Post by Cary Friedman on Mar 6, 2007 2:05:25 GMT -5
The Hartford Courant
"Spotlight on Books"
February 18, 2007
Holy spiritual wisdom, Batman!
That is exactly what a New Jersey rabbi who is a graduate of the Bess and Paul Sigel Hebrew Academy in Bloomfield, as well as Columbia and Yeshiva universities in New York, says is found in the Batman comics.
Rabbi Cary A. Friedman, whose family lives in West Hartford, is a lifelong fan of the Caped Crusader. He collected all things Batmanic, from comics to lunchboxes to posters to Underoos. And he found in Batman a way to understand the concepts of heroism and justice. He first wrote about Batman as a moral exemplar when he served as a chaplain at Duke Unversity.
In Wisdom from the Batcave (Compass Books, $13.95), he builds on that writing and his later work as a spirituality consultant to the FBI Behavioral Science Unit at Quantico, VA, which had led to an earlier book, Spiritual Survival for Law Enforcement.
Friedman, whose mother is a Holocaust survivor, was drawn to the story of Bruce Wayne, who sees his parents murdered but chooses not to use the tragedy as an excuse for a meaningless or self-indulgent life. Rather, as Batman, he becomes a force for good and ethical behavior that combats evil.
Wisdom has 18 chapters on basic values demonstrated by the Batman story, such as willpower, self-esteem, idealism and friendship, and is written with a light but inspiring touch and illustrated by panels from Batman comics.
In a foreword, Friedman says Wisdom is a “civilian version†of his book for law-enforcement personnel. His aim, he writes, is to “identify and present certain truths culled from both the Batman mythos and Jewish traditions†to help "everyday citizens who wield an enormous amount of power to change the world and make it a much better place.â€
-- Carole Goldberg
"Spotlight on Books"
February 18, 2007
Holy spiritual wisdom, Batman!
That is exactly what a New Jersey rabbi who is a graduate of the Bess and Paul Sigel Hebrew Academy in Bloomfield, as well as Columbia and Yeshiva universities in New York, says is found in the Batman comics.
Rabbi Cary A. Friedman, whose family lives in West Hartford, is a lifelong fan of the Caped Crusader. He collected all things Batmanic, from comics to lunchboxes to posters to Underoos. And he found in Batman a way to understand the concepts of heroism and justice. He first wrote about Batman as a moral exemplar when he served as a chaplain at Duke Unversity.
In Wisdom from the Batcave (Compass Books, $13.95), he builds on that writing and his later work as a spirituality consultant to the FBI Behavioral Science Unit at Quantico, VA, which had led to an earlier book, Spiritual Survival for Law Enforcement.
Friedman, whose mother is a Holocaust survivor, was drawn to the story of Bruce Wayne, who sees his parents murdered but chooses not to use the tragedy as an excuse for a meaningless or self-indulgent life. Rather, as Batman, he becomes a force for good and ethical behavior that combats evil.
Wisdom has 18 chapters on basic values demonstrated by the Batman story, such as willpower, self-esteem, idealism and friendship, and is written with a light but inspiring touch and illustrated by panels from Batman comics.
In a foreword, Friedman says Wisdom is a “civilian version†of his book for law-enforcement personnel. His aim, he writes, is to “identify and present certain truths culled from both the Batman mythos and Jewish traditions†to help "everyday citizens who wield an enormous amount of power to change the world and make it a much better place.â€
-- Carole Goldberg