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In Jewish folklore, a golem (גולם, sometimes, as in Yiddish, pronounced goilem) 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 (גלם), which means "raw material".
History
Origins of the word
The word golem is used in the Bible to refer to an embryonic or incomplete substance: Psalm 139:16 uses the word גלמי, meaning my unshaped form (in Hebrew, words are derived by adding vowels to triconsonantal roots, here, גלם). The Mishnah uses the term for an uncultivated person ("Seven characteristics are in an uncultivated person, and seven in a learned one", Pirkei Avoth 5:7). 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 mud. 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 Raba creating a golem using the Sefer Yetzirah. He sent the golem to Rav Zeira; Rav Zeira spoke to the golem, but he did not answer. Said Rav Zeira, "I see that you were created by one of our colleagues; return to your dust." It is said that if a golem were made able to speak, that would give it a soul, and — because a golem cannot be made perfectly — that ability could make it very dangerous.
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 enscribed on its body, or writing the word Emet (אמת, "truth" in the Hebrew language) on its forehead are examples of such words. By erasing the first letter aleph in Emet to form Met (מת, "dead" in Hebrew) the golem could be deactivated. Another way is by writing a specific incantation in the owner's blood on calfskin parchment, and placing it in the mouth. Removing the parchment will deactivate the golem. It is likely that this is the same incantation that the Rabbi recites in the classic narrative.
The classic narrative
The most famous golem narrative involves Rabbi Judah Loew the Maharal of Prague, a 16th centuryrabbi. He is reported to have created a golem to defend the Prague ghetto of Josefov from Anti-Semitic attacks. The story of the Golem first appeared in print in 1847 in a collection of Jewish tales entitled Galerie der Sippurim, published by Wolf Pascheles of Prague. About sixty years later, a fictional account was published by Yudl Rosenberg (1909).
According to the legend, the Emperor made an edict proclaiming that the Jews in Prague were to be either expelled or killed (depending on the version of the story). A golem could be made of clay from the banks of the Vltava river in Prague. Following the prescribed rituals, the Rabbi built the Golem and made him come to life by reciting special incantations in Hebrew. The Rabbi's intention was to have the Golem protect the Jewish community from harm. As Rabbi Loew's Golem grew bigger, he also became more violent and started killing the Gentiles (non-Jews) and spreading fear. Some versions also add that the Golem turns on his creator and attacks either his creator alone or the creator and the Jews as well.
In the face of the strength demonstrated and violence perpetrated by the Golem, the Emperor begs Rabbi Loew to destroy the Golem, and in return he would promise that the persecution of and violence towards the Jews would stop. The Rabbi accepted this offer. To destroy the Golem, he rubbed out the first letter of the word "emet" or "aemaeth" (God's truth) from the golem's forehead to make the Hebrew word "met" or "maeth", meaning death. It was made clear to the Emperor that the Golem of Prague's remains would be stored in a coffin in the attic of the Old-New Synagogue in Prague, and it can be summoned again if needed.
It is said that the body of Rabbi Loew's golem still lies in the attic of the Old-New Synagogue in Prague. A legend is told of a Nazi agent during World War II ascending the attic and trying to stab the golem, but perishing instead.[citation needed] 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 of the Maharal's golem, the golem has powers that can 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, which the medieval Prague courts would allow to testify.
The hubris theme
In all Jewish kabbalistic descriptions of Golems, they are incapable of disobeying the one who created them, but in one version of the story, Rabbi Eliyahu of Chelm created a Golem that grew bigger and bigger until the rabbi was unable to kill it without trickery, whereupon it fell upon its creator and crushed him. The hubris theme in this version is similar to that in the stories of the monster of Frankenstein and of the broomstick in The Sorcerer's Apprentice. It remains a standard feature of golems in popular culture.
The golem in European culture
In the late 19th century the golem was adopted by mainstream European society. Most notably Gustav Meyrink's 1915 novel Der Golem based on the tales of the golem created by Judah Low ben Bezalel. This book inspired a classic set of expressionisticsilent movies, Paul Wegener's Golem series, of which especially The Golem: How He Came Into the World (also released as The Golem, 1920, USA 1921--the only surviving film of the trilogy) is 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.
These tales saw a dramatic change, and some would argue a Christianization,[citation needed] of the golem. The golem became a creation of overambitious and overreaching mystics, who would inevitably be punished for their blasphemy, as in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and the alchemicalhomunculus. The homunculus appears occasionally in the folklore of Eastern Europe as a construct made from natural materials such as dirt, roots, insects, feces, and other substances. In these stories the creature is revived through incantation and acts as a vehicle for the astrally projected mind of a sorcerer.
Dutch novelist, Harry Mulisch's 1999 Novel, "the Procedure" is in part a modern re-interpretation of the Golem myth, starting with a 'historical' description of the kabbalistic experiment which results in a murderous female Golem.
