#maharal of prague

[hyperpotamianarch]

Why is Hannukah 8 days if the oil sufficed for one day? Day 8

Today is the 8th day of Hannukah, or Zot Hannukah as it is known. And I really wanted to bring something interesting to the table. Sadly, though, I noticed a theme in the answers I gave, and the only way to keep up with the theme was to break every rule. So I'm now going to talk about something that technically isn't directly about Hannukah, not to speak of the oil cruse miracle.

In the Gemara, Masechet 'Avodah Zarah 8A, there's a story about Adam HaRishon, the first human. The story goes that after his banishment from the Garden of Eden, Adam saw that the days got shorter and shorter, and he worried that the world is returning to its primal state and this is how his death sentence would be carried. And so, he fasted for eight days, no eating and no drinking. Then, after the eighth day, he saw that the days were getting longer again, so he celebrated for eight days, and for the next year - he made all sixteen days a holiday. The Gemara continues to explain that humanity later took this holiday and made it pagan, but that's another story.

So, what does that have to do with Hannukah? And why in the world did Adam take 8 days for each direction?

Well, the answer to the first of those questions is a little obvious: Hannukah is always during this time of the Solar year, not too far from the Winter Solstice. Whether we like it or not, Hannukah always occurs just around the time polytheistic cultures from around the northern hemisphere celebrate the lengthening of days. Coincidence? Well... Historically it's hard to say otherwise, but when it comes to religion there will always be spiritual explanations.

In order to see what I can say about the second question and how I can tie those holidays together, I went to look at what Maharal of Prague, Rabbi Yehudah Loew, had to say on the topic in his 'Hidushei Aggadot. Now, I didn't bother translating the name of any book so far, but I still want to note that this is an example of something I can't translate. If any of you has even the hint of idea on how to translate the words 'Hidushim (as in חידושי תורה) or Aggadot, I'm all ears. (And don't tell me Aggadot is legends. That's not a good translation.)

Anyway, in this book Maharal goes over the Aggadot of the Gemara and explains them. On this story, he starts of with a surprisingly realistic explanation to the eight days: that's the amount of time it takes to notice a change. I'm bound to agree - from my experience, sunset moves about five minutes in a week on average, based on prayer times for Shabbat. This is just about a noticeable change.

But Maharal isn't known for his realistic explanations. He's known for his ideas on the spiritual meaning of numbers. Or, well, he's known for the legend that he created a Golem, but right after that there's his numerology. So obviously, he doesn't leave it at that. As mentioned in a previous post in this series, his idea of the number 8 is that it's one above nature,a step beyond the world that was created in seven days. He thus explains that Adam fasted for eight days because the loss resulting from his sin is something that comes from within the created world. Therefore, by trying to reach through the number eight to beyond the world, he attempts to pull light from beyond all that, from beyond the created world. And when he saw the days lengthening again - he new it cane from the merit of something beyond the created world, which is why he celebrated eight days.

To try and find a connection, I went to the same book on the portion of the Gemara that tells the story of Hannukah - Shabbat 21B. Maharal talks a lot there about the fight against the Greeks (Seleucids, to be more accurate, but the Hebrew word used is the one for Greeks) and spiritual and numerological explanations on it, including - again - the idea of eight being a number of being above nature, something to do with the different parts of the Temple building and the origin of light not being the seven-armed Menorah but the inside of Kodesh HaKodashim, possibly relating the the idea that the light of the Menorah isn't there to give G-d light, but to show that G-d is among the people of Israel. The light comes from a source above nature. He also touches the idea of Brit Milah being related and a couple of stuff about the Temple and the Tabernacle, the Mishcan. So I suppose there is a connection - the light that comes from a source above the natural world is both what caused the day to start lengthen again and what brought the Hasmoneans light for the Menorah and to defeat the Seleucids.

Oddly enough, Maharal finishes it all by supplying an answer to the Beit Yosef question - one of Beit Yosef's own answers, that only an eighth of the oil burned each day. So IDK. I guess he thinks it fits?

A couple more notes: firstly, Maharal was more or less contemporary to the Beit Yosef. I think he did see the book, though, considering the printing press and everything. Secondly, I have only discovered it today but I accidentally deceived you. I told you I'll give you the original source of every answer, but I didn't know that the Beit Yosef actually took his answers from an older source: Tosafot HaRosh.

