His first show “The Jewish Superhero Show” will be on Monday 20th July at 11:00 PM

Show info:

First off, lets start by stating that this show is going to be WAY worse than normal. Why? Because Kurtis is flying solo! That’s right, no Amy and (even worse) no Harry! Heavens to Mergatroid! But don’t fret. As bad as that sounds, he has found a guest host to help him with all of the big words. Ashley the Enigma will be lending a female voice to the show while Harry and Amy are away. Second, please join us as we welcome Rabbi Simcha Weinstein as he talks about his book “Up, Up and Oy Vey! How Jewish History, Culture and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero.” Was Superman Jewish? Could he have used his super powers to be a mohel instead of a mild mannered reporter? Is Wonder Woman a shicksa? Tune in to find out! Bringing you the absolute worst in web talk radio… guaranteed!

Click here to listen on Monday 20th July at 11:00 PM
And dont forget you can call in your questions on (347) 202-0556

PROVIDENCE, R.I. In the 1930s, amid the Great Depression and Nazi Germany, Cleveland writer Jerry Siegel and Toronto artist Joe Shuster conceived an iconic superhero with rippling biceps, long-flowing cape, impeccably coifed hair and a virtuous calling to stamp out evil.

Superman may not be Jewish like his creators, but some scholars, comic book historians and rabbis see the superhero and his introverted alter ego Clark Kent as subtly influenced by the authors’ heritage and informed by themes of assimilation and conflicted cultural identities.

Two related exhibits at Brown University explore the seminal role of Jews in the comic book genre, including the founders of satirical Mad magazine and the creators of Superman, Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, Batman and Captain America. The displays also include contemporary illustrators such as Art Spiegelman, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for his Holocaust-inspired comic Maus.

“People’s knowledge of their role is not really proportional to the actual size of their role,” said Franklin Kanin, a Brown junior who helped to curate the exhibits for a course called Jewish Americans: Film and Comics.

Jewish cartoonists practised their craft in early-20th-century Yiddish-language publications, but were largely excluded from high-paying illustration jobs and the advertising industry, said James Sturm, co-founder of the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vt.

They responded with their own comic strips, creating some of the most celebrated cartoon characters.

“They dreamed their dreams on paper, in comic books – which were kind of this cheap, throwaway medium that wasn’t really thought suitable for the more genteel population,” Sturm said.

One exhibit, which ran through mid-December at the John Hay Library, focused on the genre’s early years. The other, on display until later this month at the John Nicholas Brown Center’s Carriage House Gallery, shows modern artists wrestling openly with cultural stereotypes and ambivalence about religious identity.

Early Jewish American cartoonists, often the children of immigrants and toiling under pen names, created heroes of idyllic values. They possessed supreme strength, wisdom and goodness, espoused justice, helped the less fortunate and took on the Nazis and other enemies as superhuman fantasy figures.

The first Captain America issue, for instance, showed him smashing Hitler in the face.

“If somebody socked Hitler in the jaw, and many did, they had blond hair as they did it,” said Paul Buhle, a senior lecturer of American Civilization and history at Brown whose students curated the exhibit and who has written about Jews and popular culture. “There was no Jewish self-identification because it was feared this would limit the audience.”

Though blessed with exceptional powers, the superheroes were seen as outsiders, even alien, to mainstream America, which some commentators associate with the general experience of immigrants at the time.

But they had dual personas, carrying alter egos that were shy, angst-ridden earthlings – think Clark Kent or Spider-Man’s Peter Parker – who were uncertain of themselves and struggled to fit in and conform.

“They represent the nervous, nebbish immigrant who’s trying to find a place within this world,” said Rabbi Simcha Weinstein, author of Up, Up and Oy Vey! How Jewish History, Culture and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero.

Weinstein sees parallels between Superman, who first appeared in 1938, and the Old Testament character of Moses, who was sent down the Nile in a basket, raised in a strange land and learned his heritage later in life.

One comic in the exhibit shows Doc Samson, a psychiatrist in the Incredible Hulk series, teaching children about the holiday of Hanukkah – only to have them ask what role Santa played in it.

Also included is a 1994 Mad magazine strip imagining Superman as the Jewish son of Hyman and Doris Feldstein of Brooklyn. His costume bears the Star of David and his mother celebrates the baby’s arrival by envisioning him as a future doctor.

Some of the contemporary work is more biting, such as a strip from a 2005 collection by artist Bob Fingerman of a young man spurning traditional Jewish mourning rituals at his grandmother’s funeral.

Brown senior Kaitlyn Laabs took the course to learn more about her heritage and said she came away learning to “look outside the box for other influences that can impact a genre or impact a culture.”

“I don’t think it was too contrived, I don’t think it was too far of a stretch,” Laabs said of the course. “Do I think that it can also be Christian values? Yes. I think it’s some kind of religious moral code.”

ERIC TUCKER Associated Press

Stan Lee Co-creator of Spiderman

“This fascinating new book takes a look at the most surprising Jewish influence of all, the creation of the All-American superheroes who’ve consistently captured the public’s imagination for three-quarters of a century.”

Michael Medved
Film critic, Best-selling author, and nationally syndicated talk show host

“I never fully realized the impact contained in that first Superman story. Simcha Weinstein brings a new understanding to the characters, the creators, and the world of comic books.”

