Up Up and Oy Vey : How Jewish History, Culture and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero is a book by Rabbi

Rabbi

In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

 Simcha Weinstein

Simcha Weinstein

Simcha Weinstein is an English author and a rabbi. In 2006, his first book Up Up and Oy Vey : How Jewish History, Culture and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero was published...

.
In the book, Weinstein contends that because the creators of many famous superhero

Superhero

A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...

es, such as Superman

Superman

Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...

, were Jewish, those superheroes were inspired by Jewish values

Value system

A value system is a set of consistent ethic values and measures used for the purpose of ethical or ideological integrity. A well defined value system is a moral code.-Personal and communal:...

 and Jewish figures, such as the patriarch

Patriarch

Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy. This is a Greek word, a compound of πατριά , "lineage, descent", esp...

s (for example, Moses

Moses

Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...

 and David

David

David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...

), the Golem

Golem

In Jewish folklore, a golem is an animated anthropomorphic being, created entirely from inanimate matter. The word was used to mean an amorphous, unformed material in Psalms and medieval writing....

, and Samson

Samson

Samson, Shimshon ; Shamshoun or Sampson is the third to last of the Judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Tanakh ....

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The book argues that the Jewish creators of early comic books, as the children of immigrants, tried to escape the feeling of inferiority occasioned by their being a minority religion by creating superheroes who would fight for truth and justice. Up, Up and Oy Vey argues that the secret, dual lives of many superheroes mirrors the dual lives of their creators, privately Jewish, publicly American.

The book contains a section of full-color excerpts from some comic books.

Table of Contents

People of the (Comic) Book

Superman: From Cleveland to Krypton

Batman and the Spirit: Urban Darkness

Captain America: Star-Spangled Salvation

The Justice League of America: A (Justice) League of Their Own

Fantastic Four: "F" for Dysfunctional

The Incredible Hulk and Sabra: Anger Management

Spider-Man: "Wherever There's a Hangup"

X-Men: Mutation Generation

Spiritual Metaphors in Spandex