To not elaborate too much, Rabbenu Asher bar Yehi'el (AKA the Rosh) was the writer of the Tur's (Rabbi Ya'akov bar Asher's) father, and the last of Ba'alei HaTosafot - a series of Jewish schools of learning across central and western Europe around the 12th-14th centuries. It's more complex, but I'm not sure I can find the right words to explain that. The Rosh predates the Beit Yosef by about two centuries, and the Beit Yosef counts him among his most influential Poskim. So I do think he copied his answers from the Rosh. Which is fine, but I don't appreciate the fact he didn't cite his source.

Final point: the answers I've suggested could be nearly divided to three groups: 1. The miracle did start at the first day, 2. The first day has another miracle, and 3. The number 8 has significant meaning unto itself. Given enough time, I could probably try to explore this in more detail, but I try to make these daily post in a particular timeframe that I've already passed so I think I'll be done for now.

זאת חנוכה שמח!

[challahbeloved]

rabbi loew mention in the “a discovery of witches” show!!

[studiotriggerfan397]

Fun Fact:

Before Victor Frankenstein created his infamous monster and sparked the debate over man's right to create artificial life, a 16th century Jewish mystic called the Maharal invoked the names of God to give life to clay. This created a golem with superhuman strength and loyalty that guarded the mystic's community from persecution in medieval Prague. The golem also wore an amulet that gave it the power to turn invisible and summon dead witnesses whose testimonies were considered totally valid in Prague's court and used to prove the innocence of people who judges were biased against. The problem with the golem is that although it was animated, it couldn't speak, had no free will and took instructions way too literally, causing it to do things like chop down entire forests when asked to get firewood. And one night, the golem was feeling lonely and neglected, so it rampaged through town, attacking the innocent people it was supposed to protect. This forced the mystic to remove one letter from the Hebrew inscription of "emét", changing the meaning from "truth" to "death" and rendering his creation lifeless.

The story started so positive too...

[postcard-from-the-past]

Tomb of Judah Loew ben Bezalel, also known as Rabbi Loew, the Maharal of Prague, in the Jewish Cemetery of Prague, Czechia

Czech vintage postcard

[mariacallous]

For the first time since World War II, one of Prague’s most historic synagogues has held a Jewish worship service.

Kol Nidre, the introductory service of Yom Kippur, took place in the Klausen Synagogue on Friday night, ending a hiatus that lasted more than 80 years and encompassed both the murder and suppression of Czech Jewry.

Originally erected in 1573 and rebuilt after a fire in 1694, the Klausen Synagogue is the largest synagogue in Prague’s Jewish Quarter and once served as a central hub of Jewish life. It’s known as the home of several prominent rabbis and thinkers, from Judah Loew — a 16th-century Talmudic scholar also known as the Maharal of Prague — to Baruch Jeitteles, a scholar associated with the Jewish Enlightenment movement of the 18th and 19th centuries.

But for more than 80 years after the Holocaust decimated Czech Jews, the Klausen Synagogue held no services.

That was until Friday evening, when about 200 people poured in for a service led by Rabbi David Maxa, who represents Czechia’s community of Progressive or Reform Jews. That community was joined by guests and Jewish tourists from around the world for Yom Kippur, according to Maxa. He saw the moment as a sign of Jewish life resurging in Prague.

“It’s quite remarkable that there is a Yom Kippur service in five historic synagogues in Prague,” Maxa told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Under German occupation in World War II, the Klausen Synagogue was used as a storage facility. Although the Nazis and their collaborators killed about 263,000 Jews who lived in the former Czechoslovak Republic, they took an interest in collecting Jewish art and artifacts that they deemed valuable enough to preserve. The Jewish Museum in Prague was allowed to continue storing those objects, and the synagogue became part of the museum’s depository.

After the war, there were not enough survivors to refill services in the synagogues of Prague. The country became a Soviet satellite in 1948, starting a long era in which Jews were often persecuted and surveilled for following any religious practices. The last Soviet census of 1989 registered only 2,700 Jews living in Czech lands.

“During Communist times, it was very difficult to relate to Jewish identity,” said Maxa. “People who visited any kind of synagogue were followed by the secret police, and only after the Velvet Revolution in 1989 did it become possible for people to visit synagogues without the feeling of being followed and put on a list.”

After the end of communism, some synagogues returned to use by the few Jews who still identified as such. Two of the six synagogues that still stand in the Jewish Quarter now are in regular use as houses of worship.

