Super Power

By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER

Actor Christopher Reeve, who portrayed Superman, died on this date, October 10, 2004. Today, the fourth day of Sukkot, we customarily invite Moses into our Sukkah when we recite Ushpizin.

“The Man of Steel” and God’s prophet have much in common:

As an infant, Superman was placed by his parents into an escape pod, a diminutive spacecraft, saving his life when their planet, Krypton, was being destroyed. Moses was placed in a basket by his mother to save him from Pharaoh’s genocidal designs against his Israelite slaves.

Superman was adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent… much as Moses was adopted by the daughter of Pharaoh. Consequently, both bore secret identities, allowing them to bridge two cultures.

Both Moses and Clark Kent were renamed by their adoptive parents. Superman’s birth-name, Kal-El, may have been selected by the character’s Jewish creators (Jerry Siegel, Joe Schuster) because of that phrase’s meaning in Hebrew/Aramaic: “The Voice of God.”

Both Superman and Moses were champions of the oppressed, deliverers of those in danger. Both defiantly stood up to evil.

The modeling of an iconic super-hero after the example of Moses bears testimony to the enduring impact of Scripture: “More powerful than a locomotive!” 

This Succot, may we turn our hearts to the Voice of God… “Faster than a speeding bullet!”

Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the rabbi of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey and the editor of “Masorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism.” The latest edition of Masorti was published online in December of 2024. A subscription is $18 per annum.