitty leaves home, she admits she’s lied to herself when she claimed she had come to peace with it
So very resonant. Jewish mourning process is divided into parts. Shiva, shloshim, the first year. Yartzeit marks the end, and it would seem that should mark a point of closure and healing.
Kitty is angry
Page 5
“Selfish, that’s what it is. I just want him back. Why is that wrong? To feel that? I just want my friend back. I just want my love back. God, I loved him and I want him back…”
There go the tears again…
Page 6
She sees a man she thinks is Peter, provides the plot for the rest of the issue as Kitty stalks this man, convinced an enemy has resurrected Colossus to mess with her.
Pages 9-10
Phone call with Kurt, a yartzeit candle prominent at the top of each page
Kurt wonders if Kitty is imagining it, given the anniversary, given Peter is on her mind
The candle...yizkor. REMEMBER
Page 11
Top left: The candle is going out
Narration: “The candle is supposed to burn for twenty-four hours. I burn for longer.”
Bottom right: the candle has gone out entirely. Dark, covered in shadow, but smoke still rising’
Page 12
Top left: the candle fully empty, reflecting bright light’
Page 16
Nightcrawler has come to visit her. As she brings him into the apartment, the yartzeit candle is prominent
Pages 17-18
Kurt, a priest btw, talks Kitty down. Helps her come to terms with the fact she desperately wanted it to be Peter
Page 19
Top left, empty yartzeit candle
Top middle, Kitty is grabbing it
Top right, Kitty throws the case in the trash
Then see Kitty cleaning up, writing Kurt note, living a good day
“Maybe the answer to all grief lies in a good cry. Religion and ritual, there’s always a reason. Grief in Judaism is broken into phases, and the Yartzeit is really the last one. There are rules what you’re supposed to do the first day after a loved one dies...then the first week...then the first month...all the way to the first year, the first Yartzeit.”
“The idea, I guess, is that it’s supposed to take that whole year to come to terms with the loss. So the Yartzeit, it’s closure, ut it’s more. Because when someone you love dies, it never goes away. Some days are easier than others. Some days maybe you can’t think about it at all...but it never goes away. And that’s all right. That’s as it should be..”
Thank you. Thank you, Greg Rucka, for writing this. This is one of the most special comics I think I’ve ever read.
Page 21-22
Kitty introduces herself to the officer, a Polish cop. Tells him about Peter.
Candle appeared in 16 different panels

All New X-Men #13 (2013)
Untitled
Written by Brian MIchael Bendis
Drawn by Stuart Immonen
Inked by Wade von Grawbadger
Colored by Rain Beredo
Lettered by VC’s Cory Petit
Edited by NIck Lowe
Background
So at this time, Rick Remender is writing a book called Uncanny Avengers, which features a “unity squad,” a team of both human Avengers AND mutant X-Men.
Issue #5 (March 2013), Havok gives a speech
I don't see myself as born into a mutant cult or religion. Having an X-gene doesn't bond me to anyone. It doesn't define me. In fact, I see the very word "mutant" as divisive. Old thinking that serves to further separate us from our fellow man. We are all humans. Of one tribe. We are defined by our choices, not the makeup of our genes. So please, don't call us mutants. The "m" word represents everything I hate.
Unleashes a kind of backlash, both on online forums and within the comics
In June, this issue of All-New X-Men is released
Pages 7-8
Panels showing broadcast of Havok’s speech
Page 12-13
X-Men hear the broadcast. Younger mutants have debate over whether or not the term is derogatory
Page 14
“I don’t have a quote-unquote Jewish-sounding name. I don’t look or sound Jewish. Whatever that looks or sounds like...so if you didn’t know I was Jewish, you might not know...unless I told you. Same goes for my mutation.
“...When I was 13, before my mutation kicked in, I was in love with this boy at school…
“In love. And I followed him around like a puppy dog because I was an idiotic 13-year-old girl...and one day he saw a rabbi walking across the street and he made the worst anti-semitic comment...ever. I won’t even repeat it.
“He just said this awful thing and laughed. Laughed and laughed. And...and my heart sank. And then my blood boiled. I mean boiled. I turned to him and I growled: I’m Jewish!” And he--just stared at me like he didn’t even realize he said something wrong. Or he didn’t know how to compute what I just said. But when I got home, after I was done crying my eyes out, my first heartbreak...I realized I was..maybe for the first time ever...I was really proud of myself.
“I am Jewish. I am a mutant. And I want people to know who and what I am. I tell people because, hey, if we’re going to have a problem with it...I’d like to know. So, no offense to your brother Scott, but he sure as hell ain’t talking for me.”
UGH, SO GOOD. SO GOOD.
Let’s break it down…
First of all, this is just so Bendis. More convinced than ever that the explicit Jewish content depends on the Jewish...pride of the author. Bendis and Rucka are both quite outspoken about their identities.
Claremont’s Judaism is Holocaust-centric. Rucka’s is ritually based. And Bendis’ seems to be cultural, built on pride.
Bendis manages to both acknowledge Jews passing for white AND the fact it’s kind of a problem to assume there’s a certain Jewish look
Kitty doesn’t have a Jewish sounding name, whatever that means. Or a Jewish look, whatever that is.
Implicit acknowledgment of Sefardi Jews, Mizrahi Jews, Jews of color, any type of Jew that doesn’t look Ashkenazi, which is what Americans envision as JEWISH
And yet Kitty acknowledges this allows her to “pass”
Crushes on random kids in school who weren’t Jewish - oh yeah
I remember first year of college, I was absolutely smitten with a baptist Korean girl. So much so, I went to a Jesus festival for her
Anti-semitic remarks at that age
This HAD to be based on a true story. HAD to be
The kid who threatened to beat me up?
I was proud of myself
Is THAT why she so prominently wears the star from issue 1??? Such a good retcon
Of course, she’s NOT wearing the star of David here
She wants people to know
In an era of rising anti-semitism, where I read travel warnings saying not to wear yarmulkes in X city or Y city...I’m with Kitty. I wear this proudly.

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BB: Origin, First Appearance,
Daughter to Carmen and Theresa Pryde, from Deerfield, IL
13-year-old girl
Kitty Pryde first appears #129 (middle of Dark Phoenix Saga), officially joins the team at the very end of #138 (Oct 1980), the epilogue to the same story.

First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #129 (cover date Jan 1980)
Page 11, in the THIRD panel she appears in, Kitty is wearing a star of David

Henry: Claremont interview

Brandon:

According to tumblr fan site johnbyrnedraws, Byrne said:
Kitty, as many of you probably already know, became Jewish almost accidentally. My “model” for the character was how I pictured a young Sigourney Weaver, but down the hall in my apartment building at the time lived a friend whose sister bore a strong resemblance to Kitty. Altho she was not Jewish herself, the sister wore a Star of David on a chain around her neck, it having been given to her by her Jewish boyfriend. (The Star of David, not her neck.) Kitty somehow looked “wrong” without that necklace, so I added it to my final drawings in her first appearance. This made her Jewish, of course, since there would be no other reason for her to be wearing it in the context of the character.

