who's in the kitchen: judy joszef

‘Superman’ Jerry encounters real heros in Israel

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Having not seen his 6 Israeli grandchildren since the beginning of July, my husband Jerry planned a trip to visit them. A few days after he booked his flight and notified his son Yoni in Efrat (along with his wife and three grandchildren) and his daughter Jordana (yes, we both have daughters named Jordana), her husband and three grandchildren in Rechavia, the packages started to arrive.

His children and grandchildren get to choose what gifts they want (so they're actually happy with them!). As I opened the box, I noticed a trend: Super hero costumes. Batman and Ninja. A Desert Storm-looking, camouflaged spandex like an exercise shirt with the Superman logo across the chest. It was too big for the kids, must have been the wrong size then it hit me: Was this for Jerry? Oy.

“Yes, it's for me,” he said. “The grandkids and I are going to be super heroes.”

After meticulous deliberation, Jerry bought an original long sleeved classic Superman shirt, his hero since he was a young boy in Brooklyn. Jerry loved Superman because he always showed up just in the nick of time to protect and rescue people from bad guys.

Turns out, Superman was the creation of two Jewish men, children of immigrant parents, who in the view of certain historians, was imbued by his Jewish creators with fundamental Jewish principles of tikun olam. Superman was an orphan and an immigrant, who was determined to create a safer, fairer and moral world. In fact, a 1940 comic was titled, "How Superman would end the war.” The comic includes Superman saying to Hitler, "I'd like to land a strictly non-Aryan sock (punch) on your jaw" as he drags him off by the throat to be tried for crimes against humanity.

A day after Jerry arrived in Israel, he experienced a fundamentally paradoxical, riveting moment, where life imitated art. He was with his son and two young grandsons, living the dream of an idyllic joy-filled car ride, when reality capriciously infused itself onto the singing and laughter.

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