But the Klausen Synagogue, which was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1982, remained part of the Jewish Museum, hosting exhibitions about Jewish festivals, early Hebrew manuscripts and Jewish customs and traditions.

Museum director Pavla Niklová said returning the synagogue to use for Yom Kippur happened almost by accident. Maxa was asking if she knew about a space large enough to host his growing congregation, Ec Chajim, for the holiest day in the Jewish calendar — its own space, which opened four years ago about a 20-minute walk away, could not accommodate the crowds expected for Yom Kippur.

Since the museum had just taken down its exhibition in the Klausen Synagogue after 28 years, she had an answer. The clean, empty space was ready to be refilled with Jewish life.

Visiting the synagogue just before Yom Kippur, Niklová said she was awed to see the building returned to its original purpose. She hopes that it will continue to be used for large services.

“I felt like the synagogue started breathing again,” she told JTA. “I believe it was a good move to take down the old exhibit, and now we can start anew.”

For many in Prague’s Jewish community, which is largely secular, Yom Kippur is the single most important service of the year. Even Jewish families that suppressed religious practices under Communism often passed on the memory of Yom Kippur, said Maxa.

Maxa founded Prague’s Progressive Jewish community in 2019, responding to a growing number of people who sought to explore their Jewish roots. The community currently has 200 members and adds about five more every month.

“Often, I meet people who simply want to learn about the culture, tradition and religion of their grandparents,” said Maxa. “They say, my grandmother and grandfather were Shoah survivors — can I come and learn more about Judaism? We offer a wide range of activities, including of course regular services, but also educational courses to help these people reconnect with the tradition.”

Maxa, who himself grew up in Prague with little connection to his Jewish roots, wants to revive some of the rituals that threaded through Prague’s pre-war Jewish world — including a tradition of organ accompaniment in the city’s synagogues. On Friday, Jewish organist Ralph Selig performed during his service.

Like many of his congregants, Maxa’s family history intertwines with the losses of the last century. His father came from Prague and survived the Holocaust. He does not know if his father visited the Klausen Synagogue, but he knows it was a familiar part of his world.

“It means a lot for me that the tradition was not exterminated, and that this is coming back, even to a place where no services were held since World War II,” he said.

[etz-ashashiyot]

Hope you're doing alright. Recently in Pathfinder, the term "golem" has been removed in reference to certain monsters and replaced with other terms like Effigy in order to avoid cultural appropriation. I was curious about the original source material and in my search found that the Golem of Prague can be allegorical for a bunch of things, notably the hazards of aggressive resistance to bigotry. I found it enlightening and tragic, given the current bloodthirst on display so often.

I am gripping my sanity with both hands like the reins of a half-trained mule, thanks for asking! /hj

As for the golem, the Jewish Virtual Library says:

Often in Ashkenazi Hasidic lore, the golem would come to life and serve his creators by doing tasks assigned to him. The most well-known story of the golem is connected to Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the Maharal of Prague (1513-1609). It was said that he created a golem out of clay to protect the Jewish community from Blood Libel and to help out doing physical labor, since golems are extraordinarily strong. Another version says it was close to Easter, in the spring of 1580 and a Jew-hating priest was trying to incite the Christians against the Jews. So, the golem protected the community during the Easter season. Both versions recall the golem running amok and threatening innocent lives, so Rabbi Loew removed the Divine Name, rendering the golem lifeless. A separate account has the golem going mad and running away.

Indeed, an interesting lens through which to view current events — and equally so, that the exact message varies greatly based on whose story you tell. 🙂

[traumaticemphaticfantastic]

“New Old Synagogue, Prague” With lyrics by Mitski from her song “Last Words of a Shooting Star”

In addition, a quote:

“And we miss him. [The Golem]. More than ever, we need his presence and perhaps even his mystery. As usual, the year promises to be one of punishment; I feel it in every bone in my body. I have lived through too many ordeals not to be able to predict what the future has in store. Oh, of course I have faith in God: I would not be a Jew if I did not have faith. But neither would I be a Jew if I were not afraid… I know that sometimes there are men who choose death because they wish to escape this wretched earth, which first bears us and then devours us. Ah, if only the Golem were still among us… I would sleep more peacefully. Why did the Maharal take him from us? Did he really believe that the era of suffering and injustice was a thing of the past? Felt that we no longer needed a protector, a shield? Tell me please, our Maharal who knew everything, did he not know that exile, after him, would become harder than before, even more cruel? That the burden would become heavier, more bloody? He could have left us his Golem; he should have. What did he fear?”