Uncanny X-Men #143 (1981)
“Demon”
Written by Chris Claremont and John Byrne (co-plotters)
Penciled by John Byrne
Inked by Terry Austin
Colored by Glynis Oliver
Lettered by Rick Parker and Tom Orzechowski
Edited by Louise Jones
Page 6
Kitty uses mistletoe to kiss Peter
Trying to lighten the mood. Clearly interfaith comfortable
Page 8
“I’ve never spent Chanukah away from home before. I wonder how mom and dad are doing?”
Family holiday
Page 21 - Kitty’s parents are visiting, dad responds, “Our visit--your special Chanukah surprise--is as much a gift to us as to her.”
Publication date: March 1981
Christmas Eve 1981 corresponds to 29th Kislev
Xmas Eve 1980 = 18th of Tevet
Later, she refers to herself as a 13-year-old. Bat Mitzvah???
IS THIS A HANUKKAH STORY?
A demonic entity (the N’Garai demon) attacks the central home (TEMPLE?) of the X-Men. The scared underdog Kitty fights back, winning with her wits.
Page 20 - X-Men return, noting the mansion has “no lights”
But the X-Men return to a devastated home they need to fix, rebuild, “repurify?”
Final page - “alone, on Christmas Eve, Kitty Pryde underwent a rite of passage - a supreme test of her abilities, her intellect, her courage. Her...self. She passed.”
WAS THIS HER X-BAT MITZVAH?
Made me think of Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins (1989)
Written by Eric Kimmel, drawn by Trina Schart Hyman
Hershel of Ostropol - trickster figure

Uncanny X-Men #159 (1982)
“Night Screams”
Written by Chris Claremont
Penciled by Bill Sienkiewicz
Inked by Bob Wiacek
Colored by Glynis Oliver
Lettered by Rick Parker and Tom Orzechowski
Edited by Louise Jones
Kitty goes home to visit her family for the weekend, Storm is “mugged” in an alley - DRACULA
Was she home for Shabbos???
Page 10, Kitty talking with Storm
Storm pulls back in pain
Kitty thinks, “The lamplight flashed on my star of David -- and Ororo flinched! Aversion to sunlight, to religious artifacts, anemia, dreams -- this is ridiculous! What am I thinking?!”
Page 12
Storm goes to see Dracula
Kitty bursts into the room with a cross that doesn’t work
Dracula: “The cross has no power over such as I if the wielder does not believe in it! You are no Christian, but a Hebrew!”
HENRY - how do you feel about that term?
Lunges for her throat, but his hand starts burning
“Around my neck--my silver star of David! That’s what stopped him! Thank God!”
Love at First Bite (1979 horror comedy)
Directed by Stan Dragoti
George Hamilton as Dracula
Susan Saint James as Cindy Sondheim
Richard Benjamin as Jeffrey Rosenberg, grandson of Van Helsing, who changed his name “for professional reasons”
In a dinner scene (Cindy Sondheim, Dracula, Jeffrey Rosenberg), Rosenberg pulls out a Star of David that has NO effect
Vampires in Judaism
There’s a wealth of esoteric and midrashic material on King Solomon raising or summoning demons, including a vampire demon
Lilith, mother of demons, often vampiric
Sefer Hasidim 464
There was once a woman that was a striya and was very sick, and there were two women with her at night - one sleeping and one awake. And that same sick woman stood before her and crackled her hair and wanted to fly and wanted to suck the blood of the sleeping woman. And the one that was awake woke up the one who was asleep, and they grabbed the striya. And the one that slept, slept more and the one that was awake didn’t sleep. And since she couldn’t do harm, the striya died because she needed that which comes from the blood, to swallow the blood and the flesh”
אשה אחת היתה סטריאה והיתה חולה ביותר והיו שתי נשים בלילה עמה אחת היתה ישנה ואחת היתה ערה ואותה החולה עמדה לפניה והיתה מנפצת שערה ורצתה לפרוח ורצתה למוץ דמה של ישנה והעירה הקיצה הישנה ותפסו את החולה השטריא ואחר כן ישנה עוד והערה לא היתה ישנה עמדה השטריא והיתה מנפצת שער ראשה ורצתה לפרוח והעירה הקיצה הישנה ותפשו את החולה השטריא אם היתה מזקת להמית את אשה אחרת היתה השטריאה חיה וכיון שלא יכלה להזיק מתה השטריא כי צריכה את אשר בא מן האדם לבלוע הדם והבשר.
Batwoman was our Jewish heroine with ties to Kabbalah. Kitty, strangely, seems to be our Jewish heroine with ties to the demonic - the N’garai, Dracula, her best friend Illyana

Uncanny X-Men #199 (1985)
“The Spiral Path”
Written by Chris Claremont
Penciled by John Romita Jr.
Inked by Dan Green
Colored by Glynis Oliver
Lettered by Rick Parker and Tom Orzechowski
Edited by Ann Nocenti
Page 13
National Holocaust Memorial
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - congress voted to establish it in 1980, but it didn’t open until April 22, 1993
“We are gathered on this remembrance day to honor those who endured a horror unlike any ever experienced in human history--the systematic, institutionalized extermination of one people by another.”
International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th, when Soviet Army liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau) was not designated until UN General Assembly Resolution 60/7 on November 1, 2005
Want this to be Yom HaShoah (27th of Nisan, roughly May), established April 8, 1959 by the Knesset in Israel
Most likely, this is The Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust. A House joint resolution 1014 designated April 28th and 29th, 1979 as the days
Dates chosen to reflect dates on which American troops liberated Dachau
Magneto explains to Kitty that those present are survivors or relatives of survivors who go to podium and say names of relatives in hopes of reunion
Kitty gave word to participate, “I’m here for my grandfather, Samuel Prydeman. He wanted to be here, more than anything but he died, last year. He had a sister, my great-aunt Chava. She lived in Warsaw before the war. He tried to find her, but there was no record anywhere. It was like she’d been...erased -- as if she’d never been.”
Page 14
Magneto asks for a photo, since he knew a Chava with a different last name, Rosanoff. Then Ruth and David Shulman pop up, recognizing Magneto. They confirm Chava Rosanoff is the married name of Kitty’s aunt
JEWISH GEOGRAPHY!!!!
The Shulmans and Chava were in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the resistance
Chava died. Magneto saved the Shulmans
Common trend to valorize those who fought back
Kitty: “You were a hero?”
Magneto: “Hardly. In those days, heroism meant holding onto one’s humanity, while the Nazis tried their best to turn us into animals. The way to defy them--to defeat them--was to lie, to hold onto hope, no matter what. Believe me, Kitty, I was no one special. If I am a hero, then so is every other man and woman who survived.”
Interrupted by Mystique, who accuses Magneto of being as cruel as the Nazis
Page 16 - Kitty: “Let’s scram--this is like hallowed ground. We can’t fight here!”
Page 17 - Colossus bursts in, Kitty yells at him because they don’t want to wreck the memorial
Follow up - UXM #210
“The Morning After” by Claremont and JRJR & Dan Green
Page 19, mob beating up on Nightcrawler. Kitty Pryde, Illyana, Colossus show up.
Kitty: “Hey mister -- who defines what’s human?”
Mob: “It’s obvious, girl. Just open your eyes.”
Kitty: “That simple, huh? Well, a whole chunk of my family was murdered in gas chambers because the Nazis said it was just as ‘obvious’ that Jews weren’t human. And not so long ago, in this country, people felt the same about blacks. Some still do. Is that right?!”

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3 Golems for the price of one! Henry and Brandon do a deep dive into Marvel's The Golem across time! 

Comics covered:

The Incredible Hulk #134, Sep 1970

• “Among Us Walks… the Golem”
  • Written by Roy Thomas
  • Penciled by Herb Trimpe
  • Inked by Sal Buscema
  • Lettered by Artie Simek
  • Edited by Stan Lee

Strange Tales #174, Mar 1974

• “There Walks the Golem!”
  • Written by Len Wein
  • Penciled by John Buscema
  • Inked by Jim Mooney
  • Colored by Glynis Wein
  • Lettered by Dave Hunt
  • Edited by Roy Thomas

Strange Tales #176, Jul 1974

• “Black Crossing”
  • Written by Mike Friedrich
  • Penciled & Inked by Tony DeZuniga
  • Colored by Linda Lessmann
  • Lettered by Marck
  • Edited by Roy Thomas

Strange Tales #177, Sep 1974

• “There Comes Now Raging Fire!”
  • Written by Mike Friedrich
  • Penciled by Tony DeZuniga
  • Inked by Steve Austin
  • Colored by Bill Mantlo
  • Lettered by Tom Orzechowski
  • Edited by Roy Thomas

Invaders #12, Oct 1976

• “To the Warsaw Ghetto” 
  • Written by Roy Thomas
  • Penciled by Frank Robbins
  • Inked by Frank Springer 
  • Colored by Phil Rachelson
  • Lettered by Joe Rosen
  • Edited by Roy Thomas

Come back next time for the conclusion!

