In Jewish folklore, a golem
(????; , Wikipedia:Pronunciation respelling key|goh l?m) is an animated being created entirely from inanimate matter. In modern Hebrew the word golem
literally means "cocoon", but can also mean "fool", "silly", or even "stupid". The name appears to derive from the word gelem
(???), which means "raw material". Alternatively, some sources indicate that it is a corruption of the Hebrew go'al 'enu
(??????) our redeemer
or our avenger
. This version is supported by the 16th century Prague ghetto stories (see below).
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GOLEM TICKETS
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History
Etymology
The word
golem
is used in the
Bible to refer to an embryonic or incomplete substance:
Psalm 139:16 uses the word
????, meaning
my unshaped form
, which then passes into Yiddish as
goylem
.
[1] The
Mishnah uses the term for an uncultivated person ("Seven characteristics are in an uncultivated person, and seven in a learned one",
Pirkei Avot 5:6 in the Hebrew text, varies in English translations). Similarly, golems are often used today in
metaphor either as brainless lunks or as entities serving man under controlled conditions, but hostile to him in others. Similarly, it is a Yiddish slang insult for someone who is clumsy or slow.
Earliest stories
The earliest stories of golems date to early Judaism. Adam is described in the
Talmud (Tractate
Sanhedrin 38b) as initially created as a golem when his dust was "kneaded into a shapeless hunk". Like Adam, all golems are created from
clay. They were a creation of those who were very holy and close to God. A very holy person was one who strove to approach God, and in that pursuit would gain some of God's wisdom and power. One of these powers was the creation of life. No matter how holy a person became, however, a being created by that person would be, but a shadow of one created by God.
Early on, the notion developed, that the main disability of the golem was its inability to speak. In
Sanhedrin 65b, is the description of
Rava creating a man (
gavra
). He sent him to
Rav Zeira; Rav Zeira spoke to him, but he did not answer. Said Rav Zeira: "You were created by the magicians; return to your dust."
Owning and activating golems
Having a golem servant was seen as the ultimate symbol of wisdom and holiness, and there are many tales of golems connected to prominent rabbis throughout the
Middle Ages.
Other attributes of the golem were gradually added over time. In many tales the Golem is inscribed with magic or religious words that keep it animated. Writing one of the
names of God on its forehead, a slip of paper in its mouth, or inscribed on its body, or writing the word
Emet
(???, "truth" in the Hebrew language) on its forehead are examples of such words. By erasing the first letter aleph in
Emet
to form
Met
(??, "dead" in
Hebrew, when the
aleph letter ? is
cancelled), the golem could be deactivated. Another way of activation is by writing a specific incantation using the owner's blood on calfskin parchment, and placing it in the golem's mouth. Then removing the parchment will deactivate the golem. It is likely that this is the same incantation that the Rabbi recites in the classic narrative.
Origins of inscriptions
The idea of creation and animation of a human-like body of clay appears to have originated in ancient Egypt,
documented in a story from the second half of the
6th century BC. It is probably related to
Ushabtis used from the times of
Middle Kingdom.
The inscription or the object for the activation of a golem is sometimes named
Shem HaM’forash, e.g. in the
Czech movie, or just a
Shem in short.
The classic narrative
200px
The most famous golem narrative involves
Judah Loew ben Bezalel the late
16th century chief
rabbi of
Prague, also known as the
Maharal of Prague, who reportedly created a golem to defend the Prague
ghetto from
anti-Semitic attacks
[2],
pogroms. This story of the Golem first appeared in print in 1847 in
Galerie der Sippurim,
a collection of
Jewish tales published by
Wolf Pascheles of Prague.
In
1911 an account in
Hebrew and Yiddish was published by
Yudl Rosenberg in
Lwow, supposedly based on the found diary of Rabbi Loew's son-in-law, who had helped create the golem; but the authenticity of this manuscript is in dispute.
Depending on the version of the legend, under
Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor, the Jews in Prague were to be either expelled or killed (
pogrom). To protect the Jewish community, the rabbi constructed the Golem out of clay from the banks of the
Vltava river, and brought it to life through rituals and Hebrew incantations. As this golem grew, it became increasingly violent, killing
gentiles and spreading fear. A different story tells of a golem falling in love, and when rejected, he became the violent monster as seen in most accounts. Some versions have the golem eventually turning on its creator and perhaps even attacking other Jews.
