Yes, Orthodox Jews In This ‘Spider-Man’ Video Game Really Do Disappear On Shabbat
The world premiere of “Spider-Man: Far From Home” on June 26, 2019. Image by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images
By PJ Grisar June 27, 2019
Playstation 4’s “Spider-Man” video game is known for its meticulous, open-world recreation of New York City — right down to the pedestrians. And as a painstaking facsimile, the game’s locales come complete with Orthodox Jews wearing kippot and wide-brimmed hats.
But if you find yourself playing the game on Shabbat, you may notice that these characters disappear.
On June 26, a Reddit user on the r/Judaism thread shared that Orthodox non-playable characters (NPCs) are absent from the virtual streets on Saturdays.
In April, one of the game’s senior programmers, Elan Ruskin, confirmed the easter egg on Twitter.
This feels like the right time to mention an Easter egg that everyone’s passed over so far: these guys don’t work on Saturdays! pic.twitter.com/kJydFBG4DG
— Elan Ruskin (@despair) April 19, 2019
Per Ruskin, these Shabbat disappearances appear to be a matter of halakhic precedent. When NPCs appear in the game, they’re laboring as video game background actors. It follows that Orthodox Jewish NPCs would follow a work prohibition on Shabbat.
While Spider-Man, whose own Jewish bona fides are debatable, can swing almost anywhere in the game’s New York recreation, the reach of the Orthodox NPCs’ eruv is unknown.
PJ Grisar is the Forward’s culture intern. He can be reached at [email protected]
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