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Detective Comics #860, 2009
“Go, Part 3”
Written by Greg Rucka
Drawn by JH Williams III
Colored by Dave Stewart
Lettered by Todd Klein
Edited by Michael Siglain
BW’s origin. She beat up some thugs in black leather
Page 6 - home, showering. 4th panel
Walking through her apartment, there’s a little end table
What’s on it?
Hanukkiyah. Shabbat candlesticks. SEFIROT
Her dad discovers her stolen weapons and tech. Offers to help train and prepare her, support her
Page 12 - Kate returns to her step-mother’s after training for two years
SURPRISE HENRY
Catherine: “We didn’t think we’d see you until the High Holy Days…”
Page 14 - Jake showing off what he’s set up for her, including a new costume
Kate: “red and black….gevurah, the pillar of severity...the colors of war.”
So what is Kabbalah?
Gevurah = din = judgment, power
Detective Comics #975, 2018
“The Trial of Batwoman”
Written by James Tynion IV
Drawn by Alvaro Martinez
Inked by Raul Fernandez
Colored by Brad Anderson
Lettered by Sal Cipriano
Edited by Chris Conroy
Flashback, we're at a funeral for Kate Kane's mother Gabi.
Jewish funeral
How do we know?
There's a rabbi in a kippa in two panels
They're taking turns shoveling dirt into the grave
A young Bruce Wayne shovels
BATMAN IS PERFORMING A MITZVAH
Mitzvah of burying the dead, ideally on the day they died, within three days of death
Rooted in Deuteronomy 21:23
Moed Katan essentially declared it the responsibility of the entire town to make sure dead is buried
Kindness that cannot be repaid
Page 26 - Kate visits her mom's grave
Grave with star of David..next to graves with crosses
Not a Jewish cemetery?
Possibly an interfaith cemetery
“I remember taking the shovel. It was so clean. So polished. Dad wanted me to go first, but I couldn't move. I felt like putting the dirt on the grave would make it all real. And it was like losing you all over again.”
Kind of the point. It does make it real

DC Bombshells #17, 2016
“Uprising Part 1: The Battle of Berlin”
Written by Marguerite Bennett
Art by Sandy Jarrell and Mirka Andolfo
Colored by Wendy Fitzpatrick and Wendy Broome
Berlin Ghetto, 1941. Prep for war
Page 2 - prep for Shabbat dinner. Challah and wine
Young girl talking with Batwoman, asking if she's scared
“it's just Shabbat dinner” “Very funny, momellah”
She talks about the brave women in Jewish history and then quotes
“May God make you like Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah.”
Yesimech elohim k'Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel, veL’eah
Mentions Deborah the warrior prophet
Talks about Judith killing Holofernes
Girl reveals her name: Miriam Batzel
She was a prophet, too, and they say because of her, no women worshipped the Golden Calf on the desert.
Pirke de Rebbe Eleazar 46 - Aaron delays men by asking them to ask their wives for gold. They chide husbands, refuse to participate. As a reward, rosh chodesh
Henry, can we just read their dialogue in full?
Jewish pride - amazing
Stories - reminds me of Hasidic tale
When the Ba’al Shem saw misfortune threatening the Jews, he would go to a certain part of the forest and meditate. There, he would say a certain prayer and light a fire. And the miracle would be accomplished, the danger averted. In the next generation, the Maggid of Mezhirech would go to the same place in the forest and say, “Master of the Universe, I don’t know how to light the fire, but I can still say the prayer.” And it was enough. And still later, Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sasov would go the forest, and he would say, “I don’t know how to light the fire, and I don’t know how to say the prayer, but I know the place. And that must be sufficient.” And it was. And still later, generations later, when it fell to Rabbi Yisrael of Rizhin, sitting in his arm chair, his head in his hands, he would say, “Master of the Universe, I don’t know how to light the fire. And I don’t know how to say the prayer. And I don’t know where the place is in the forest. All I can do is tell the story.” And it was enough.
Shabbat prayers - likely over candles

Hey Alma on casting Jewish lesbian
#KeepKateJewish
The problem, he says, is that certain minority groups “are so underrepresented that a single representation comes to stand for everybody.” A Jew whose only Jewish trait is celebrating Hanukkah is, as Bial suggests, technically realistic, but the overall lack of Jewish characters leads to more anxiety about specific individual representations. This anxiety is made worse by the fact that other characters who are Jewish in the comics, such as Ray Palmer, have had their Jewishness entirely erased on television. Because Kate Kane is one of the most identifiably Jewish characters in DC Comics’ lineup, fans are more concerned about how she is portrayed

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In an 8/1/2014 interview with Matt Santori of Comicosity.com, Greg Rucka reveals the following:

I simply wanted another character who was identifiably Jewish.
For a bunch of characters that were arguably all created by a bunch of Jewish men, very few of them are actually Jewish and identify as such. And I have encountered more than one instance in my career where professionals have cited the core strength of a character in being their deep commitment to Christ. It always struck me as a little silly, because if you were deeply committed to Christ, you wouldn’t be going out and breaking someone’s jaw on a nightly basis. That ain’t what Jesus taught.
We knew she was queer. There was no question about that. The mandate was to reinvent Batwoman and she’s going to be gay. That came down from on high. I guess I just thought, “Well, why not do it?”
It’s interesting, because it’s something that J.H. [Williams III] really latched onto, mostly because he had done a far amount of reading and research on spiritualism. Add that to working with Alan Moore on Promethea and he came back to me with a whole ton of ideas involving kabbalah.
And for me, it might have been subconscious. Kitty Pryde’s Judaism was very important to me when I discovered it. She was the first Jewish character I’d seen, and she was an X-Man. That mattered to me. Perhaps there was a small element of that, too.

EW Article
“It was important for that character to land, and it was important for her to be Kate Kane, because there was already a Batgirl. So if we introduced her as Batgirl she would never be the ‘real’ Batgirl,” Didio says. “That way, it wasn’t something that someone could undo easily.”
There’s an added irony to a character named Batwoman being queer, because the original Batwoman was created as a Bat-love interest in 1956 to foil the accusations leveled by Seduction of the Innocent author Fredric Wertham that Batman and Robin were thinly-disguised gay propaganda. A few decades later, a new and improved Batwoman entered a cultural context that was more tolerant of diverse characters. In fact, the whole reason that she ended up in 52 in the first place was that news of her had been prematurely broken by the New York Timesin a story about diversity in comicsthis link opens in a new tab. According to Rucka (who formed the four-man writing team of 52, alongside fellow comic heavyweights Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, and Mark Waid), Batwoman was originally going to debut in her own self-titled comic from writer Devin Grayson. But when the news broke early, Batwoman was introduced in 52 instead.
“All of a sudden there was a lot of heat on the character. It came down the pipes to put the character into 52. Since I was writing Renee and I was in Gotham (the logical place to do it), it fell to me,” Rucka tells EW. “There was an easy in there, because Renee was established as queer. I remember having conversations with Devin, like ‘okay I’m supposed to use Kate.’ She sent me what she had been working on. We had a couple conversations, and then she showed up in week 7 or week 8, pretty early, and sort of ended up in my bailiwick.”

Kate joins military academy, but she’s found to be in violation of Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) Article 125
(a) Any person subject to this chapter who engages in unnatural carnal copulation with another person of the same or opposite sex or with an animal is guilty of sodomy. Penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete the offense.
(b) Any person found guilty of sodomy shall by punished as a court-martial may direct.
One day, she’s mugged, fends off the attacker, and suddenly Batman appears

Her family tree and relationship to Bruce Wayne - Bruce's first cousin.

