Through a link from Neilalien, I went to read Rabbi Simcha Weinstein's article, "Jewperheroes!" on the early Jewish creators of superheroes as well as the borrowed origins of the superhero type from Jewish culture. Although some of the material in his article was familiar to me, I found his personal commentary about his relationship to his Jewish identity interesting and was intrigued by his role as rabbi at the Pratt Institute. I was also unaware of some of the particular Jewish resonances he found in the Superman story.

Rabbi Weinstein's website, which identifies him as "the comic book rabbi," has more resources on the subject, including a podcast called "Is Superman Jewish?" I haven't listened to it yet but I probably will. He's also written a new book, called "Up, Up and Oy Vey! How Jewish History, Culture and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero." I see, as he states it in his article, that Rabbi Weinstein is affiliated with Chabad, an orthodox sect of Judaism which I mainly know about through their very entertaining annual telethon. Anyway, between his article and Mike Sterling's series of posts on the the topic, I feel my resistance to the new Superman movie wearing away.

In a more progressive vein, the Cute-Little-Red-Headed-Girlfriend and I went to see The Tribe, which bills itself as "the unorthodox, unauthorized history of the Jewish people and the Barbie Doll in about 15 minutes." Like Rabbi Weinstein's article, The Tribe is a chronicle of the Jewish people's impact on popular culture and a commentary on the role of outsiders in society generally. However The Tribe, which is, in fact, only about 15 minutes long, is mostly concerned with the secular Jewish experience. It asks the question, "What ties secular Jewish people together?" and arrives at some vary forward-looking and inclusive answers about the meaning of the word "tribe."

The Tribe is an excellent little film. The creators were on hand the evening we saw it and described it as "an appetizer." They intended the movie as a jumping off point for what they considered the main dish: a group discussion about the movie. I liked this idea tremendously. It invited the audience into the artwork and I took it to be a very generous approach. I also liked the format of the movie, which struck me as essay-like. I could definitely see the influence of the Internet in its making, although the creators insisted it was really the Talmud. Same diff.