Design your own superhero
Welcome to our Superhero Design Workshop! Follow our simple steps to design and perfect your own personal superhero!
Step 1: Design your Superhero Choose two from the following choices of super powers:
Step 2: Now that you have your hero designed let’s see how he or she would solve some of the following scenarios Scenario 1: Charles Footswift has been captured by the evil genius Moronicus Mastermind… …Mastermind has placed Footswift in a locked iron vault surrounded by a moat with mutated sharks with extra-long and sharp teeth…
…Mastermind himself is hiding out in a nearby room surrounded by his armed henchmen and holding his Super-Plasma-Meteoric –Power-Ray Gun. The entire vault complex is hidden away deep in a forest.
How would your hero solve this problem?
Scenario 2: Mister Devilish has captured the President of the United States and is holding him in an abandoned warehouse…
…Surrounding the building are evil goblin warlords armed with extra-
large swords…
...Every floor in the building has a battalion of battle-dogs...
... All of the staircases are rigged to blow at the slightest touch.
How would your hero solve this problem?
Scenario 3: Sally Sanderson comes home after a long day at work to find that her baby kitten got out of her apartment and was eaten by her next door neighbor’s dog...
…She is having a terrible time trying to cope with her loss…
Scenario 4:
How would your hero solve this problem?
Your dear, dear friend Barry Baldwater asks if he can meet with you somewhere private... …Sitting down across the table from you and looking suspiciously from side to side, he tells you that he has been embezzling money from his insurance company for the last six months and is looking for a place to hide some cash... ...Knowing that you are his good friend of many years, Barry asks if it would be alright with you if he put some of at your place which, certainly, would be the last place the Feds would come looking for it.
Food for thought:
How would your hero solve this problem? Do heroes need to have special powers, talents or abilities? Are there any basic character traits that a hero must have? Should a hero inspire envy within us or inspire us to grow to greater heights?
Step 3: Let’s continue designing our heroes!
Do you think that any of the following character traits are important for being a hero? Which are the three most important ones? Which would help solve the last two scenarios above?
Food for thought:
What about the traits that you chose were so critical to being heroic? Are there any traits listed above that a hero can do without?
Step 4: Understanding what makes a TRUE hero It seems that Heroism demands more than just special talents, powers and abilities. There is a Torah source that suggests this very clearly: In Hebrew the term generally used for Hero is “Gibor”; this word has a double meaning, also being used to define a strong person. The Rabbis in the Mishna (Avot 4:1) teach us how to define true strength and heroism:
Who is the strong man or hero?
איזה הוא גיבורHe who conquers הכובש את יצרוhis evil inclination. Rabbeinu Yonah (1100s-1200s) explains that there are three ways a person can be strong; physically strong, emotionally
strong and spiritually strong.
There is nothing unique about physical strength, he says; even animals can strengthen their bodies to be able to lift heavy burdens and move heavy things.
Similarly, emotional strength – overcoming one’s fears – is common among those who have experience and knowledge in overcoming difficulties. Such people have emotional self-control and are not uncommon.
True heroic strength is found in the ability to overcome the inner part of yourself that seeks to bring you down (known in Jewish literature as the Yetzer Harah). It’s the part of you that influences you to make immoral and bad decisions; the part op you that encourages you to pursue physical
pursuits that have no deeper spiritual purpose.
Food for thought:
Overcoming a spiritual challenge is the highest level of strength –but does it make me a hero? If I’m tempted to steal something and I decide not to – am I a hero?
We have seen that being a hero relates to making positive moral decisions. Let’s explore in what way this is so: Let’s look at some of the classic Jewish Heroes and see how they are characterized in Jewish texts. This should illuminate for us what true heroism is all about.
Grant the truth to Jacob, the
kindness to Abraham...……… … And the man Moses was exceedingly humble, more humble than any man on the Earth...……
Miriam the Prophetess took the tambourine in her hand... How did the women of this generation know to take tambourines out of Egypt? The Righteous women… had faith that G-d would perform miracles in the desert…- the Midrash
Hillel says be like the students of Aaron, the lover of peace, the seeker of peace... Food for thought:
What do all of these classic Jewish heroes have in common?
Each of our great Jewish heroes is identified by specific character traits. Abraham was known for kindness; Jacob for truthfulness; Moses for humility; Miriam for her faith; and Aaron for his great love of peace. There are many others as well. Here’s a good question though: - we all know a lot of kind people; we know humble and faithful ones as well; what marks the difference between these people we know and the legendary Jewish heroes mentioned above? Insert Your Face Here
R Dessler
explains that the heroes above did not just display
embodied them. Abraham didn’t just act with kindness – he is the paradigm of kindness that all kind these character traits– they
people can look up to as an example. Miriam didn’t just have faith she was a pillar of faith who inspired generations of Jewish women onto her path.
Jewish men and women are heroes not when they merelyact with good deeds – they have to live those good deeds. They have to be those good deeds.
Food for Think about your positive character strengths – thought:
kindness, humility etc. – which are your strongest? How might you work on yourself to develop these traits further to the point where you too become the next great Jewish hero? With all this information in mind you are ready for your last step: BECOMING A HERO!