[
]
The Emperor begged Rabbi Loew to destroy Golem, promising to stop the persecution of the Jews. To deactivate Golem, the rabbi rubbed out the first letter of the word "emet" (truth or reality) from the creature's forehead leaving the Hebrew word "met", meaning death. The Emperor understood that the Golem's body, stored in the attic genizah of the Old New Synagogue, would be restored to life again if needed. Accordingly, the body of Rabbi Loew's Golem still lies in the synagogue's attic, although some versions of the tale have Golem stolen from the genizah and entombed in a graveyard in Prague's Žižkov district, where now the great Žižkovská tower stands. A recent legend is told of a Nazi agent ascending to the synagogue attic during World War II and trying to stab Golem, but perishing instead. At any rate, the attic is not open to the general public.
The existence of a golem is sometimes a mixed blessing. Golems are not intelligent: If commanded to perform a task, they will take the instructions perfectly literally.
In some incarnations of the legend, the Maharal's Golem had superhuman powers to aid it in its tasks. These include invisibility, a heated touch, and the ability to use the Maharal's walking stick to summon spirits from the dead. This last power was often crucial, as the golem could summon dead witnesses to testify in Prague courts.
The hubris theme
In many depictions golems are inherently perfectly obedient. However, in its earliest known modern form the story has Rabbi Eliyahu of Chelm creating a golem that became enormous and uncooperative. In one version of this the rabbi had to resort to trickery to deactivate it, whereupon it crumbled upon its creator and crushed him. There is a similar hubris theme in Frankenstein
, The Sorcerer's Apprentice
and some golem-derived stories in popular culture. The theme also manifests itself in R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)
, Karel Capek's 1921 play which coined the term robot; the novel was written in Prague and while Capek denied that he modeled the robot after the golem, there are many similarities in the plot. [3]
In culture
right
The first Golem, and other golems
As the Golem of Prague was the first that had been seen up until then, it was always called Golem
, in other words that was simply its name.
In later history, the word was generalized into a more common term for this class of beings: golems.[ Many other golems appeared in culture, inspired by the original Golem from Prague. Some referred back to the original story, others used the concept of golems without any reference to Prague at all, ignoring or even not knowing its origin and original purpose.
]
The 20th and 21st centuries
In the early 20th century the golem was adopted by mainstream European society. Most notably, Gustav Meyrink's 1914 novel Der Golem
is loosely inspired by the tales of the golem created by Judah Loew ben Bezalel. These same tales inspired a classic set of expressionistic silent movies, Paul Wegener's Golem series, of which The Golem: How He Came into the World
(also released as The Golem
, 1920, USA 1921: the only surviving film of the trilogy) is especially famous. Another famous treatment from the same era is H. Leivick's 1921 Yiddish-language "dramatic poem in eight sections" The Golem
. Also notable is Julien Duvivier's Le Golem
(1936), a sequel to the Wegener film. Nobel prize winner Isaac Bashevis Singer also wrote a version of the legend. Elie Wiesel wrote a children's book on the legend.
Terry Pratchett's Discworld series depicts golems as described in this article, although they can speak and have sentience. While they are not recognized as people they are allowed to earn enough money to buy themselves—which many do.
In the mid-1960s, the Weizmann Institute of Science named its experimental computer Golem I [4]
David Brin's science-fiction novel Kiln People
describes a future where humans make lower quality copies of themselves (dittos
or golems
) out of clay.
After reaching their expiration date, the golem's memories can be reintegrated to the original person or not.
There are references to the Jewish legend such as the name of the character Yosil Maharal
.
DD Barant's fantasy series Bloodhound Files also features golems ('filled sandbags') which are animated through animal/blood sacrifice and color coded depending on occupation. In this fantasy series, golems were used as weapons—and still are—for protection as well as warfare since guns are not part of the parallel world that the main character, Agent Jace Valchek, as been pulled into. These golems act very much like humans and are considered second class citizens.
Culture of the Czech Republic
Golem is a popular figure in the Czech Republic. There are several restaurants and other businesses named after him.[ Strongman René Richter goes by the nickname "Golem",][ and a Czech monster truck outfit calls itself the "Golem Team".
]
Golem had a main role in the 1951 Czech movie Císaruv pekar a pekaruv císar
(released in the US as The Emperor and the Golem
).
Composer Karel Svoboda finished his last musical based on the legend of Golem only two months before his suicide. This musical seems to have been a flop due to an overcomplicated plot and a lack of musical ideas in the songs.
See also
- R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)