Joe Kubert

Illustrator: Hawkman, Batman, and The Flash Founder: Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art

Rabbi Simcha Book Tour

11/14/2010
23rd Annual Bikur Cholim Conference
Topic: Utilizing comics to promote Bikur Cholim

5/28/2010
Suffolk Y JCC in Commack
Topic: Up, Up and Oy Vey!

4/25/2010
Temple Beth Chai,
Long Island
Annual Journal Luncheon and Dance

1/31/2010 3pm
Holocaust Museum and Study Center
17 South Madison Ave
Spring Valley, NY 10977
http://www.holocauststudies.org/
Topic: War Time Motivation: Superheroes & the Holocaust

1/16/2010
Chabad of Port Washington
Topic: Up, Up and Oy Vey!

12/25/2009
Congregation Kehilath Jacob
THE CARLEBACH SHUL
305 West 79th Street New York NY 10024
Topic: Shtick Shift
http://www.carlebachshul.org/

12/19/2009
Emunah of Teaneck
Topic: Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st Century

11/9/09
Chabad of the Conejo
30345 Canwood Street
Agoura Hills, CA 91301

11/8/2009 2pm
The Walters Art Museum
Graham Auditorium
600 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
Phone: 410-547-9000 ext.236
Fax: 410-837-4886
Topic: Up, Up and Oy Vey: How Jewish History, Culture, and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero
Rabbi Weinstein will discuss the relevance of a hero in film and life as created by co-authors Jerome Siegel and Joseph Shuster during the rise of fascism in 1930s Europe. A reception follows the book signing.
Pre-registration recommended
Register by clicking here
www.thewalters.org

11/6/09
Chabad Community Center of Pacific Palisades
15207 W Sunset Blvd
Pacific Plsds, CA 90272-3567
(310) 454-7783
http://www.chabadpalisades.com/

10/19/2009
Oxford College of Emory University,
Atlanta
Topic: Up, Up and Oy Vey
www.oxford.emory.edu
Download the EBrochure here

9/13/2009
register online

2/19/2009
Aliya Institute
525-527 E New York Ave, Brooklyn

5/26/2009
topic: comedy and cocktails
Soho center for jewish life

2/17/2009
Queensborough Community College
Holocaust Resource Center and Archives, Bayside, NY 11364

2/8/2009 12.15-1.15pm
New York Comic Con
Jews and Comics: A Cottage Industry
Rabbi Simcha in discussion with writers Arie Kaplan, Danny Fingeroth and comic book creators Al Jaffee and Jerry Robinson.

2/1/2009
Congregation Beth Israel, Greater Hartford
Topic: Up, Up and Oy Vey! How Jewish History, Culture and Values, Shaped the Comic Book Superhero

1/31/2009
Emunah
Topic: Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st Century

1/25/2009
Houston, TX
Topic: Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st Century

1/14/2009
Barnes & Noble, 106 Court Street Brooklyn Heights
Topic: Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st Century
Start 7pm

12/9/2008
Chabad of Flamingo
Topic: Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st Century

12/4/2008
Richmond, VA
Topic: Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st Century

12/3/2008
Tenement Museum, NY NY
Topic: Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st Century

12/2/08
Chabad of MD
Topic: Up, Up and Oy Vey! How Jewish History, Culture and Values, Shaped the Comic Book Superhero

11/19/2008
Fort Lee, New Jersey
Topic: Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st Century

11/18/2008
St. Louis, MO
Topic: Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st Century

11/16/2008
Detroit, MI
Topic: Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st Century

11/15/2008
Vir. Beach, VA
Topic: Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st Century

11/13/2008
San Diego, CA
Topic: Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st Century

11/11/2008
Cherry Hill, NJ
Topic: Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st Century

11/9/2008
American Jewish University, Los Angeles, CA
Topic: Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st Century

11/5/08
Gainesville Chabad
Topic: Up, Up and Oy Vey! How Jewish History, Culture and Values, Shaped the Comic Book Superhero

11/3/2008
Denver, CO
Topic: Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st Century

Additional dates to be announced soon.

Up Up and Oy Vey! How Jewish History Culture and Values Shaped The Comicbook Superhero by Rabbi Simcha Out Now

Up, Up, and Oy Vey chronicles how Jewish history, culture, & values helped shape the early years of the comic book industry.

The early comic book creators were almost all Jewish, and as children of immigrants, they spent their lives trying to escape the second-class mentality which was forced on them by the outside world. Their fight for truth, justice, and the American Way is portrayed by the superheroes they created. The dual identity given to their creations mirrors their own desire to live two lives privately as a Jew, and publicly as an American.

Their creations are the descendants of a Jewish tradition littered with stories of super strength from Samson to the Golem of Prague. An increasing number of fans and amateur historians, obsessed with back-story “mythology,” claim they’ve uncovered the secret “Jewish-ness” of the comic book characters. Superheroes, they claim, are usually outsiders; gifted yet misunderstood, and strangers in a strange land.

This book observes comic book superheroes through three different lenses historical, cultural, and biblical/spiritual. Utilizing a bibliographic and subjective methodology, the author (an ordained rabbi) charts how the superhero model has unconsciously tapped into the deepest core of Jewish spiritual understanding.

Both teenagers and adults, especially those that are history enthusiasts, pop culture fans, seekers of Jewish spirituality, new-age mysticism cohorts, and of course, comic book readers, will enjoy reading this exciting and inspiring account of the birth and mythical origins of the comic book.