52 #33 (2006)
February, 2007
Executive Editor - Dan DiDio
Cover Artists - J.G. Jones Alex Sinclair
“The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”
Writers - Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid
Pencilers - Keith Giffen, Tom Derenick, Joe Prado
Inkers - Jay Leisten, Rodney Ramos
Colourists - David Baron
Letterers - Pat Brosseau
Editors - Jeanine Schaefer Harvey Richards Michael Siglain Stephen Wacker
“The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”
Written by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, and GREG RUCKA
Penciled by Joe Prado and Tom Derenick, with breakdowns by Keith Giffen
Inked by Jay Liesten and Rodney Ramos
Colored by David Baron
Lettered by Pat Brosseau
Edited by Stephen Wacker and Michael Siglain
With a cover by JG Jones and Alex Sinclair
Speaking of that cover - Rockefeller Center like skating rink, clear Christmas theme, Batwoman holding a small gift on a roof while Nightwing falls away
You’d THINK she’s celebrating christmas
Page 10 - Hanukkiyah with wax melted down
Actually a menorah, seven branches. Womp womp
Renee Montoya staring out a large penthouse window
There with The Question, Vic Sage (born Charles Victor Szasz)
“Hanukkah ended last night. Kate made a big deal out of it. Cooked latkes and even laid out jelly doughnuts for dessert...Kate said she did it because that’s how her family celebrated Hanukkah, at least before her father remarried. That’s probably true, but that’s not why she did it. Hanukkah is the celebration of a miracle.”
Guess what Henry?
Hebrew calendar more or less balanced by solar. When calculating dates, sometimes Rosh Hashanah needs to be postponed by a day. They do this by adding a 30th day to Kislev
In 2006, Kislev had 30 thirty days. Which means the eighth and final day of Hanukkah would be the 2nd of Tevet
Guess what day December 24th, 2006 corresponds to in the Hebrew calendar? The 3rd of Tevet
Renee helps delirious Vic into bed
Ends with Kate returning home, holding Renee on couch as they stare at the menorah and out the window

DC Infinite Holiday Comic

“Lights”
Written by Greg Rucka
Drawn by Christian Alamy
Colored by Jason Wright
Lettered by Jared K. Fletcher
Edited by Peter Tomasi
Open with a lit Hanukkiyah in a window. Pirsumei nes
Counterbalanced by narration, “I don’t believe in miracles Katya”
We’re in Poland in December 1939
FYI, Hanukkah in December 1939: 12/7-12/14
Nazis forcing Jews out of their home, one knocks the hanukkiyah over to burn down the place
Page 2
“And that, Katya, is why I don’t light it. I will not celebrate a miracle when I do not believe in such things.”
“But I’m holding one right here, Manya. How else could this have survived the shoah?” “Feh.”
Manya - Hebrew/Russian name. In Russian, diminutive of Mary. Seems to be a variation on Miriam (babynames.net)
Miriam may be from Mar, bitter. Or meri, rebellion
Shoah - she calls it the shoah! The SHOAH
So Manya explains that a neighbor salvaged it with intent to sell it. But she returned it before he could (though he sold much more)
Her father made it with his own hands
She doesn’t believe in miracles, yet she placed the hanukkiyah gingerly in its place of honor
This sense that Judaism froze or broke. It became a relic to preserve and remember, not something to actually be lived
“Forgive me, I’m an old woman, eager to visit my pain on the young.”
Psychological trauma of the shoah
Page 3 - Kate gives her dad a gift (first-edition of The Big Sleep)
tells him to say thanks or happy Hanukah
Hate that spelling
Bought with stepmother’s money
Father asks if Kate is going to the Christmas party. Again, stepmom isn’t jewish. He probably isn’t either
Page 6 - BW has stopped a bunch of criminals in warehouse dressed as Santa
Spies a box full of gold, including a Hanukiyah
Page 7 - BW threatens one of the Santas (while holding the Hanukiyah), asking where he stole it from
Page 8 - BW spying on a family, I think spying on Manya
Narration reveals Kate telling Manya she saw her Hanukiyyah, Manya claims it’s impossible, one-of-a-kind, something nobody outside her family has ever seen
Manya reveals she has no family left
Page 9 - images show Kate dressed up as FedEx person delivering the Hanukiyah to Manya’s apartment above Ketterman’s Books
Kate argues with Manya over putting the candles in. She verifies that Manya’s father made it
“He made it to be used, Manya...he made it to celebrate the Festival of Lights”
What’s going on here?
Jumping through time?
The Santas broke into Ketterman’s and stole the Hanukiyah after the first flashback, Manya lost all hope
Manya placing a hanukkiyah in the window was an error, the hanukkiyah has been lost for years

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• Fantastic Four Vol. 6 #5, (Legacy 650), 2018 Creators: Written by Dan
  Slott Drawn and inked by Aaron Kuder Colored by Marte Gracia & Erick
  Arciniega Lettered by VC's Joe Caramagna 4 out of 9 covers feature
  Ben in Jewish regalia! Esad Ribic cover - Ben in tallis and kippa
  holding Alicia, surrounded by heart and doves Mark Brooks variant -
  Ben in tallis and kippa holding Alicia in wedding dress Elizabeth
  Torque variant - Ben in tallis and kippa kissing Alicia under the
  chuppah Alex Ross variant - Ben in kippa kissing Alicia, surrounded
  on either side by superhero battles
  In an interview with CBR, Dan slott reveals he was building to Ben proposing to Alicia in the Thing #25, but was told the wedding
  would have to be in FF (then written by J Michael Straczynski
  First, a flashback with art by Mike and Laura Allred, very touching story about Sue teaching Ben to dance for the wedding
  while flashing back to playing matchmaker Then bachelor party
  with art by Adam Hughes. Serpent Society burst out of cakes
  Wedding in Benson, AZ??? Rabbi Lowenthal traveled with everyone
  to officiate Meet Aunt Petunia and Uncle Jake, who says kids
  being teenagers is meshugana Benson?? Don’t think there’s many
  Jews in Benson. The nearest synagogue is a 37 minute drive south
  (Temple Kol Hamidbar in Sierra Vista) Finally get to the wedding
  There is a chuppa. Ben wears a tallis “Alicia Reiss Masters and
  Benjamin Jacob Grimm” both sound more Jewish with their middle
  names (Jacob Reiss was her deceased father, Phillip Masters her
  stepfather) Doom interrupts with a worldwide projection announcing
  Galactus has returned and he'll defend earth, but nobody better
  enter Latverian airspace. The FF immediately think they need to
  spring into action “Remember what the rabbi said” Alicia asks Ben
  to have patience. Definitely what happens, people lose their
  identities, become just THE rabbi LITERAL CHUPPAH Reed uses a
  coronal displacement device (a 4-minute time bubble) to give those
  under the chutzpah time to finish the wedding while everybody else
  is frozen Amazing literalization of the chuppah as sacred time.
  Time literally freezes under the canopy They give vows. Not a
  traditionally Jewish thing, but more popular these days Typical I
  do moment No harei at, no ketubah, no sheva brachot Rabbi
  Lowenthal: “It is said that, at our weddings, the crash of a glass
  ends the hush of mythic time under a huppah… allowing the world and a
  new beginning to come rushing in. Never before has that been more
  true.” Seems entirely taken from Anita Diamant's The Jewish Wedding
  Now, which is reprinted on myjewishlearning. Pretty sure Dan just
  googled chuppah She writes “The crash of glass ends the hush of
  mythic time under the huppah, and the world rushes in. Everyone
  exhales, claps and shouts, “Mazel tov!” The celebration begins”
  Bubble snaps as they shout mazel tov, team rushes off in just married
  fantasticar
  Marvel Holiday Special 1994 The Thing in “Losin’ The Blues” Creators: Written by Greg Wright Drawn by Mike Manley Colored by
  Greg Wright Lettered by Brad Joyce Wright- early 90’s work like
  Deathlok and Morbius the Living Vampire Thing saves a group of
  ice skaters from a Christmas tree about to smash them Young girl
  named Amy starts asking lots of questions complaining about Xmas
  and Trees Intersperse their conversation with Ben stopping various
  crimes - a Salvation army robbery, a jewelry store robbery. People
  keep yelling at Ben for causing damage as he saves “I'm Jewish.
  They don't have a million Hanukkah specials on TV, or big sales,
  or tons of decorations. People think Hanukkah’s like eight days of
  Christmas, and it isn't! It wouldn't be so bad if Christmas stuff
  wasn't everywhere for three months, you know. I'm proud if my
  religion, but this stuff makes me feel--like--less or something.”
  Goes on yo explain how she doesn't see peace or goodwill, just
  fighting over presents Punk kids steal Amy's coat. Ben goes to
  offer her his, but a homeless person gives his coat first.
  Supposed to be sweet, but it's super creepy Ben gives his coat to
  the homeless man, who managed to convince Amy the season is about
  goodwill She gives Ben some felt as a Hanukkah present she just
  had lying around Ben offers to get all three hot cocoa Funny, I
  remembered the first time I read this story that it felt like Ben had
  never heard of Hanukkah before. But it comes across as him playing
  cou, leaving Amy room to articulate her own position. It could fit in
  with a narrative of Ben as someone who turned his back on his Judaism
  Marvel Holiday Special 2004 “The True Meaning of...” Creators: Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa Drawn by Duncan Rouleau Inked by
  Aaron Sowd Colored by Morry Hollowell Lettered by Clem Robins
  Franklin has to write a report for school on what his family does for
  the holidays, so he dictates it to HERBIE Thing identifies himself
  and Shadowcat as the only two openly Jewish superheroes Bull. Even
  if Moon Knight is still secretive and Magneto is evil at the time,
  there's Sabra Celebrates Hanukah with Mr. Sheckerberg and orphans
  Franklin offers to host the Hanukkah party at the Baxter building,
  Ben reveals Reed and Sue have offered. But he's not interested He
  likes that it's low key
  “This is personal. Between me and God. You understand?” Ben doesn't strike me as religious.
  Franklin finally talks to Reed about whether he believes in God Ends with an equation of all religious holidays as the same
  “Christmas and Hanukkah and Kwanzaa...other holidays like Ramadan”
  Frustratingly shallow read of holidays
  Marvel Holiday Comic 2011 “Chinese Food for Christmas” Creators: Written by Jamie S. Rich Drawn by Paco Diaz Colored by
  Jean-Francois Beaulieu Lettered by Jeff Eckleberry Jamie is
  currently group editor for Batman comics FF era Ben
  Ben on the phone with Kitty Pryde, who is teasing him about his pumpkin spice eggnog latte and the fact Sasquatch and Moon
  Knight will eat all the sesame chicken
  Thing also brings up stereotypical Jewish drink, manischewitz Ben is hunting down this monster that keeps stealing Xmas
  decorations “It may be Christmas time for the gentiles, but for
  you...it's clobberin’ time!”
  Turns out the monster is stealing everything for orphan children whose charity Christmas was canceled
  Ben invites them to Jewish Christmas Weird that he asks if they have heard of Hanukkah (they have, and they know it's over)
  instead of whether they know what Jews do on Christmas All the
  Jewish superheroes celebrating together:
  Moon Knight, Songbird, Shadowcat, Thing, Sasquatch, Wiccan Gold, Langkowski, Kaplan Wiccan is lighting a hanukkiyah, which is
  cool except… He's not lit the central shanah candle We established
  Hanukkah is over!
  Marvel Two-in-One #8 (1975) - Thing and Ghost Rider team up Ghost Rider witnesses Three Wise Men recreation Thing insists that
  Mr. Fantastic celebrate Christmas with his family while he goes to
  investigate. Interpretive room for him being Jewish

