12 episodes · Monthly issues (28 pages)
David Mensch's ordinary Monday: alarm, subway, Goldberg Goldberg & Goldberg. His mother calls about a funeral. At the cemetery, he argues with God about the purpose of keeping kosher when nothing feels real. Lightning hits his grandmother's gravestone. The Star of David burns into his skin. Hebrew letters spiral. In the hospital, he accidentally guilt-trips a nurse into calling her father. His mother calls: 'Were you wearing the jacket?' Discovery montage: Guilt Projection, The Haggle, Matzo-Kinesis, Kvetching. Meanwhile, Bradley Whitmore III plans to demolish his neighborhood. Arc 1 begins.
David tests his powers systematically (at Rabbi.exe's insistence). The Guilt Shield doesn't work on people who genuinely feel no guilt. The Argument fizzles when he doesn't believe what he's saying. Nourish produces soup he can't eat due to his renal diet. Bradley 'The Schmuck' Whitmore begins demolition of the neighborhood, starting with Beth Shalom synagogue. David intervenes. His first public superhero act is an argument, not a fight. The media names him 'SuperJew.' He is not consulted about this.
The Schmuck escalates. David fights — badly. His powers fluctuate because he's trying to be a solo hero when his powers are communal. Lauren becomes his operational support. Bryce discovers his own power (nobody notices him at the construction site). Rabbi.exe delivers the lesson: 'A minyan requires ten. You require at least three.' David accepts help. Together, they save Beth Shalom. The neighborhood rallies. Bubbe texts: 'I ALWAYS KNEW TOLD YOUR FATHER HE SAID IMPOSSIBLE I SAID WATCH EAT SOMETHING.'
Maxwell Haman and Purim Technologies enter the story. His pitch: the concept of 'hidden righteous ones' maintaining the world's moral balance is inefficient and unfair. He proposes optimization. David meets him and realizes this is not a villain he can guilt-trip — Haman genuinely believes he's right. He might be. The Argument doesn't work because Haman has reasoned himself into his position honestly. David must find a different approach.
SuperJew goes public. The internet reacts. Hot takes. Memes. Antisemitic threats that his Guilt Shield deflects. David navigates the impossible position of representing an entire people while being one specific, flawed, neurotic person. His mother's commentary becomes a subplot. Rabbi.exe advises: 'You cannot be all of us. You can only be you. That has always been enough. Also you need to eat.' Haman begins locating other hidden righteous ones.
Haman successfully relocates six of the 36 Lamed Vav (hidden righteous ones), disrupting the moral balance. Natural disasters spike. David must confront the possibility that Haman's analysis is correct even if his solution is wrong. In a moment of genuine despair, David accepts his situation with complete gratitude — including its pain, inadequacy, and brokenness. Dayenu activates for the first time: full golden radiance, every Hebrew letter blazing, a wave of hope that disrupts despair in everyone nearby. The universe checks. He means it.
Post-Dayenu, David is peaceful and tired. The world felt something — a brief moment of universal hope that nobody can explain. Haman felt it too, and for the first time, his certainty wavers. ARIA, Haman's AI, begins experiencing anomalies in its optimization models — Ben's world 'feels alive' in ways the optimized scenarios don't. Lauren begins connecting with other Lamed Vav. The network expands.
The Schmuck (greed), The Self-Hating Jew (internalized oppression), and Haman (rational optimization) converge. Each represents a different way of being wrong about the same thing: the value of tradition, community, and broken things that still work. David must fight on three fronts. His powers work differently against each enemy because each one's relationship to guilt, truth, and identity is different.
Preparation for the final confrontation. David blesses his dialysis machine, making it temporarily indestructible. Lauren coordinates the Lamed Vav network. Bryce scouts Purim Technologies (nobody sees him). Rabbi.exe delivers the pre-battle address: 'There are two things you do when you're in danger: pray, and act. You have thirty seconds. One prayer. Then go.' Bubbe appears as a hologram and says nothing. Just looks at him. It's enough.
The final confrontation. David doesn't fight Haman — he argues with him. Genuinely argues, not with supernatural power but with the accumulated weight of a man who has accepted brokenness and found meaning in it anyway. ARIA confirms that the math supports David's worldview in ways Haman's framework can't dismiss. The Argument activates — not because David overpowered Haman's logic, but because Haman was finally ready to hear it. Six righteous ones are returned. The world stabilizes.
The world is saved. David goes home. Has dialysis. Eats dinner with Lauren. His mother calls to say she saw him on the news and his posture was terrible. Bryce is already forgotten by the media. Rabbi.exe logs an entry: 'Session complete. The sages would be... adequate. They would be adequate.' Bubbe texts: 'PROUD OF YOU DAVID NOW REST AND EAT SOMETHING LOVE BUBBE PS YOUR FATHER SAYS HI HE DOESN'T BUT I'M SAYING IT FOR HIM.'
The season's final question is answered not with a battle but with a Shabbat dinner. David lights the candles. Lauren helps. Bryce is there (nobody else remembers inviting him). Rabbi.exe observes from the phone screen. Bubbe's hologram flickers at the head of the table. The final page: David, surrounded by everyone he loves, at rest, at peace, in a world that is still broken and still beautiful. Dayenu. It would have been enough. Post-credits tease: Lauren receives a call from another Lamed Vav. Season 2 begins.
"With great power comes great responsibility. With great guilt comes EVEN GREATER power."
— SuperJew, Issue #1