I still remember, vividly, sitting in the Washington Convention Center and witnessing Alon Ohel come onto the stage and perform the song Superman with the artist who made it famous, Five for Fighting. I had chills then, and when I remember it, I have chills now. This moment was the culmination of many factors: Alon had been an accomplished piano player for several years when he was taken hostage. His mother looked for connection and advocacy and found one part in a picture of him dressed as Superman. His mom connected with Five for Fighting, and he became an outspoken advocate for the hostages and of course Alon Ohel, who was freed last year in the final hostage handovers.
All of these factors brought about this moment, and I had a seat in the room when it happened. This song, Superman, has always been a thought provoking one for me. “I can’t stand to fly, I’m not that naïve, I’m just out to find, The better part of me. I’m more than a bird, I’m more than a plane. I’m more than some pretty face beside a train, And it’s not easy to be me.” The fictional Superman is seen by us as a hero and as someone we can all depend on. But what about his point of view? What if he hated flying? What if he had thoughts and feelings that ran contrary to our projected view of him. Do the people actually know him or do they merely project onto him whatever it is we want and need of him? What if, in fact, it is not easy to be him?
The origin of Superman is in this week’s פרשה/Parshah/Portion: נשא/Naso. This week we learn about a particular category in ancient Israel called the נזיר/Nazir. A נזיר was someone who wanted to be closer to God and as such he took an oath to abstain from many things to gain closeness or to show piety. That’s not the origin story exactly, but it is the beginning of the road to get to Clark Kent and his alter-ego Superman.
The הפטרה/Haftarah for this week is thematically linked to the פרשה by using the נזיר as its hook and then telling the story of the most famous נזיר to have ever lived, שמשון/Shimshon/Samson. שמשון was a man who took a vow to be a נזיר and gained incredible power as a result. His power was derived from his closeness to God and as such he had a weakness (the original kryptonite). His hair needed to be left uncut in accordance with the oath of the נזיר. That’s the origin of the Man of Steel. I wonder what שמשון felt over his lifetime. Was it easy to be him? Was it easy to be a strongman? Was it easy to be filled with such power and such vulnerability?
Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. They do all sorts of things for other people. To be a hero means sacrificing something and to help others. To be a hero means to give up some autonomy and hand one’s real “stuff” over to others. To be a hero means to be seen by others as they see the person and not necessarily as the person sees themselves. In the case of the נזיר, there is an additional nuance. The נזיר, who was already making the sacrifice of the oath and abstaining from certain things, also had to make a sin offering at the end of the time they had vowed to abstain. Our tradition has two ways of seeing this: one positive and the other negative. The two views are seen here:
Positive as explained by the Ramban in his commentary to the תורה:
Until now he was separated in sanctity and the service of God, and he should therefore have remained separated forever, continuing all his life to be consecrated and sanctified to God, as it is said, I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and your young men for nazirites (Amos 2: 11). Thus, Scripture compares the nazirite to a prophet . . . Accordingly, [when he completes the period of his vow and returns to ordinary life] he requires atonement, since he goes back to being defiled by the [material] desires of the world.
The negative is quoted from the תלמוד/Talmud in Taanit 11a and Nedarim 10a:
Samuel said: whoever indulges in [voluntary] fasting is called a sinner. This is in accordance with the view of Rabbi Eliezer Hakappar Berebi, who stated: What is the meaning of the phrase (Num. 6: 11), and make atonement for him, because he sinned against the soul (usually translated as “by coming into contact with the dead”). Against which soul did he sin? We must conclude that it refers to denying himself the enjoyment of wine. From this, we may infer that if one who denies himself the enjoyment of wine is called a sinner, all the more so one who denies himself the enjoyment of other pleasures of life. It follows that one who keeps fasting is called a sinner.
To harmonize these two views, we can understand that heroes live in two worlds: one of joy and one of pain… one is permissive and one is restrictive. With the power to be a hero, there’s always a risk of being misunderstood and being overtaxed. To be a hero means to carry the burden of those around them. To be a hero means not to control their own time. And to be a hero means to know that at the end of the day, the world was made better because the hero stepped forward and did what others wouldn’t or couldn’t do.
