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- A golem is a mythical Jewish creature. According to medieval legend, he is a man made of earthen materials brought to life by a rabbi through ancient rituals.
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Most versions include shaping the golem into a figure resembling a human being and using God’s name to bring him to life, since God is the ultimate creator of life. According to one story, to make a golem come alive, one would shape it out of soil, and then walk or dance around it saying combination of letters from the alphabet and the secret ...
- History of Golems
- Legend of Rabbi Löew
- Feminism and Golems
- Golems in Contemporary Literature
- Sources
The earliest reference to golems is in the book of Psalms in the Old Testamentof the Judeo-Christian Bible, 139:16, written in the 4th/5th century BCE. That verse is a reference to the creation of the first man, Adam, who was the original golem: a man made from the earth. "Adamah" means "one taken from the earth" in Hebrew. In many Bronze Age mytho...
The primary golem legend cited is that of Rabbi Yude-Leyb ben-Betsalel, the Maharal ("Teacher") of Prague (1525–1609), popularly called Rabbi Löew. In 1580, Rabbi Löew and his congregation experienced great struggle and persecution. Their situation became truly dire when a rumor that Jewish Passover matzos were made with the blood of Christians was...
A feminist take on the golem myth wonders if the concept of golems is a veiled code for the role of women in Jewish culture. The primary function of golems is to save Jewish people from danger, but some golems assist with homemaking duties like lighting stoves on the Sabbath and fetching water. The word golemmeans "unformed substance," and is tradi...
Many contemporary writers have found the golem to be a rich source of narrative potential in literature and film. Writers such as Elie Wiesel (The Golem), Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay), and Terry Pratchett (Feet of Clay) have told stories about golems. The Hulk, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, is an example of a myt...
Anolik, Ruth Bienstock. "Reviving the Golem: Cultural Negotiations in Ozick's " Studies in American Jewish Literature (1981–) 19 (2000): 37–48. Print.the Puttermesser Papers and Piercy's He, She an...Honigsberg, David M. "Rava's Golem." Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts7.2/3 (26/27) (1995): 137–45. Print.Krause, Maureen T. "Introduction: 'Bereshit Bara Elohim:' A Survey of the Genesis and Evolution of the Golem." Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts7.2/3 (26/27) (1995): 113–36. Print.Rubin, Charles T. "The Golem and the Limits of Artifice." The New Atlantis39 (2013): 56–72. Print.A golem ( / ˈɡoʊləm / GOH-ləm; Hebrew: גּוֹלֶם, romanized : gōlem) is an animated, anthropomorphic being in Jewish folklore, which is created entirely from inanimate matter, usually clay or mud. The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late 16th-century rabbi of Prague.
In Jewish literature, a golem is a manmade, human-like creature endowed with a rudimentary form of life. According to certain accounts, golems were created by saintly individuals to protect the Jewish community from blood libels and other anti-Semitic agitations, most notably in 16th-century Prague.
We do not have any real idea of what the golem looked like, or of his nature. Speculations run from an amorphous but vaguely humanoid blob of clay to a near-perfect simulacrum of a man, lacking only reason and free will. Was he simply crude matter with the appearance of life?
- Benjamin Kerstein
Jul 13, 2021 · Steeped in Jewish folklore, the basic story of the golem typically follows a given path: a highly intelligent, learned person — usually a rabbi — creates a being out of clay to serve the Jewish community. That being is then given a sort of quasi-life after a person carves or otherwise installs a mystical phrase like the secret name of God ...
- Sarah Crocker
Unpacked Explains. Is the legend of the Golem true? By Unpacked Staff. Before Superman or Batman, before Magneto or Kitty Pryde, there was the Golem. Half superhero, half monster, the Golem is a creature from Jewish legend — unformed and soulless, existing only to obey.
