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Was the ‘Yiddish Sherlock Holmes’ the first Jewish superhero?
In 1908, around 30 years before Batman was first billed as the World’s Greatest Detective, and 15 after Sherlock Holmes solved his final case, another sleuth made his bombastic debut, rescuing a rabbi’s kidnapped granddaughter.
This hero distinguished himself in a major way. As the back blurb of his adventures insisted, “Max Spitzkopf IS A JEW — and he has always taken every opportunity to stand up FOR JEWS.”
The adventures of Spitzkopf, the nattily-dressed, pistol-brandishing Viennese gentleman, renowned throughout Austria-Hungary for his gumshoeing, were published in 32-page pulp pamphlets across the Yiddish-reading world. In his memoir, Isaac Bashevis Singer, vividly recalled devouring these stories as a child, and he was far from alone. Yet for all their popularity, copies of the original volumes, like Batman’s first appearance in Detective Comics #27, are exceedingly rare.
In 2017, Mikhl Yashinsky was a fellow at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts, when it received the first five stories in a bound volume from a donor. They were in rough shape, their cheap paper crumbling. Yashinksy set out to translate them.
“He was really a kind of Jewish superhero,” said Yashinsky, whose full translation of the 15 Spitzkopf stories, written by Jonas Kreppel, is out now. (He received the other 10 from the Yale Judaica Library, one of the only institutions in the world to have the complete collection.)
The cases Spitzkopf and his capable Watsonian assistant, Fuchs, take on reflect the early 20th Century conditions of Jews in Galicia.
Spitzkopf uncovers a blood libel plot — and thwarts a Passover pogrom. He frees a young Jewish woman from sexual slavery in Constantinople. While Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories, which were translated to Yiddish, certainly had a literary edge on these mysteries, Spitzkopf was an avenger for his people. And whereas these Jewish cause célèbres rarely had a happy outcome, Kreppel, the author, always served up poetic justice. The writer was so sensitive to his readers, no doubt affected by the prejudice and violence he ripped from the headlines, he didn’t leave them in suspense, revealing the villains’ machinations early on.
While Spitzkopf is described in the translation’s subtitle as the Yiddish Sherlock Holmes, Yashinksy said the stories themselves are scanty when it comes to the character’s Yiddishkeit. The text itself calls him the “Viennese Sherlock,” and he appears to be a well-assimilated Austrian citizen, written in a distinctly German-inflected Yiddish. He is just the kind of person his creator aspired to be.
Kreppel, born into a Hasidic family in Drohobycz, Galicia, was a prolific writer on many subjects in four languages (Yiddish, German, Hebrew and Polish). He edited Jüdische Korrespondenz, a newspaper of German-Jewish concerns, wrote a still-used reference text on German Jewry, Juden und Judentum von heute (Jews and Judaism of Today) and countless political tracts. (He also published one-off, sensationalist adventure stories with titles like My Son-in-Law the Murderer.)
Initially poised for a rabbinical career, Kreppel settled in Vienna and eventually served the Austrian government as a press officer and advisor to the foreign consulate. Ever the patriot, and a defender of his fellow Jews, he was an early critic and victim of Nazism. The Nazis sent him to Dachau in 1938 and murdered him in Buchenwald on July 21, 1940.
Yashinsky translates the Spitzkopf stories with a flair reminiscent of gangster flicks. He also cites inspiration from his maternal grandparents, voice actors Elizabeth and Rubin Weiss, who performed a variety of roles on radio serials like The Lone Ranger and Challenge of the Yukon.
“They played those villains and damsels in distress,” said Yashinsky, himself an actor, who recorded a brief selection of the Spitzkopf stories for the current exhibition at the Yiddish Book Center.
The crooks Spitzkopf tracks down speak of “cheesing it” when they wish to make themselves scarce. Antisemitic Poles speak in heavy dialects of the loathed Żydzi they plan to blame for the death of a child before Passover.
The Yiddish literati of the early 20th Century looked askance at Kreppel’s stories, deriding them as “shund,” originally a term for waste left after butchering animals. Yashinksy read that Yoel Teitelbaum, founder of the Satmar Hasidim, was scandalized that his words were “distributed far and wide as though they were Holy Writ.” Yashinsky believes they have value.
“To me, it’s important to take seriously the popular culture of the day,” Yashinsky said. “They’re stories of heroism and of sticking up for the persecuted and defending them. So I think that’s relevant in any time, and especially in ours.”
Perhaps it’s wish fulfillment, like the claims on every booklet that Max Spitzkopf was a man who “LIVES AND BREATHES.”
He didn’t do either, but those who read of his exploits likely felt better believing the lie.
The post Was the ‘Yiddish Sherlock Holmes’ the first Jewish superhero? appeared first on The Forward.
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‘For As Long As Necessary’: Katz Says Campaign Against Iran Entering Decisive Stage
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz and his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias make statements to the press, at the Ministry of Defense in Athens Greece, Jan. 20, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki
i24 News – Israel Katz said Saturday that the confrontation with Iran had entered a “decisive phase,” as US and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets continued and regional tensions escalated.
Speaking after a security assessment at Israel’s defense headquarters alongside Eyal Zamir, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, and senior military and intelligence officials, the Israeli defense minister said the campaign against the Islamic Republic would continue “for as long as necessary.”
“The global and regional struggle against Iran, led by American President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is intensifying and entering its decisive phase,” Katz said.
