Should Bruce Wayne/Batman embrace being Jewish?

[Gotham citizen]

I mean what does it add to his character? I mean generally in comics things do play a role in the growth of the characters.

[…]
This article goes into it a bit, but here's a key passage […]:

Fact of the matter is, Bruce being Jewish isn’t something that changes his character at all. It only enhances and gives greater context to what was always there. The World’s Greatest Detective. His unwinnable war on crime. The man who molded himself into an effectively unkillable and unbeatable force of will. Did Andreyko know this when he pitched [Bruce and Kate being cousins]? Pbbbth, probably not. Does that matter? Nope.

In short this retcon add something only if we want change our way to see those stories (the underlining is mine), in order to fit this vision with that retcon, because it can't change what the past writers actually wrote (like the fact Bruce was educated like a Christian), it doesn't change the fact that the contemporary writers don't care about that retcon and it can't change the fact that the entire Batman concept is about fight the Gotham's criminality, not about Bruce Wayne's ethnic identity and above all this can't change continuing to say: «He is Jewish now, you must accept that!» It can change only if the people who say: «Bruce Wayne is Jewish» were start to explain in detail what this retcon can add to the Batman's stories, not simply vaguely talking about "enhancements" or "greater context", without actually say what these enhancements and greater context should be, because the readers aren't ewes, which go everywhere the shepherd say they must go, the readers are human beings and they accept to go where the "shepherd" say they must go, only if he is able to explain why they should do that and why that is the right thing to do; independently by the fact that this identity is being W.A.S.P., Jewish or something else.

Here's a different question: Does anyone in-universe acknowledge it as being a Menorah, and not just an elaborate candle holder? Multiple candle candlesticks made of gold are one of those traditionally ostentatious things rich people often have. Doing a web search for pictures of menorahs gives a lot of hits that don't look special, and really just look like fancy candle sticks.

got a picture? 'cause I'm curious what it actually looks like.

This is a menorah:

[marhawkman]

This is a menorah:

that is one of many designs. But the question is what the object in the comic book looked like.

[Gotham citizen]

[Caivu]

that is one of many designs. But the question is what the object in the comic book looked like.

7-armed version:
Screenshot_20200606-101251.jpg

[The tall man]

Kate's bat is a bat, not Bruce's bat. It means what she says it means.



This article goes into it a bit, but here's a key passage (bolding mine):

The design of the bat symbol on her chest is irrelevant, so it's different from Bruce's; it's still a bat and therefore she has no say in it's meaning. The bat means whatever Bruce says it means. Bruce created the bat symbol, he wears a bat themed costume and has the word bat in his name. And he did all this years before Kate came into the picture. So her utilizing an altered version of his symbol while also wearing a bat themed costume and having the word bat in her name without his consent or approval is for all intents and purposes stealing. Kate can be her own independent hero and do whatever she wants without care for Batman's approval provided she isn't using his symbol for her own and claiming that she and she alone will decide what the bat symbol means. Mother Panic didn't need to do it, she created her own unique identity; why can't Kate?

[Caivu]

Kate can be her own independent hero and do whatever she wants without care for Batman's approval provided she isn't using his symbol for her own and claiming that she and she alone will decide what the bat symbol means.

She's not deciding what the bat symbol means, nor what Bruce's means. She's deciding what hers and hers alone means. Bruce's is Bruce's, Kate's is Kate's, though there's much overlap.

Mother Panic didn't need to do it, she created her own unique identity; why can't Kate?

Violet Paige hates all the Gotham vigilantes, so she's not going to emulate something she has no respect for.

[dswynne]

Okay, first, Bruce Wayne is not "Jewish", just because his cousin Kathy is. Secondly, being Jewish is both an ethnicity AND a religion. If you are ethnically Jewish, you can be both ethnically Jewish AND religiously Jewish, or just ethnically Jewish (i.e. non-observer or "Messianic"). Of course, you can convert to Judaism, as well.

BTW, "Zoroastrianism" has little to do with Islam, which is an Abrahamic religion on par with Judaism and Christianity. In fact, it's older, possibly older than Judaism, and may have been influenced by Babylonian and Hindu religions.

[Caivu]

Okay, first, Bruce Wayne is not "Jewish", just because his cousin Kathy is.

Exactly! He is because his mother was.

[Celgress]

Exactly! He is because his mother was.

*Le Sigh* Not this logical fallacy again. It is solely based upon a disputed cultural construct that ignores one's own determination of identity in favor of an identity rigidly determined by others.

I'm not going to bother debunking this statement a second time. If anyone wants to know why it isn't cut & dry search out my earlier posts in this very thread.

[Gamall]

Not interested in reading about religion in Batman comics. Keep these things somewhere else.

[Will Evans]

Not interested in reading about religion in Batman comics. Keep these things somewhere else.

You must hate the Spectre then.

[Caivu]

I'm not going to bother debunking this statement a second time.

You didn't debunk it the first time.

Not interested in reading about religion in Batman comics. Keep these things somewhere else.

Bruce being Jewish has no bearing on whether or not he's religious.

[Celgress]

You didn't debunk it the first time. ....

I sure did (as I recall I wasn't the one who stop replying to you but rather you to me when my arguments proved ironclad). You're just in denial because it's your pet Batman idea. You have zero objectivity regarding the subject. Batman is no more Jewish than Kal-El belongs to the Cult of Roa (sp?) because he has never shown any interest in that religion. At best he is a "non-practicing heck never practicing biological half-Jew", which just sounds and is silly as a label.

[Celgress]

Not interested in reading about religion in Batman comics. Keep these things somewhere else.

I'm in no way surprised considering how religion has NEVER directly played a major role in Batman.

[Caivu]

I sure did

No you didn't, because the way Judaism works isn't based on your opinion. Nor mine. I'm going by what the tenets (at least of the two largest denominations) say.

Batman is no more Jewish than Kal-El belongs to the Cult of Roa (sp?) because he has never shown any interest in that religion. At best he is a "non-practicing heck never practicing biological half-Jew", which just sounds and is silly as a label.

Non-practicing doesn't matter. Has nothing to do with it at all. Someone who's Jewish and never learns a thing about it is equally as Jewish as the most devout practitioner. Now, if Bruce was of, say, the Reform denomination and converted or became an atheist, that would be another matter.