By Joe Spier
CALGARY, Alberta, Canada — Spider-Man is Jewish
At the risk of boring devotees of the flagship character and corporate mascot of Marvel comic books and of the hugely successful Spider-Man movie franchise, those who know the origin story much better than I do, the Spider-Man narrative begins with Peter Parker who becomes orphaned when his parents, both C.I.A agents are killed while on a mission. The infant Peter Parker is left in the care of Uncle Ben and Aunt May who live in the Forest Hills neighborhood of New York. Peter grows to be a nerdish teenager, “that bookworm who wouldn’t know a cha-cha from a waltz”, self-obsessed with rejection, inadequacy and loneliness, the target of jokes and bullying by the more popular students at Midtown High School. One day Peter attends a science exhibition where he is bitten by a radioactive mutant spider. Soon Peter discovers that he has acquired a variety of superhuman arachnid-like powers including wall-crawling, superhuman strength, speed, and agility, extrasensory “spider-sense” that warns him of impending danger and he develops the ability to cast adhesive webbing. Peter initially uses his newfound powers to find fame and fortune and creates the Spider-Man name and costume. A minor celebrity, he appears on a television special where he lets a thief escape the TV station asserting it is not his responsibility but that of the police. Later Peter discovers that the very same burglar subsequently killed his Uncle Ben. Realizing that he could have prevented his uncle’s death and riddled with guilt, Peter, in the guise of Spider-Man becomes a vigilante, committing himself to a life of crime fighting driven by the mantra, “With great power comes great responsibility”. Spider-Man goes on to defeat super villains, the likes of really bad guys, Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Venom, Kingpin and Rhino.
The Spider-Man character was created in 1962 by comic book writer Stan Lee (born Stanley Lieber) the son of Romanian-born Jewish immigrants. His father was a dress cutter, a “shnayder”. It is only natural that Lee would bestow those same Jewish qualities, foibles and shtick into his creation that he possessed.
Peter Parker’s middle name is the very Jewish “Benjamin”, one of the Tribes of Israel. To those who argue that Parker is not a Jewish name, I would point out that there are “Parkers” in the Calgary Jewish Community Directory as there are “Shaws”, “Shores” and “Smiths.” And my own surname that is not at all Jewish was “Shapiro” when my paternal grandfather arrived in Canada from Eastern Europe.
Peter Parker grew up in the Forest Hills neighborhood of New York, a predominantly Jewish area.
Why did Stan Lee make the spider the essence of his comic character? After all, he could as easily have chosen any radioactive bug: – Moth-Man, Beetle-Boy, Wasp-Woman, Grasshopper-Girl. He chose the spider because it is the first arachnid hero in Jewish biblical history. After King David, fleeing from those who were out to slay him, ducked into a cave, a spider spun a web over the cave opening giving it an old abandoned appearance convincing his pursuers that no one could be hiding within. King David’s life was spared thanks to a spider-hero. It would take another 3,000 years before someone would finally give the spider the appreciation it deserves.
In the modern world, the spider is unjustly considered a pest, instilling fear in some and vilified by others. However, the spider does good, performing the vital function of controlling the insect population. Likewise, Spider-Man fights, protects and defends against murderous aggressors but is the recipient of bad press ranging from depicting the two sides as equivalent to blaming Spider-Man for the evils of his adversaries. Is this not a metaphor for Israeli defensive actions, trying to do right but always shouldering the blame, a special target of the double standard, of unfriendly press coverage, of misrepresentation and of media spin? Like Israel, Spider-Man suffers from a public relations problem.
There is a web of Jewishness about Spider-Man that is hard to ignore.
Spider-Man’s raison d’etre is to save all of humankind, simply the Jewish concept of tikkun olam (repairing the world) expounded in the Mishnah, our body of classical rabbinic teachings.
Unlike Superman, (who incidentally is also Jewish, – my article in San Diego Jewish World – May 1, 2016) who in his Clark Kent guise pretends to be a nerd, Peter Parker actually is one. He is the Jewish stereotype, best exhibited in real life by the neurotic worrier Woody Allen, of a clumsy, pathetic guy with glasses who is invisible to the girl next door, in short a nebbish.
Spider-Man is motivated by the classically Jewish characteristic of guilt. He spends his life attempting to pay down his guilt in not preventing the death of his uncle. The theme of Jewish guilt pervades his actions. Guilt is one of Judaism’s greatest weapons, used most successfully by mothers.
Spider-Man is truly a funny superhero. His one-liners, witty banter and snappy comebacks are suggestive of the earliest masters of stand-up who were almost exclusively Jewish. These comics honed their craft as comedians in the Borsht Belt; a series of Jewish resorts located in upstate New York’s Catskill Mountains (dubbed the Jewish Alps). To those great Jewish comedic talents the likes of Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Henny Youngman, Jerry Lewis, Don Rickles, Mel Brooks, Jackie Mason, may be added the name, Spider-Man.
The realization that Spider-Man is Jewish has spawned a whole genre of corny Yiddish type jokes: “Spider-Man” does not have spider-sense, he has spider-sechel”: “Spider-Man is the only superhero who can weave his only tallis”: and the one I like, “If Spider-Man were married his wife would be the ‘webbitzen’ ”.
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Spier is a retired lawyer with a keen interest in Jewish history. You may contact him via joe.spier@sdjewishworld.com.
Joe Spier