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Welcome to Funny,They Don’t Look Jewish, where Judaism appears in the panels.
Our purpose is to find characters, stories and issues of comics that explore explicitly Jewish content.

In this episode, we cover the canonical Judaism of Benjamin Grimm, THE THING.

Fantastic Four #56 (485) (2002)

Credits: "Remembrance of Things Past"
Writer: Karl Kesel
Penciler: Stuart Immonen
Inker: Scott Koblish
Cover: Gabriele Dell’Otto
Colourist: Liquid!
Letterer Richard Starkings
Albert Deschesne
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Special Thanks to Greg Rucka
Jen Rucka
Steve Leiber
Eve Celsi

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Fantastic_Four_Vol_3_56

Henry's notes::
Man wandering around downtown, lost and on his cell phone wondering if it’s not a nice part of town, when all of a sudden Thing appears and says, “This part of town...some things ain’t so nice.” Splash page with Thing in trench coat under a street lamp at the corner of Yancy St and unnamed st. with title and credits.
Flashback to Mr. Sheckerberg lecturing young Ben Grimm about throwing a stone through his window. Older brother Daniel Grimm tries to pay him off. Fast forward, Danny is limping, mentions the other guy got “clobbered.” Fast forward to cop talking to Mrs. Grimm about her “loss.” It appears Danny has died from nefarious circumstances. Cop says danny is in a better place and Ben responds, “But God left us here.”
Fast forward to Ben running away from Mr Sheckerberg with a stolen Magen David, to give to the Yancy street gang. Until reading this point I always thought of the gang as like a lovable group. I didn’t think of them as actually terrorizing the neighborhood.
Back to present Thing is in the store and Mr. Sheck is threatening whomever is there with a baseball bat. Sheck tells Ben he’s never been afraid of hoodlums. Flashback to Ben looking for the gang, flash forward to Ben being pummeled by garbage and paint. It seems like the gang is basically telling him to go away of panel. I don’t really understand this part. Why are they talking off panel in the past and here? All of a sudden Powderkeg attacks. Punchy punchy fight fight until Ben realizes Sheck is on the ground. It seems like Thing thinks he’s dead because he says both lines of “Shema.” This is unprecedented and one of the most Jewish moments in comics. Shema, being the central prayer of the Jewish people, is said by a major Marvel character. This panel brought tears of joy to my eyes. Sheck wakes up and points out that it’s good to see Ben hasn’t forgotten everything he learned at Temple. He speculates that perhaps Thing has been hiding his Judaism. Ben basically shares that you could find out on the internet but never wanted to draw attention to it. Doesn’t want people to think Jews are monsters like him. This seems very meta to me. It seems like it’s almost what writers and other artists were thinking. Hiding in plain sight, fitting in etc. They share a tender moment saying perhaps it’s Yom kippur and Ben returns Sheck’s Magen david. Sheck humorously does not forgive him and they continue. Sheck says that he doesn’t forgive Ben because there’s nothing to forgive him for. It’s not Ben’s fault what happens to him. He compares Ben to the Golem of Prague and gives him the Magen David to protect until he needs it back. It ends with Ben holding up Powderkeg and he says the age old joke, “You don’t look Jewish.”

Overall I’d give this book ⅘ Stars of David. There are only a few explicitly Jewish moments but they are rich, heavy and meaningful. I can’t overstate how much seeing the Shema in a comic book means to me. If I had seen this in a comic when I was 9 or 10 I imagine it would’ve had a tremendous impact on me. Sheck seems like a stand-in for Jack Kirby. The two of them seem to be sharing an inner monologue that Jack might have had with himself, wondering how much of his Judaism to share with the world.
On Word Balloon Podcast, Karl Kesel confirms that he was the one that made Ben officially Jewish. “Tom Breevort wanted important stories, and I said, “y’know, Jack drew Ben as Jewish, why don’t we do that story?” I’m convinced that at the beginning, Ben was just a character, but I’m convinced the longer Jack worked on him, the more of himself he put into Ben Grimm. Stan Lee has said they never intended the character to be Jewish at the start, but I think by the end he was clearly a stand in for Jack himself in so many ways.”

