Liberal Talk Radio

We’ve come for your comic books:

While no one at Marvel comics would admit it – at least publicly – the webs that our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man weaves are laced with stories and lessons taken right out of Jewish culture – so much so that one borough rabbi believes that Peter Parker is actually a child of Abraham.

“Peter Parker’s a nerd who grew up in Forest Hills, his middle name is Benjamin and he’s motivated by guilt…I see a connection,” jokes Rabbi Simcha Weinstein, author of “Up, Up, And Oy Vey! How Jewish History, Culture and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero.”

Speaking from the Pratt Institute campus in Clinton Hill, Weinstein can spend all day spinning similarities between the Stan Lee character and Jewish history and culture, even though the eight legged creatures aren’t kosher.

“But there’s an interesting story in the Bible about King David and spiders,” he said.

According to the passage, David was in the wilderness being chased by King Saul’s guards when he ducked into a cave. As he hid, a spider spun a web at the mouth of the cave.

When a guard went to inspect the opening, he saw the web and determined that David couldn’t be in there.

“So, because of the spider, David’s life was saved and he praised God for creating all creatures, even those he couldn’t figure out,” Weinstein said, adding that before his adventure in the cave, “David couldn’t find a use for them.”

King David apparently never figured out that if you give one of those creepy crawlers a crippling dose of radiation and sic it on a nerd in a science lab, you have a $400 million dollar grossing blockbuster directed by Sam Raimi (who is Jewish, by the by).

. . .

Weinstein’s suspicions about Spider-Man were confirmed when he came across golden age comic book illustrator Patti Cochran, who told him that the Marvel Comics editorial staff always worked off the belief that Peter Parker was Jewish.

But Spider-Man is not the only comic book character to be infused with Jewish values.

Superman, Captain America, the Spirit, Batman and the Incredible Hulk (who Weinstein calls a gamma-radiated golem) all have Jewish themes woven into their masks, capes and cowls and — in the Hulk’s case — loincloths.