Katz also praised US strikes on Kharg Island, a key Iranian oil hub, describing them as a “severe blow” to the Iranian regime. He said the attacks were an appropriate response to Iranian threats against the strategic Strait of Hormuz and to what he called Tehran’s attempts to pressure the international community.
At the same time, Katz said the Israeli Air Force was continuing a “powerful wave of attacks” against targets in Tehran and other parts of Iran.
He accused the Iranian leadership of using “regional and global terrorism” and strategic blackmail in an effort to deter Israel and the United States from pursuing their military campaign, warning that such actions would be met with a “strong and uncompromising response.”
Katz added that the outcome of the conflict would ultimately depend on the Iranian population. “Only the Iranian people can put an end to this situation through a determined struggle, until the overthrow of the terrorist regime and the salvation of Iran,” he said.
According to the minister, the confrontation now pits the Iranian regime’s determination to survive against growing military pressure from Israel and its allies.
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Trump Rejects Efforts to Launch Iran Ceasefire Talks, Sources Say
US President Donald Trump speaks on the day he honors reigning Major League Soccer (MLS) champion Inter Miami CF players and team officials with an event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 5, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
President Donald Trump’s administration has rebuffed efforts by Middle Eastern allies to start diplomatic negotiations aimed at ending the Iran war that started two weeks ago with a massive US-Israeli air assault, according to three sources familiar with the efforts.
Iran, for its part, has rejected the possibility of any ceasefire until US and Israeli strikes end, two senior Iranian sources told Reuters, adding that several countries had been trying to mediate an end to the conflict.
The lack of interest from Washington and Tehran suggests both sides are digging in for an extended conflict, even as the widening war inflicts civilian casualties and Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz sends oil prices soaring.
US strikes on Iran’s Kharg Island, the country’s main oil export hub, on Friday night underscored Trump’s determination to press ahead with his military assault. Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz shut and threatened to step up attacks on neighboring countries.
The war has killed more than 2,000 people, mostly in Iran, and created the biggest-ever oil supply disruption as maritime traffic has halted in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported.
ATTEMPTS TO OPEN LINES OF COMMUNICATION
Oman, which mediated talks before the war, has tried multiple times to open a line of communication, but the White House has made clear it is not interested, according to two sources, who like others in this story were granted anonymity in order to speak freely about diplomatic matters.
A senior White House official confirmed Trump has rebuffed those efforts to start talks and is focused on pressing ahead with the war to further weaken Tehran’s military capabilities.
“He’s not interested in that right now, and we’re going to continue with the mission unabated. Maybe there’s a day, but not right now,” the official said.
During the first week of the war, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that Iran’s leadership and military were so battered by US-Israeli strikes that they wanted to talk, but that it was “Too Late!” He has a history of shifting foreign policy stances without warning, making it hard to rule out that he might test the waters for restarting diplomacy.
“President Trump said new potential leadership in Iran has indicated they want to talk and eventually will talk. For now, Operation Epic Fury continues unabated,” a second senior White House official said when asked to comment on this story.
The Iranian sources said Tehran has rejected efforts by several countries to negotiate a ceasefire until the US and Israel end their airstrikes and meet Iran’s demands, which include a permanent end to US and Israeli attacks and compensation as part of a ceasefire.
Egypt, which was involved in mediation before the war, has also tried to reopen communications, according to three security and diplomatic sources. While the efforts do not appear to have made progress, they have secured some military restraint from neighboring countries hit by Iran, according to one of the sources.
Egypt’s foreign ministry, the government of Oman and the Iranian government did not respond to requests for comment.
POSITIONS HARDEN ON ALL SIDES
The war’s impact on global oil markets has significantly increased the cost for the United States.
Some US officials and advisers to Trump urge a quick end to the war, warning that surging gasoline prices could exact a high political price from the president’s Republican Party, with US midterm elections looming.
Others are pressing Trump to maintain the offensive against the Islamic Republic to destroy its missile program and prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon, according to Reuters reporting.
Trump’s rejection of diplomatic efforts could indicate that, for now, the administration has no plans for a quick end to the war.
Indeed, both the United States and Iran appear even less willing to engage than during the opening days of the war, when senior US officials reached out to Oman to discuss de-escalating, according to several sources.
One source said Iran’s top security official, Ali Larijani, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had also sought to use Oman as a conduit for ceasefire discussions that would have involved U.S. Vice President JD Vance.
But those discussions have not materialized.
Instead, Iran’s position has hardened, said a third senior Iranian source.
“Whatever was communicated previously through the diplomatic channels is irrelevant now,” said the source.
“The Guards strongly believe that if they lose control over the Strait of Hormuz, Iran will lose the war,” the source added, referring to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite paramilitary force that controls large parts of the economy.
“Therefore, the Guards will not accept any ceasefire, ceasefire talks, or diplomatic efforts, and Iran’s political leaders will not engage in such talks despite attempts by several countries.”
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US Strikes More Than 90 Iranian Military Targets on Kharg Island, CENTCOM Says
A satellite image shows an oil terminal at Kharg Island, Iran, February 25, 2026. Photo: 2026 Planet Labs PBC/Handout via REUTERS
United States forces executed a large-scale precision strike on Kharg Island in Iran on Friday night, the US Central Command said on Saturday.
“US forces successfully struck more than 90 Iranian military targets on Kharg Island, while preserving the oil infrastructure,” CENTCOM said.
The strike destroyed naval mine storage facilities, missile storage bunkers, and multiple other military sites, the US military said in a post on X.
President Donald Trump threatened on Friday to strike the oil infrastructure of Iran’s Kharg Island hub, unless Tehran stopped attacking vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.