The Thing #8
Writer: Dan Slott
Artist: Kieron Dwyer
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Release Date: July 5, 2006

The Thing has a Bar Mitzvah! 5 pages including splash page. Thing wears a kippa and tallis. Job as Torah portion – no such Torah portion exists. Location of Bar Mitzvah is possibly the Eldridge St synagogue
https://www.google.com/maps/place/12+Eldridge+St,+New+York,+NY+10002/@40.714752,-73.9937083,3a,75y,89.95h,150.02t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s9G9mDHOtz71BfWNe2PJ1kQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!4m5!3m4!1s0x89c25a28605536c3:0x75a62ace8cfe8dae!8m2!3d40.7146872!4d-73.9934249
15 minute walk from parts of Delancey Street

Brandon's notes:
Thing first appeared in Fantastic Four #1, published in November 1961, by Stan the Man Lee and Jack the King Kirby

Transformed into a rock monster

Fantastic Four Vol. 3 #56 (legacy #485), 2002
The Thing Vol. 2 #8, 2006
Fantastic Four Vol. 6 #5, (Legacy 650), 2018
Marvel Holiday Special 1994
Marvel Holiday Special 2004
Marvel Holiday Comic 2011

Hanukkah Card

Incredibly cool artifact - 1976
You have the Thing wearing a kippa and a tallis, clutching a siddur in his hands
Star of David on one side, what appears to be a couple letters on the other side. IT looks like yud bet, which might be a reference to the 12 Tribes.
The greeting - ee-chulim l’hanukkah, or wishes for Hanukkah
Is it common?
Most common error in depicting a hanukkiyah is actually showing a menorah as found in the Temple. Rather than 9 or 7 branches, this one seems to only have 5. I assume it’s a matter of simplicity in the artwork more than design error
I like to imagine this means he’s davening hallel on a Hanukkah morning

Fantastic Four Vol. 3 #56 (Legacy #485), 2002
Written by Karl Kesel
Drawn by Stuart Immonen
Inked by Scott Koblish
Colored by Liquid!
Lettered by Richard Starkings and Albert Dechesne
Karl Kesel - what a mentsch. He and his wife adopted a baby that was ADDICTED TO HEROIN. So he sold his comic book collection to pay medical bills
So Carlos Pacheco had been the artist on the book and plotting, and they brought in writers to help him out with dialogue. For 55 and 56, Karl is writing solo. Waid/Wieringo run starts with #60
Fantastic Four Headquarters - a UK based website. Karl Kesel interview
It's inevitable that the FF issue you’ll always be most known for is Remembrance of Things Past, a funny and poignant tale where the Thing finally reveals that he’s Jewish. How much editorial approval did you have to get to do this story, and what was the reaction in the industry?
Tom Brevoort asked for single-issue pitches, but he didn’t want them to be filler— he wanted them to be consequential and worth reading. I remembered that Kirby had done a drawing of Ben in a yamika and prayer shawl, reminded Tom of it (he knew exactly what I was talking about, of course), and said “How about a story where we reveal Ben is Jewish?” Tom gave a quick thumbs up, and there was no editorial problems after that, that I remember. The biggest problem was finding the right villain for the story! I’d add that I doubt Kirby thought Ben was Jewish when the character was created, but as years went by and he put more of his own personality and personal background into the Thing, the idea that he’s Jewish isn’t that big of a leap of faith. So to speak.
Open with a guy telling his friend he's lost after a day wandering NYC
“This part of town, some things ain't so nice” downtown, LES
First 6 pages - Dark colors give way to lighter flashback. Halcyon days, better remembered, compared with crummy modernity (closed stores, XXX)
Mr. Sheckerberg keeping Ben in line
More concerned with morality than $
Danny wants Ben to fight for what's his. Ben points out the stars (FF, but also Abraham and covenant?)
P. 6 - Alluded to Danny died, Ben seems to lose faith
Officer: “I'm sure Danny was a good kid, and I'm sure God took him to a better place.” “But God left us here, didn't he?”
P. 7 - Ben tries out for Yancy street gang
Sheckerberg, “You're no better than your brother, may he rest in peace!” - so Jewish
Steals Sheckerberg's star of David, which is one piece not for sale
Implication that his pride in identity cannot be bought
P. 8 - pawn shop is still there
Rest of Jews moved uptown. Henry, I imagine this hit a particular resonance for you (Family in Chicago)
P. 9 - Sheckerberg thinks Ben is extorting him for protection money. Typical comic book coincidence
Reveals first name: Hiram, “high-born” in Hebrew
Both II Samuel 5:11 and I Kings 7:13-14 mention a King Hiram of Tyre who helped Solomon with building of the Temple
P. 11 - a flip. Now modern day is bright (orange Thing) and memories are hazy, faded colors)
Ben confronts the Yancy Street Gang, hijinx ensue
Returns to shop to discover true villain is “Powderkeg, the man with the explosive aura!”
Teams with Yancy Street to take him out
P. 19 - the big one
Ben thinks Sheck might be dead, can't give CPR
realizes all he can do is recite the shema, a prayer (from the Torah) recited twice a day, but also before death
P. 20 - Sheck is worried Ben will have gang say Kaddish for him
Shema is part of the deathbed vidui. It's not tempting fate or jinxing to recite it
Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 338
If you feel death approaching, recite the Viddui. Be reassured by those around you. Many have said the Viddui and not died, and many have not said the Viddui and have died. If you are unable to recite it aloud, say it in your heart. And if you are unable to recite it, others may recite it with you or for you
But Kaddish is clearly not ok to recite
Sheck thought Ben was ashamed of being Jewish. Relates back to Sheck's magen david
“Figure there's enough trouble in this world without people thinkin’ Jews are all monsters like me”
So Jewish. Concern that something is good or bad for the Jews
Sheck says maybe in your youth
Radak on Noah says kids ARE bad in their youth
Genesis 8:21 כִּ֠י יֵ֣צֶר לֵ֧ב הָאָדָ֛ם רַ֖ע מִנְּעֻרָ֑יו
Radak says the evil inclination is in a kid from birth (in utero, actually). Yetzer tov, the impulse to do good, only comes later with maturity
P. 21 - Ben returns the star
Thought today was “the Day of Atonement” - very writerly move. No Jew would say that. YK
Sheck says he won't forgive Ben because it isn't YK, but also because it's not the jubilee (yovel) 50th year
Never heard this idea that yovel is time of forgiveness
Forgiveness of debts, merciful god.
Sheck knows Ben lost faith
P. 22 Sheck thinks Ben feels guilty for getting out
What you learned at synagogue, you can always go back to
Brings up the Golem as protector, not monster
Definitely a Ben analogue
Judah Loew ben Bezalel of Prague (late 16th century)
Ben’s not going back to synagogue - every joke I've heard
Ends with the joke, “you don't look Jewish”
Emphasizes the point of this issue. Ben definitively Jewish. In a cultural way

The Thing Vol. 2 #8, 2006
Creators:
Written by Dan Slott
Drawn and inked by Kieron Dwyer
Colored by Laura Villari
Lettered by Dave Lanphear
Whoa! Dan currently writing FF
In an episode of the podcast Word Balloon with Jon Siuntres, Slott comments on the importance of representation. For him, Shadowcat was trained by demons and Moon Knight resurrected by an Egyptian deity. He felt it was messed up. wanted better Jewish representation
Last issue of series
Opens with a superhero poker tournament
GLA show up uninvited, but Thing lets them stay because Squirrel Girl is cool
Hachnasat Orchim?
Side story with Impossible Man getting cured of his hiccups but destroying a Himalayan village
Alicia’s romantic interest (?) goes to fix teh village, freeing her to date Ben again
Not until PAGE 14 that we finally learn why this party is happening. Well, page 15
Mr Sheckerberg introduces Ben to Rabbi Lowenthal
False idea that you have to be 13 to have a Bar Mitzvah (as opposed to BEING one)
They say “our faith” believes you can get another one at 83, since 70 is life expectancy
I have NEVER heard of this idea before
Did some research. Apparently it’s a relatively recent phenomenon (definitely no earlier than 20th century)
Textual basis pretty universally agreed upon: Psalms 90:10
“The span of our life is seventy years, or, given the strength, eighty years; but the best of them are trouble and sorrow. They pass by speedily, and we are in darkness.”
Though an Aish HaTorah article connects it to Yehuda ben Tema’s statement in Pirkei Avot 5:21 that age seventy is שיבה, a white head of hair, though a homophone of “satisfied” - hence, an occasional translation of a ripe old age
Earliest example I could find was December 1999 when Kirk Douglas (Issur ben Heshel)
Page 16 - thirteen years of Ben as The Thing, hence his second life
Rabbi Lowenthal runs it by “some rabbinical scholars,” who okay it
Rabbinical scholars know it’s not necessary, it’s just an aliyah
Ben studies Hebrew, practices for his Torah and haftorah portion (pretty good)
Invitation has a note not to forget the big poker party afterward (typical Jewish American experience)
Page 17 - double page spread
Large synagogue with clergy sitting on the bima (feels very Reform or Conservative to me)
Thing wearing the yarmulke and tallis, which is pretty awesome to see visually
Thing gives his “speech” about his Torah portion from the book of Job
No torah portion comes from Job, Job not in the Torah
In fact, no Haftorah portion comes from the book of Job
These are the moments of frustration, when something is represented incorrectly.
And then Thing kicks everybody out so he can have sex with Alicia Masters

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Surprise! Brandon & Henry return, unannounced, for this "emergency pod" as they discover a NEW Jewish Moon Knight story! Keep listening for appearances by Kitty Pryde and The Thing! All of our favorites in one episode!