Step 1: Design your Superhero Choose two from the following choices of super powers:
Step 2: Now that you have your hero designed let’s see how he or she would solve some of the following scenarios Scenario 1: Charles Footswift has been captured by the evil genius Moronicus Mastermind… …Mastermind has placed Footswift in a locked iron vault surrounded by a moat with mutated sharks with extra-long and sharp teeth…
…Mastermind himself is hiding out in a nearby room surrounded by his armed henchmen and holding his Super-Plasma-Meteoric –Power-Ray Gun. The entire vault complex is hidden away deep in a forest.
How would your hero solve this problem?
Scenario 2: Mister Devilish has captured the President of the United States and is holding him in an abandoned warehouse…
…Surrounding the building are evil goblin warlords armed with extra-
large swords…
...Every floor in the building has a battalion of battle-dogs...
... All of the staircases are rigged to blow at the slightest touch.
How would your hero solve this problem?
Scenario 3: Sally Sanderson comes home after a long day at work to find that her baby kitten got out of her apartment and was eaten by her next door neighbor’s dog...
…She is having a terrible time trying to cope with her loss…
Scenario 4:
How would your hero solve this problem?
Your dear, dear friend Barry Baldwater asks if he can meet with you somewhere private... …Sitting down across the table from you and looking suspiciously from side to side, he tells you that he has been embezzling money from his insurance company for the last six months and is looking for a place to hide some cash... ...Knowing that you are his good friend of many years, Barry asks if it would be alright with you if he put some of at your place which, certainly, would be the last place the Feds would come looking for it.
Food for thought:
How would your hero solve this problem? Do heroes need to have special powers, talents or abilities? Are there any basic character traits that a hero must have? Should a hero inspire envy within us or inspire us to grow to greater heights?
Step 3: Let’s continue designing our heroes!
Do you think that any of the following character traits are important for being a hero? Which are the three most important ones? Which would help solve the last two scenarios above?
Food for thought:
What about the traits that you chose were so critical to being heroic? Are there any traits listed above that a hero can do without?
Step 4: Understanding what makes a TRUE hero It seems that Heroism demands more than just special talents, powers and abilities. There is a Torah source that suggests this very clearly: In Hebrew the term generally used for Hero is “Gibor”; this word has a double meaning, also being used to define a strong person. The Rabbis in the Mishna (Avot 4:1) teach us how to define true strength and heroism:
Who is the strong man or hero?
איזה הוא גיבורHe who conquers הכובש את יצרוhis evil inclination. Rabbeinu Yonah (1100s-1200s) explains that there are three ways a person can be strong; physically strong, emotionally
strong and spiritually strong.
There is nothing unique about physical strength, he says; even animals can strengthen their bodies to be able to lift heavy burdens and move heavy things.
Similarly, emotional strength – overcoming one’s fears – is common among those who have experience and knowledge in overcoming difficulties. Such people have emotional self-control and are not uncommon.
True heroic strength is found in the ability to overcome the inner part of yourself that seeks to bring you down (known in Jewish literature as the Yetzer Harah). It’s the part of you that influences you to make immoral and bad decisions; the part op you that encourages you to pursue physical
pursuits that have no deeper spiritual purpose.
Food for thought:
Overcoming a spiritual challenge is the highest level of strength –but does it make me a hero? If I’m tempted to steal something and I decide not to – am I a hero?
We have seen that being a hero relates to making positive moral decisions. Let’s explore in what way this is so: Let’s look at some of the classic Jewish Heroes and see how they are characterized in Jewish texts. This should illuminate for us what true heroism is all about.
Grant the truth to Jacob, the
kindness to Abraham...……… … And the man Moses was exceedingly humble, more humble than any man on the Earth...……
Miriam the Prophetess took the tambourine in her hand... How did the women of this generation know to take tambourines out of Egypt? The Righteous women… had faith that G-d would perform miracles in the desert…- the Midrash
Hillel says be like the students of Aaron, the lover of peace, the seeker of peace... Food for thought:
What do all of these classic Jewish heroes have in common?
Each of our great Jewish heroes is identified by specific character traits. Abraham was known for kindness; Jacob for truthfulness; Moses for humility; Miriam for her faith; and Aaron for his great love of peace. There are many others as well. Here’s a good question though: - we all know a lot of kind people; we know humble and faithful ones as well; what marks the difference between these people we know and the legendary Jewish heroes mentioned above? Insert Your Face Here
R Dessler
explains that the heroes above did not just display
embodied them. Abraham didn’t just act with kindness – he is the paradigm of kindness that all kind these character traits– they
people can look up to as an example. Miriam didn’t just have faith she was a pillar of faith who inspired generations of Jewish women onto her path.
Jewish men and women are heroes not when they merelyact with good deeds – they have to live those good deeds. They have to be those good deeds.
Food for Think about your positive character strengths – thought:
kindness, humility etc. – which are your strongest? How might you work on yourself to develop these traits further to the point where you too become the next great Jewish hero? With all this information in mind you are ready for your last step: BECOMING A HERO!