—Excerpt from Elie Wiesel’s “The Golem”

[ropuszysko]

HUNTIK EPISODE 3

as an amateur yiddishist who is visiting prague rn

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

MY CREDENTIALS:

as you may have know already, i am an amateur polish yiddishist with a great interest in judaism in general. i speak some yiddish and have some expertise in ashkenazi culture. i am however not jewish and i dont speak hebrew (besides knowing the alphabeth)

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

We all know that Rainbow treats history very loosely and unconsistencies aren't a surprise to anyone, really, but I thought this would be fun. I watched the Golem episode in Polish a few years back and in English just yesterday, so this is what I am basing this post on. Enjoy!

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

1. The Legend Itself

The legend itself is retold pretty accurately, although it is shortened. More details are: the rabbi's full name actually was Yehuda Löw ben Bezalel, which means Yehuda Löw the son of Bezalel. He was a well-known cabbalist, mathematician, rabbi, teacher, etc., also known as Maharal. The Golem was placed in the attic of the Old New Synagogue(Staronová synagoga), after it got out of control of the rabbi and went on a murderous rampage. Now, there are two options of what was written either on his forehead or on a piece of parchment put in his mouth to animate it. It was either indeed truth (emet, אמת) or it could also be Adam (אדמ), "a man" in Hebrew. To deactivate it, the rabbi erased the first letter א (you read Hebrew from right to left) to make it either "met", which means death or "dam", which means blood.

2. The cemetery

There is not a lot I can say about the cemetery. In the show it says is the Prague Central Cemetery, which... doesn't exist xD. For real. There is no such thing, especially in the jewish contexy.  There's one jewish cemetery in the centre of the city and it's the old jewish cemetery (starý židovský hřbitov)(not to be confused with the old jewish in Žižkov district, which is a different thing in a different part of the town). Maharal was buried in the Old Cemetery in the Josefov  district, in the centre of the city. There's not a lot I can say, because creative liberty was clearly taken. Both in the show and the actual one look just like your generic jewish cemetery. All I can say is that the entrance looks very different. There are three gates to the cemetery, which are much narrower and sll of them are attached to synagogues.

3. The Grave

What can I say about the grave? Just look at it, it's completely different. The only detail, that I can actually point out, that actually annoyed me, is that the matzevah (tombstobe )is usually placed in front of the grave, not in the back of the grave. And this is the detail, that even considering the creative liberty, doesn't make sense. Also not to be that guy, but I think that actual matzevah looks much more interesting and I kind of wish they used the actual one. Also the papers you can see are so-called "kvitelech", piece of paper with prayers or pleas, usually for help written on them to the rabbi, to Maharal.

4. The word Sophie writes

The word Sophie writes here allegedly is emet, truth. Except it's not xD. Not only she writes it from the wrong side, like you write in latin alphabet, but also some of those symbols don't even exist. I cannot really write them. If I had to guess it would be LLLILONA and a symbol that doesn't exist. Or maybe the are Ks instead of Ls. It resembles katakana more than Hebrew alphabet. There's my handwriting comparison on the left, which my Hebrew handwriting isn't very good, but it's there.

5. The place they find the Golem

The place they find the Golem is interesting to say the least. In the show it says it's in the alchemist road, which... You guessed it, doesn't exist. There is the Golden Lane (Zlatá ulička), where alchemists were rumored to live, however it ha nothing to do with rabbi Yehuda Löw. Most of the jewish life of Prague was focused in Josefov, which is at the other side of the river. And obviously there is no synagogue in the Golden Lane.

I've seen most of the synagogues, that are in Prague today. The one shown in a show is pretty destitute and there's no such synagogue in Prague right now. None of those that are, resembles the one shown in a show. Technically it should be the Old News Synagogue, because that's where the legend says  the Golem was locked. However! The Old News Synagogue is much smaller, like much, much smaller. If I had to pick the closest one I'd said is the Maisel Synagogue, just by the sheer size of, it but it looks pretty different. Maybe Klausen Synagogue, also,by the size of it, but again, the architecture's different. I'd say the Pinkas synagogue looks the closest, but it's again waaay smaller and there's a bima in the middle. So I think Iginio Straffi just made up his own synagogue. I will be posting photos in a reblog, because there's a limit per post.