Comics covered:

Vengeance of the Moon Knight #1

• “Reese”
• Written by Jed MacKay
• Penciled by Alessandro Cappuccio
• Colored by Rachelle Rosenberg
• Lettered by VC’s Cor Petit
• Edited by Tom Brevoort

X-Men (Vol. 6) #25

• “From the Shadows”
• Gerry Duggan
• Penciled by Stefano Caseli
• Colored by Marte Gracia
• Lettered by VC’s Clayton Cowles
• Designed by Tom Muller & Jay Brown
• Edited by Jordan D. White

Spidey & His Amazing Friends (Disney Channel show)

"An UnBEElievable Rosh Hashanah"

Season 2, Episode 27b

Air date: September 15, 2023

Written by Alexa Harzan

Directed by Darren Bachynski

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This was a big one! This summer we had the privilege and honor of speaking with DC Comics legend, Paul Kupperberg. Paul was kind enough to speak to us about Episode 23 - Metropolis Mishpacha, where we covered Supergirl and her landlady Ida Berkowitz! Paul of course was the author of these stories. We talk about religion in comics, Jewish representation, the Holocaust, and Colossal Boy's colossal bris!

Please check out Paul's website and shop for all things KUP! https://www.paulkupperberg.net/

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Welcome to Funny; They Don’t Look Jewish, “Where Judaism appears in the panels.”

Our purpose is to find characters, stories and issues of comics that explore explicitly Jewish content.

Brandon and Henry are back to finish the deep dive in our newest favorite Jewish super-hero, SERAPH!

Comics covered:

Super Friends #41, December 1980

• "Dry Earth… Stolen Waters”
  • Written and Penciled by Bob Oksner
  • Colored by Jerry Serpe
  • Lettered by John Costanza
  • Edited by Julius Schwartz

Super Friends #46, April 1981

• "Echo of Evil!”
  • Written and Penciled by Bob Oksner
  • Colored by Jerry Serpe
  • Lettered by John Costanza
  • Edited by Julius Schwartz

DC Comics Presents #46, June 1982

• "The Wizard Who Wouldn’t Stay Dead”
  • Written by E. Nelson Bridwell
  • Penciled by Alex Saviuk
  • Inked by Pablo Marcos
  • Colored by Gene D’Angelo
  • Lettered by John Costanza
  • Edited by Julius Schwartz

Justice League Quarterly #8 (1992)

Written by Kevin Dudley

“The Real Return of the Global Guardians”

Doomsday Clock #5 (May 2018)

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Welcome to Funny; They Don’t Look Jewish, “Where Judaism appears in the panels.” Our purpose is to find characters, stories and issues of comics that explore explicitly Jewish content.

This time we're covering DC's Global Guardian, the Israeli SERAPH! Brandon and Henry take a look at several issues of DC's Super Friends, including arguably the most Jewish moment in all of super hero comics!

Comics covered in Episode 24

Super Friends #7, July 1977

• "The Warning of the Wonder Twins!”
  • Written by E. Nelson Bridwell 
  • Penciled by Ramona Fradon
  • Inked by Bob Smith
  • Edited by Dennis O’Neil

Super Friends #25, July 1979

• "Puppets of the Overlord”
  • Written by E. Nelson Bridwell
  • Penciled by Ramona Fradon
  • Inked by Bob Smith
  • Colored by Gene D’Angelo
  • Edited by Julius Schwartz

Super Friends #38, August 1980

• "The Seraph’s Day of Atonement”
  • Written by E. Nelson Bridwell
  • Penciled by Bob Oksner
  • Inked by Kim Demulder
  • Colored by Jerry Serpe
  • Lettered by Milt Snapinn
  • Edited by Julius Schwartz

Special shout out and thank you to Rob Kelly, The Fire and Water Network's For All Mankind podcast for alerting Henry to Seraph's Judaism. You can check out Henry on For All Mankind here: http://fireandwaterpodcast.com/podcast/fam38/

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Join us on a trip to Sweet Home Chicago and the Big Apricot, Metropolis for an adventure with Supergirl and Shabbat dinner with Superman!

This is a SUPER exciting episode for us. Henry FINALLY gets to discuss his true loves, Superman and Supergirl with Brandon. 

Comics covered:

Mrs. Berkowitz and Blackstarr

Supergirl (Vol. 2) #13, November 1983

• “Echoes of Times Gone By”
  • Written by Paul Kupperberg
  • Penciled by Carmine Infantino
  • Inked by Bob Oksner
  • Colored by Tim Ziuko
  • Lettered by Ben Oda
  • Edited by Julius Schwartz

Supergirl (Vol. 2) #14, December 1983

• “Star Light, Star Bright… Blackstarr Rises Tonight”
  • Same creative team
  • Written by Paul Kupperberg
  • Penciled by Carmine Infantino
  • Inked by Bob Oksner
  • Colored by Tim Ziuko
  • Lettered by Ben Oda
  • Edited by Julius Schwartz

Supergirl (Vol. 2) #15, January 1984

• “Starfall”
  • Written by Paul Kupperberg
  • Penciled by Carmine Infantino
  • Inked by Bob Oksner
  • Colored by Tim Ziuko
  • Lettered by Andy Kubert
  • Edited by Julius Schwartz

Josef Schuman

First Appearance - Action Comics #831, page 9, page 13

 Action Comics (Vol. 1) #833, November 2005

• “Depths”
  • Written by Gail Simone
  • Penciled by John Byrne
  • Inked by Nelson, Norm Rapmund, Lary Stucker 
  • Colored by Guy Major
  • Lettered by Rob Leigh
  • Edited by Eddie Berganza

Action Comics (Vol. 1) #835, January 2006

• “A Contagion of Madness”
  • Written by Gail Simone
  • Penciled by John Byrne
  • Inked by Nelson (DeCastro) 
  • Colored by Guy Major
  • Lettered by Phil Balsman
  • Edited by Eddie Berganza

Perry White refers to Shabbat Dinner:

SUPERMAN: LEVIATHAN RISING SPECIAL #1

• “Superman: Leviathan Rising”
• Written by
  • Brian Michael Bendis
  • Greg Rucka
  • Matt Fraction
  • Marc Andreyko
• Penciled and Inked by
  • Yanick Paquette

Superman in the Warsaw Ghetto:

Superman (Vol. 2) #54, April 1991

• “Time and Time Again (Part 3 of 7): The Warsaw Ghetto”
  • Written by Jerry Ordway
  • Penciled by Jerry Ordway
  • Inked by Dennis Janke 
  • Colored by Glenn Whitmore
  • Lettered by John Costanza
  • Edited by Mike Carlin and Dan Thorsland

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Welcome to Funny; They Don’t Look Jewish, “Where Judaism appears in the panels.”

Our purpose is to find characters, stories and issues of comics that explore explicitly Jewish content.

Brandon and Henry are back (again) after a long hiatus in a SUPER-SIZED episode. We are covering CAPTAIN AMERICA's Jewish friends. So strap in, turn on your "CA: The First Avenger" soundtrack and learn about America's @$$'s buddies!