The Golem in the Czech Republic
The 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". [citation needed]
The Golem had a main role in the 1951 Czech movie Císařův pekař a pekařův císař (released in the US as The Emperor and the Golem).
Golems appear in a wide variety of books, comic books, films, television shows, and games, ranging from an umbrella term for automata and simulacra made of anything from steel to flesh, to full adoptions of the golem mythos.
These are some notable contemporary uses of the golem mythos:
The first trilogy of movies about Rabbi Judah Loew and his golem were Der Golem (1915), the Golem and the Dancing Girl (1917), and Der Golem, wie er in die welt kam (1920) Directed by Paul Wegener. Only the last film, which is a prequel, has survived, though stills exist of the earlier films. This Golem is the main subject of the British film "It!", Gold Star Productions Limited (1966), staring Roddy McDowell as Arthur Pimm, who evokes (brings to life) the Golem. File:Golem of It!.jpgAlan Sellers as the Golem of Prague in the 1966 film "It!"
Edward Einhorn's Golem Stories appearing in his book of plays entitled The Golem, Methuselah, and Shylock[1] includes a golem that has the soul of a young man who was the fiance of the Rabbi's daughter.
In The Golem's Eye, the second book of Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus Trilogy a golem starts making random attacks on London. Spirits cannot get close to it as the golem's magic negates that of spirits and weakens them. The protagonist Nathaniel and his djinn Bartimaeus are sent to Prague to track down the origin of the golem. In the end Bartimaeus has Kitty Jones attack the golem, who successfully removes the golem's scroll thereby destroying it. The creator of the golem is revealed to be Police Chief Henry Duvall who was plotting to gain more power. the book also mentions magician Loew (based on legendary Rabbi Loew of Prague) as the creator of the first golem.
In The Puttermesser Papers, a National Book Award finalist by Cynthia Ozick, the main character Ruth Puttermesser, a Jewish lawyer, creates a golem, Xanthippe, who loyally serves Puttermesser's quest to convert New York City into an urban Utopia. Xanthippe is created from mud in Puttermesser's bathtub. The golem is characterized by an insatiable appetite, rapid physical growth, and an ability to efficiently carry out a variety of tasks on behalf of Puttermesser.
In The SimpsonsTreehouse of Horror XVII, Bart steals a Golem from Krusty and uses it to do his own bidding until Lisa convinces him that his actions are wrong. This cartoon Golem is drawn in resemblance to the golem in Wegener's film. Krusty gives a brief history of the "Jewish Golem of Prague", given orders by placing a written command in its mouth. Eventually the order to speak is given, and the golem obeys. Eventually a "bride" is created for the lonely golem out of playdough. All of these themes (the written command in its mouth, the elements of speech, and the bride) relate back, though not necessarily reflect, elements of the Golem mythos throughout the ages.
On Charmed, Season IV, Episode 4 (aired, originally, out of order as episode 5), entitled Size Matters, the demon named Gamil (played by Robert Englund) creates a golem, whom he uses to lure unsuspecting women into his home where he transforms them into tiny, clay figurines.
Golems are usual characters in computer RPG videogames, specially the ones based on romantic European tradition, such as Diablo or Heroes of Might and Magic, being usually made of earth, but also metal or blood; and sometimes sharing its life breath with its creator.
"Golem" is a character featured in the Pokemon television show and trading card game as well as the Pokemon videogame for Nintendo Gameboy. Golem is considered a "rock-ground type pokemon".
Golem is featured as one of the good monsters in the comic book, Monster in My Pocket. Golem can speak, but he says only one word in the four-issue run. The action figure is #54. The Monster in My Pocket likeness is heavily influenced, though not identical to, the Paul Wegener Golem.
In the video game Life Force, the first boss is a golem.
In the Hallmark movie Snow in August, a young Irish Catholic boy, befriended by a rabbi from Prague, brings a Golem to life to protect himself and his family from a vicious street bully whom he witnessed assault a Jewish shopkeeper and who later assaults the friendly rabbi.
Literature
Bilski, Emily B. (1988). Golem! Danger, Deliverance and Art. New York: The Jewish Museum. ISBN 8-7334-0493-0. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
Dennis, Geoffrey (2007). The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism. Woodbury (MN): Llewellyn Worldwide. ISBN 0-7387-0905-0. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
Winkler, Gershon (1980). The Golem of Prague: A New Adaptation of the Documented Stories of the Golem of Prague. New York: Judaica Press. ISBN 0-9108-1825-8. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
Goldsmith, Arnold L. (1981). The Golem Remembered 1909-1980: Variations of a Jewish Legend. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-16832-8. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
Idel, Mosche (1990). Golem: Jewish Magical and Mystical Traditions on the Artificial Anthropoid. Albany (NY): State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-0160-X. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
Pratchett, Terry (1996). Feet of Clay. Discworld: HarperCollins (US) and Transworld (UK). {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |1= and |coauthors= (help)
