January 15, 2009

Anyone who knows me well enough knows that I have an unusual, perhaps bordering on unhealthy, obsession with Batman. When I was a child, Batman was a super-cool crime fighter, but not much else. As an adult, I still think he is the coolest crime fighter around, and I challenge anyone who disagrees with me. But in today’s world, what he stands for has taken on a whole new meaning.

I’ve come to the realization recently that Israel and Batman have a lot in common. And in order to make sense of one, we can look to the other.

If you’ve seen this summer’s blockbuster, The Dark Knight, you’ll understand.

We start with Batman, the creation of a young, Jewish writer and comic book artist named Bob Kane, originally born Robert Kahn. Having witnessed his parents’ murder as a child, Batman devotes his life, body, and mind to protecting the people of Gotham City. He has a strong and unyielding sense of moral obligation and direction, with enough fortitude to enable him to take on the challenge of ridding his city of evil — even though it will sometimes push him to the breaking point.

In its short existence, Israel has had no choice but to devote itself to surviving in a hostile area surrounded by enemies. It has had to endure numerous wars and attacks all while trying to provide a safe place for Jews to live free from persecution. Through physical, political, and religious attacks, Israel has been bent. But it has never broken.

Batman’s arch-nemesis, the Joker, is a man with no morals, no regard for human life, who performs horrific acts without reason or provocation. He kills people for his own amusement, and brings anarchy and terror to an entire population. He is a cold-blooded sadist, and a self-described “agent of chaos.”

I can probably compare the Joker to any one of Israel’s numerous enemies. Take your pick: Hamas, Hizbullah, Al Qaida, Islamic Jihad. They all believe that there’s nothing wrong with spilling innocent blood, be it Jewish, Christian, even Muslim, and will stop at nothing in order to accomplish their goals. They are ruthless, and use methods of terror and fear to try to achieve their ultimate objective of wiping Israel off the map.

Then we have the Joker’s plan — to return Gotham back to the way it used to be before Batman arrived, a place where crime, corruption, and fear ran rampant and unpunished. His solution: destroy the one thing that has given the citizens of Gotham hope, Batman. It’s the same goal as all the Arab governments and extremist organizations that want to destroy Israel. Their motives are solely based on senseless hatred and longing. They want to go back to the way the Middle East used to be before Israel become a country in 1948, a region where theocracy and fundamentalism ruled, instead of democracy and religious freedom. They loathe Israel and resent the fact that Jews have a place where they can be free.

To accomplish his plan, the Joker will not just simply attempt to kill Batman. He will use the media, press, fear, murder, and any other means necessary to demonize Batman and convince the very city that Batman tries to protect to turn against him. The Joker’s tactics involve killing innocent civilians and blaming their deaths on Batman. His plan ends up working. The public calls on Batman to give himself up because they believe it will stop the violence and threats of this terrorist, when in fact we all know that it won’t.

Along the way, even Batman himself contemplates giving up his fight precisely because his actions are causing the deaths of Gotham citizens. But he is reminded when going up against evil that there will always be casualties and people will hate him for it. But it’s a sacrifice he must make to endure. For his very being is a symbol that the citizens of his city don’t have to be afraid of the people that make the world they live in a dangerous place.

In the end, you can say Batman emerges victorious, but all does not necessarily end well for him. Yes, he stops the Joker, but he has no glory. In order to truly win, he has to sacrifice his image for the greater good of the people he seeks to protect.

Israel is in the same predicament. Israel is trying to do what it thinks is right — fight for its people and survival against “agents of chaos.” Lives will be lost — soldier and civilian — on both sides. But it must not waiver from what remains its ultimate goal — to bring peace and stability to the region and provide a safe environment in which its citizens can exist without fear.

While a large portion of the international community will attack Israel and urge them to stop its attacks, it continues on because it knows that it fights for the freedom of its people. It’s not that Israel doesn’t care about who is dying; it most certainly does. But Israel is fighting an unusual enemy — one with little regard for human life. One who will use any means necessary to turn the larger community against Israel, including using its own people as human shields. It leaves Israel with an agonizing moral dilemma: give up its fight for freedom so innocent people will stop dying, or continue on knowing that people will die, because its enemies have put it in such a position.

In turn, Israel and its supporters must remember that this is a battle over morals and ideals, not just land. If Israel truly believes that what it fights for is right, then it must endure attacks, not just from rifles and rockets, but from the media and press, from outsiders who don’t understand what’s truly going on, and from a hostile world that generally resents its existence.

To some, Batman is just a comic book superhero. But he represents the difficult and unpopular choices that some must make when fighting against those who wish to destroy you.

David Rosen, who is from Teaneck and is an alumnus of Rutgers University, is the youth director and a religious-school teacher at Temple Sinai of Bergen County in Tenafly. He currently lives in Hoboken, where he is a member of Moishe House. An extended version of this article can be viewed at moishehouse.blogspot.com.

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