Captain America’s Amazing Jewish Friends - Bernie Rosenthal (Cap 247, Jul 1980), Anna Kappelbaum

Captain America #237, June 1979

• "From the Ashes…"
  • Plotted by Chris Claremont
  • Scripted by Roger McKenzie
  • Penciled by Sal Buscema
  • Inked by Don Perlin
  • Colored by George Roussos
  • Lettered by Elaine Heinl
  • Edited by Roger Stern

Captain America #245, February 1980

• "The Calypso Connection"
  • Written by Roger McKenzie
  • Penciled by Carmine Infantino & Joe Rubinstein
  • Lettered by Jim Novak
  • Colored by Carl Gafford (“Gaff”)
  • Edited by Jim Salicrup
  • Cover by Frank Miller

Captain America #275, November 1982

• “Yesterday’s Shadows” 
  • Written by J.M. DeMatteis
  • Penciled by Mike Zeck
  • Inked by John Beatty
  • Colored by Don Warfield
  • Lettered by John Morelli
  • Edited by Mark Gruenwald

Captain America #276, December 1982

• “Turning Point!” 
  • Written by J.M. DeMatteis
  • Penciled by Mike Zeck
  • Inked by John Beatty
  • Colored by Bob Sharen
  • Lettered by John Morelli
  • Edited by Mark Gruenwald

Captain America #284, August 1983

• “Diverging...” 
  • Written by J.M. DeMatteis
  • Penciled by Sal Buscema with finishes by Kim DeMulder
  • Colored by Bob Sharen
  • Lettered by Diana Albers
  • Edited by Mark Gruenwald

Captain America #289, January 1984

• “Bernie America, Sentinel of Liberty” 
  • Written by J.M. DeMatteis
  • Penciled by Mike Zeck
  • Colored by Bob Sharen
  • Lettered by Diana Albers
  • Edited by Mark Gruenwald

Captain America #317, February 1986

• “Death Throws” 
  • Written by Mark Gruenwald
  • Penciled by Paul Neary
  • Inked by Dennis Janke
  • Colored by Ken Feduniewicz
  • Lettered by Diana Albers
  • Edited by Michael Carlin

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In this episode we cover some more minor character appearances! Harry The Fiddler, Emperor Norton (both from The Sandman), Louis "Shadow" Kravitz" (Heroes for Hire) and Ms Marvel's friend, Naftali!

Comics and Characters covered:

Harry the Fiddler

Sandman (Vol. 2) #8, August 1989

• “The Sound of Her Wings”
  • Written by Neil Gaiman
  • Penciled by Mike Dringenberg & Malcolm Jones III
  • Colored by Daniel Vozzo
  • Lettered by Todd Klein
  • Edited by Karen Berger

Emperor Norton 

Sandman (Vol. 2) #31, October 1991

• “Three Septembers and a January”
  • Written by Neil Gaiman
  • Penciled and Inked by Shawn McManus
  • Colored by Daniel Vozzo
  • Lettered by Todd Klein
  • Edited by Karen Berger

Louis “Shadow” Kravitz

Heroes for Hire (Vol. 2) #6, January 2007

• “Guns, Gems, Robots, and Terrorists!”
  • Written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray
  • Penciled by Alvaro Rio
  • Inked by Scott Koblish and Tom Palmer
  • Colored by Brad Anderson
  • Lettered by Randy Gentile
  • Edited by Mark Pannicia

Naftali

Ms. Marvel (Vol. 4) #25, December 2017, Ms. Marvel (Vol. 4) #26, January 2018, Ms. Marvel (Vol. 4) #27, February 2018, Ms. Marvel (Vol. 4) #28, March 2018,  Ms. Marvel (Vol. 4) #37, January 2019 - “After the Flood”

• “Teenage Wasteland”
  • Written by G. Willow Wilson
  • Penciled by Nico Leon 
  • Colored by Ian Herring
  • Lettered by VC’s Joe Caramagna
  • Edited by Sana Amanat

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We breakdown all of the Jewish content both explicit and implicit. We do some deep dives into Fantastic Four lore in the comics then finally share what we want to see in a sequel. 

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Hex #11, July 1986

• “Night of the Batman”
  • Written by Michel Fleisher
  • Penciled by Mark Texeira
  • Inked by Carlos Garzon and Pablo Marcos
  • Colored by Bob LeRose
  • Lettered by Augustin Mas
  • Edited by Michael Fleisher

Batman Chronicles #11, December 1997

• “Berlin Batman”
  • Written, penciled, and inked by Paul Pope
  • Colored by Ted McKeever
  • Lettered by Ken Lopez
  • Edited by Darren Vincenzo and Jordan B. Gorfinkel

The Bat-Man: First Knight #1-3, May 2024

• “Book One, Two & Three"
  • Written by Dan Jurgens
  • Penciled and inked by Mike Perkins
  • Colored by Mike Spicer
  • Lettered by Simon Bowland
  • Edited by Matthew Levine and Chris Conroy

The Penguin #7, April 2024

• “An Unimportant Man, Part Two”
  • Written by Tom King
  • Penciled and inked by Stevan Subić
  • Colored by Marcelo Maiolo
  • Lettered by Clayton Cowles
  • Edited by Ben Abernathy

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Our Fighting Forces #150, September 1974

• “Mark Our Graves”
  • Written by Robert Kanigher
  • Penciled and inked by John Severin
  • Edited by Archie Goodwin

War Is Hell #10, September 1974

• “The Corridor”
  • Written by Tony Isabella and Chris Claremont
  • Penciled by Dick Ayers
  • Inked by Frank Springer
  • Colored by Petra Goldberg
  • Lettered by David Hunt
  • Edited by Roy Thomas

Unknown Soldier #247, January 1981

• “Season in Hell!”
  • Written by Bob Haney
  • Penciled by Dick Ayers
  • Inked by Gerry Talaoc
  • Colored by Bob LeRose
  • Lettered by Esphidy Mahilum
  • Edited by Len Wein

Sgt. Rock #413, December 1986

• “I Owe You One”
  • Written by Robert Kanigher
  • Penciled by Joe Kubert
  • Inked and Lettered by Andy Kubert
  • Colored by Tatjana Wood
  • Lettered by David Hunt
  • Edited by Murray Boltinoff

Honorable Mentions:

• X-Men: True Friends #3 (November 1999)
  • Chris Claremont and Rick Leonardi
  • Kitty Pryde tries to save her family from the Holocaust
• Wolverine (Vol. 3) #32 (September 2005)
  • Mark Millar and Kaare Andrews
  • Wolverine in Sobibor camp
• Dominic Fortune #1-4 (August 2009)
  • Howard Chaykin

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Welcome to Funny,They Don’t Look Jewish, where Judaism appears in the panels. Our purpose is to find characters, stories and issues of comics that explore explicitly Jewish content. In this episode we cover super heroes and characters appearing in non-DC or Marvel Comics!

Characters

1. The Acidic Jew - Common Grounds Vol. 1 #3 (Apr. 2004)
2. American Flagg! (1985, 1988)
   1. #26 - Page 7
   2. American Flagg! #50 
3. The Holy Roller (2023)

American Flagg! #26, Nov 1985

• “Mad Dogs & Englishmen: Conclusion”
  • Written, penciled, and inked by Howard Chaykin
  • Lettered by Ken Bruzenak
  • Colored by Alex Wald
  • Edited by Mike Gold

American Flagg! #50, Mar 1988

• “The Best Man-Sort of…”
  • Written by Howard Chaykin
  • Penciled and inked by Mike Vosburg
  • Lettered by Ken Bruzenak
  • Colored by John Moore
  • Edited by Rick Oliver

Common Grounds #3, Apr 2004

• “Sanctuary”
  • Written by Troy Hickman
  • Penciled by Chris Bachalo
  • Inked by Aaron Sowd and Tom Bar-Or
  • Colored by Brian Buccellato and Sonia Oback

The Holy Roller #1, Nov 2023

• Written by Andy Samberg, Rick Remender, and Joe Trohman
• Penciled by Roland Boschi
• Colored by Moreno Dinisio
• Lettered by Rus Wooton
• Edited by Harper Jate

The Holy Roller #2, Dec 2023

• “Sanctuary”
  • Written by Andy Samberg, Rick Remender, and Joe Trohman
  • Penciled by Roland Boschi
  • Colored by Moreno Dinisio
  • Lettered by Rus Wooton
  • Edited by Harper Jate

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