Sidebar: Meet the author

Meet Cary Friedman. Father, husband, rabbi, educator and…obsessive Batman fan. But the New Jersey author is no mere comic-book freak. From an early age, he discerned universal messages contained in the pages of Marvel Comics' pulp fiction and recognized a similarity to the truths he found in the Torah.

And so Friedman — who has counseled federal inmates, taught university students, and instructed FBI agents — hit upon a novel idea: He gradually began incorporating Batman motifs into his lessons as a way, at first, to reach students and, later, to reach just about everyone else.

Recently, however, the Orthodox rabbi — who previously served as religious leader of Congregation Anshe Chesed in Linden — took this decidedly unorthodox approach to spiritual and motivational education a step further. He wrote Wisdom from the Batcave: How to Live a Super Heroic Life. As Friedman sees it, the caped crusader is a terrific metaphor for how we can conduct our lives.

"When I was growing up, my house was filled with survivors," said Friedman, a Connecticut native who now lives and works in Passaic. "My mother and her friends would talk about whatever. But there was a certain need to confront a world that's uncertain and a little scary. They made a conscious, deliberate, decisive effort to make some order of the world."

Observing them, said Friedman, "as a kid, I latched on to Batman. It's taken years to work out, but he resonated with me, because he also tried to make sense of a scary world. He saw his parents murdered before his eyes and tried to inject a sense of justice. But he did so without superpowers. He was an ordinary person who offered universal lessons about dealing with adversity."

Friedman explores Batman as a symbol of hope and inspiration by organizing his book into 18 chapters (a coincidence? hardly), each of which uses Batman as a role model. The first chapter, for instance, talks about the blessing of having a family, something Batman managed to do as an adult by surrounding himself with trusted confidants.

The other chapters discuss the value of hard work and willpower, self-esteem, inspiring others, study, friendship, and anticipating consequences. Friedman also devotes chapters to the notion of not talking too much and recognizing the extent of human potential. If this sounds like the rabbi has penned a self-improvement book — it should.

In doing so, Friedman makes it easier to understand why Batman has remained so popular with so many people for so long. More than a one-dimensional figure who possesses unnatural powers, Batman became an enduring and captivating character because he is really one of us — only he uses his intellect and morals for, well, tikun olam, to better the world.

"Initially, I hit on the idea of using Batman in the classroom because I needed something to entertain the kids," says Friedman. "I wasn't trying to get them excited by Batman comic books. He's a universal vehicle that isn't threatening, and so he served the purpose of motivating discussion."

Friedman, however, doesn't use Batman to preach, but he also doesn't shy away from maintaining that the universal messages and lessons conveyed by the superhero's exploits have decidedly Jewish origins. That doesn't mean he's targeting only Jews. Far from it; he believes the Batman ethos cuts across the entire spectrum of humanity.

"I'm careful not to buttonhole any of this," says Friedman. "There really are many universal values that anyone can appreciate. I didn't write this only, or specifically, for Jews."

But it's no coincidence, he says, that Batman's creators — and, in fact, the creators of many of the superheroes — were Jews. While researching his book, Friedman met with assistants to several early Batman writers and was told his approach dovetailed with their vision. "They didn't have the religious imagery," says Friedman, "but they shared the values."

Whether his 95-page tome will transform him into the next Shmuley Boteach isn't clear just yet. But Friedman doesn't seem concerned. He doesn't always wear one of the many Batman kipot he has — "I'm mindful of not becoming a caricature" — and he's not sure when he'll dress up again as Batman for Purim, something he used to do regularly.

But he holds onto his memorabilia, still wears his Batman Underoos, and reads the Batman comics — religiously. "There are certain truths common to Batman and Jewish traditions. And if we're mindful of them, we can change our world, even though we're just ordinary people."

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About the author

RABBI CARY FRIEDMAN finished a six-year stint as religious leader of Congregation Anshe Chesed in Linden last year. A graduate of Columbia University, he received rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva University. He served as executive director of the Jewish Learning Experience in Durham, NC, and chaplain at Duke University and at the federal prison in Butner, NC, where he studied Torah with Jonathan Pollard.

He now teaches and serves as a consultant to the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit and to the law enforcement community in general. In addition to Wisdom from the Batcave, he is the author of Table for Two, Marital Intimacy, Chanukas HaTorah, and Spiritual Survival for Law Enforcement as well as numerous articles. Friedman and his wife, Marsha, live with their six children in Passaic.