(Jewish Group) Superman: America's Jewish superhero?

In the mid-19th century, an immigrant fleeing horrific violence arrived in America. He quickly assimilated, adopting an American-sounding name and identity, although he continued to pine for the homeland that he had to abandon. This individual's story is either that of any number of Jewish immigrants... or Superman.

Why Superman is the ultimate immigrant

Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster, the children of Jewish immigrants who had come to North America to flee Europe's growing anti-Semitism. Together, they crafted the platonic ideal of superheroes.

"What led me into creating Superman in the early '30s?" said Siegel. "Hearing and reading of the oppression and slaughter of helpless, oppressed Jews in Nazi Germany… seeing movies depicting the horrors of privation suffered by the downtrodden. I had the great urge to help the downtrodden masses, somehow. How could I help them when I could barely help myself? Superman was the answer."

Numerous aspects of Jewish history and culture are reflected in Superman's story. When the Egyptian Pharaoh ordered all male Jews to be drowned in the Nile, Moses was saved by being placed in an ark on the riverbank. Likewise, Superman was saved from his planet's destruction by being sent to Earth in a small, cradle-like spaceship. Superman's name — Kal-El — can be interpreted in Hebrew as meaning "voice of God." His abilities, too, also have a connection with Jewish folklore; in 17th-century Prague, a rabbi was said to have made a golem out of river clay. The golem possessed incredible strength and defended the Jewish community against the city's anti-Semitic pogroms.

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