The Yom Kippur Comic That Finally Made Ben Grimm (Officially) Jewish

This week is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and archetypal of the High Holidays. Next week is Yom Kippur, the different fractional of the High Holidays and the holiest time connected the Jewish calendar.

There are hundreds of Christmas stories successful superhero comics, and plentifulness for secular oregon secularized holidays similar Thanksgiving, the Fourth of July, and Valentine’s Day. There’s adjacent a fistful of Hanukkah stories. But arsenic acold arsenic I know, there’s lone 1 Yom Kippur story. And it’s 1 of my precise favorites.

That communicative is Fantastic Four #56 (August 2002), by Karl Kesel and Stuart Immonen. It’s called “Remembrance of Things Past,” and arsenic the rubric suggests, it delves into the past of…well, the Thing, AKA Ben Grimm.

In the story, Ben returns to Yancy Street, the fictional thoroughfare connected Manhattan’s Lower East Side wherever helium grew up. As helium walks done the rundown neighborhood, we spot a bid of flashbacks, each involving Ben’s misspent younker arsenic a subordinate of the Yancy Street Gang and his turbulent past with the section pawn store owner, Mr. Sheckerberg, culminating successful Ben stealing Sheckerberg’s treasured golden Star of David necklace.

The contiguous time Ben yet arrives astatine Sheckerberg’s Pawn Shop, wherever Sheckerberg greets him with a shot bat successful hand. Someone has been leaving threatening notes, demanding that Sheckerberg wage extortion money, and helium assumes that it’s Ben and the Yancy Street Gang.

Ben denies immoderate involvement, and goes retired to face the gang, which helium hasn’t been a subordinate of since helium was a teenager. The pack members pelt him with garbage, paintballs, and hoses, portion gleefully mocking him. Annoyed but unhurt, Ben returns to the pawn shop…to observe that the real villain, the Z-list Powderkeg, has shown up.

Powderkeg knocks retired Sheckerberg, but is rapidly subdued by Ben (with the timely assistance of the Yancy Street Gang). First responders person already been called, and Ben is acrophobic that helium volition wounded the aged Sheckerberg further if helium attempts CPR, truthful with nary different options…he prays. In Hebrew. Specifically, the Sh’ma, which is said during some greeting and evening services, arsenic the last supplication connected Yom Kippur, and traditionally, arsenic the past words earlier death.

This was a large deal. Like the immense bulk of Golden and Silver Age comic publication characters, the Fantastic Four was created by Jewish men: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. But Ben successful peculiar had been understood by galore readers to beryllium Jewish for decades, astatine this point. His origins connected the Lower East Side, astatine 1 clip a famously Jewish neighborhood, were a clue, arsenic was the mode his rocklike assemblage evokes the golem of Jewish folklore. So was the Hanukkah paper Jack Kirby sent retired successful 1976, featuring Ben successful a yarmulke and tallit (prayer shawl), holding a supplication publication with Hebrew connected it and lasting adjacent to a menorah. But it had ne'er earlier been stated outright successful a comic book…at slightest not until this one, 41 years aft Ben archetypal debuted.

Sheckerberg, thankfully, is fine, and rapidly brushes disconnected Ben’s interest for him, changing the taxable to accidental he’s gladsome Ben hasn’t forgotten everything he’s learned astatine temple. “All these years successful the news, they ne'er notation you’re Jewish,” helium adds. “I thought possibly you were ashamed of it a little?”

“Nah, that ain’t it. Anyone connected the net tin find out, if they want,” Ben says, successful a metatextual wink to the reader. “It’s just…I don’t speech it up, is all. Figure there’s capable occupation successful this satellite without radical thinkin’ Jews are each monsters similar me.”

He past explains the existent crushed he’s travel to Yancy Street: to instrumentality Sheckerberg’s Star of David that helium stole each those years ago, due to the fact that he’s beauteous definite contiguous is the Day of Atonement — amended known arsenic Yom Kippur. Sheckerberg barks astatine him that it is perfectly not Yom Kippur. Considering that this comic was released successful June (comics were traditionally fixed screen dates a mates months aboriginal than their existent merchandise dates), Ben is hilariously off. I person nary thought wherefore Marvel decided to people what is inactive astatine bosom a Yom Kippur comic 4 months early, but it winds up being an effectual mode to item Ben’s uneasy disconnection from his religion and heritage.

Because astatine the extremity of the day, that’s what this communicative is about: Ben’s conflicted feelings astir his past, his puerility home, and his religion. We spot this successful his mistake astir the day and the mode helium has to rack his representation for the close words for the prayer, but besides successful the dense engagement of the Yancy Street Gang. The Yancy Street Gang goes each the mode backmost to the aboriginal Lee and Kirby days, debuting successful Fantastic Four #15 successful 1963, and has been utilized often by galore writers since, and not conscionable successful Fantastic Four comics. They’re astir ever comic relief, relentlessly pranking Ben, portion astatine the extremity of the time being staunchly connected the broadside of bully and secretly arrogant of their prodigal son, and this comic is precise overmuch successful that tradition. It adjacent shows the pack arsenic mostly conscionable hands and arms reaching from off-panel, the mode Kirby ever did.

Many person interpreted the Thing arsenic Kirby’s change ego, with his turbulent narration with the Yancy Street Gang arsenic symbolic of his ain analyzable narration with his moving people Jewish background. Much of that is made textual successful this comic, erstwhile Sheckerberg asks wherefore Ben simply took the gang’s maltreatment erstwhile helium could person handled them arsenic easy arsenic helium did Powderkeg. He theorizes that Ben feels blameworthy that helium got retired and the pack didn’t.

“You deliberation you near this spot behind? No — you conscionable enactment it speech for a portion successful a small spot wrong you,” Sheckerberg says. “What you learned connected the street, what you learned astatine the synagogue — erstwhile you request those things, you tin ever spell to that spot and get them back!”

I’m not peculiarly religious, but this is the portion of the contented wherever I usually commencement crying.

Sheckerberg ends by reminding Ben that the golem of story is not a monster — he’s a protector. But those of america who emotion the Thing already knew that.

After “Remembrance of Things Past,” Ben’s Judaism didn’t abruptly go a cardinal facet of the character, but the comics nary longer had to speech astir it. A mates years aft this issue, Ben had a barroom mitzvah to observe having been the Thing for 13 years. In 2018, helium joined his longtime woman Alicia Masters successful a Jewish ceremony. (Just the cover of that contented made maine cry. Admittedly, I outcry easy.)

Pop civilization mostly depicts Judaism and Jewishness successful precise constricted ways, but I emotion this communicative and Ben successful wide for showing much ways of being Jewish. I emotion Ben’s struggle and his questioning. I emotion however earthy and pugnacious helium is, truthful antithetic from the accustomed stereotypes we’re fed. I adjacent emotion the small things, similar the cadence of Ben and Sheckerberg’s dialogue, circumstantial accents that we are losing arsenic the past century’s migrant Jewish and determination New York dialects slice away, but that ever dependable similar location to me.

But astir of all, I emotion that Ben is allowed to beryllium Jewish retired large now, and that this communicative made it happen.

Happy New Year to each who celebrated this week! May it beryllium a saccharine one, and necessitate arsenic small clobberin’ clip arsenic possible. (But not zero clobberin’ time. Ben wouldn’t similar that.)