By Cantor Emma Lutz
(No Spoilers! Note: This article contains references to the hit film Wonder Woman. As a courtesy for those who have not yet seen it, we wanted to let you know that Cantor Lutz does not spoil the plot of the movie in her message.)
When we were kids, my brother and I devoured our dad’s old comic books, delighting in the superheroes’ boundless bravery and their inspiring victories in the never-ending battle between the forces of good against evil as imagined by (more often than not) Jewish writers and artists. I always kvelled over Wonder Woman in particular, fascinated by her fierce independence, her spectacular strength, and her ability to force the truth out of any villain with her magical lasso.
This year, I was thrilled to see that the most recent version of Wonder Woman would star none other than Gal Gadot, a beautiful Israeli mother who served in the Israel Defense Force as a combat trainer. Despite some controversy over a ban in Lebanon of the film due to Gadot’s IDF service, ‘Wonder Woman’ broke box office records here in the states. Personally, I thought Gadot’s performance was magnificent and the film a blast. More importantly, Gadot’s ‘Wonder Woman’ leaves the viewer with a meaningful and characteristically Jewish message in the final scene: “Each of us has a little bit of dark within the light inside us. We fight it by embracing love in our lives.” Wonder Woman helps others not necessarily because they deserve it, but because it is the right thing to do.
Jewish tradition teaches that within each of us exists our own yetzer hara and yetzer hatov, inclinations towards both good and evil. Without a little bit of darkness, being a good human being would be simple and easy, but it is our will to choose light over darkness that allows us to be partners with God in repairing the world. Through our love of God, our devotion to Torah, our commitment to making peace when there is strife, and our performance of wondrous acts in the service of others, we can each find the balance between the light and dark that exists within us, and perhaps we can even be as fierce, brave, and good as Wonder Woman herself.