6. The Golem itself

It's the same story as with the tombstone. It's so different, that there is no point in actually comparing them. Just have a look.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Some Kwamiswap names I have:

Pig!Marinette: Babe Bakin

Dog!Max: Cynocephalus

Goat!Adrien: Fauntasy

Eagle!Kim: Golden Eagle

Goat!Luka: Panpiper

Snake!Sabrina: Basilisk

Fox!Kim: Shenanigan (Apparently the word comes from the Irish expression "sionnachuighim", meaning "I play the fox")

Ladybug!Juleka: Vermillytron

Peacock!Nathaniel: Maharal (from the story of the Golem of Prague)

Monkey!Nino: Howler

Oh I love them!

[eretzyisrael]

EIGHT DAYS A WEEK

The name of this week’s parsha is Shemini, meaning “the 8th.” Following seven days of inauguration, Aaron and his sons begin their work of officiating as Kohanim (priests) on the 8th day. Fire issues forth from God to consume the offerings on the altar, and the Divine Presence comes to dwell in the mishkan, the portable sanctuary in the desert. What is the significance of the number 8 in Judaism? The Maharal of Prague (d. 1609) teaches that the number 7 represents the natural world. There are seven colors in the rainbow and seven days of the week. But the number 8 represents that which is above nature, such as fire from God appearing in the sanctuary. A baby boy enters the eternal covenant of Abraham on the 8th day of his life, forging a supernatural bond with his Creator. Chanukah is an 8 day holiday because only a Higher Power could inspire the Maccabees to battle a much larger army, and make one day’s worth of oil last 8 days.  Eight represents miracles because only God can subvert the order of the natural world - but we have a role to play too. When we follow God’s laws all week - like Aaron and the Kohanim do - we partner with our Creator and that’s when miracles can happen!

[hyperpotamianarch]

All right, so I have news for anyone who's interested in my Jewsade/Jewish dæmonism stuff! After not doing anything with it since I've hit a wall with no idea on how to actually write it, I am now considering using Maharal of Prague as a framing device that could connect the story to the main characters of His Dark Materials. Maharal is most well known for having rumored to have created a Golem - it's actually the most famous Golem story to exist - but he was more interesting a person than that. He was well studies in Philosophy and Kabbalah, as well as Astronomy and various other sciences. He was born in Poland about 30 years after the Alhambra decree in Spain, meaning he was a baby/young child at the time the supposed Jewsade may have occured. He was known to have conversed with Emperor Rudolph II later in life. In addition, his teachings later influenced the Chassidut movement.

I'm not really explaining his significance well, but he is an important figure who had the Golem legend grow around his character and fights against Blood Libels centuries after his death. And the fact that the Alethiometer was supposedly invented in Prague at around the time of his death helps.

You see, my idea of it currently is something along the lines of: Lyra, in the midst of studying the Alethiometer, finds some vague references to an early scholar named Long Loew. There is only one note from him which is very interesting, but there's very little about who he was and what are other stuff he said. After researching she finds a book that explains a bit more about him, which might be the heart of the story. That, or she'll slowly uncover hints and the story will progress in two parallel lines - one telling of the life of Rabbi Yehuda Loew of Prague and his struggles with the rising power of the Magisterium and another about Lyra uncovering his life and learning about the current state of Judaism under the Magisterium-dominated Europe. It will likely include some throwaway lines about the Jewsade and its outcome and about shifts in centers of Judaism. Some spotlight might also be given to Rabbi Mordechai Yaffeh (but only because I like him. He doesn't seem to have interacted with Maharal much even though he also served as the Rabbi of Prague for some time while Maharal was living in another city) and to some of Mahahral's students. There will also have to be some talk about the Shulchan Aruch and such books, but that's another thing.

Part of the idea here is also to remind people that Jews were involved in scientific development, to a degree. Some famous rabbis had exchanges with famous Astronomers. Due to how a Christian-dominated world generally works, though, you're unlikely to find discoveries made by Jewish scholars around the 16th-17th centuries. At least so I think, I'm far from an expert on that topic. Either way, I think this kind of story might lend itself easier to write. It does lose the angle of focusing on Sepharadi Jews, but I'm hardly qualified for that anyway. I think Maharal's type of philosophy might work very well with dæmons and the Alethiometer, though I do need to study it more (which I guess makes the fact one of my distant great uncles was a scholar of Maharal very convenient). I do still need to read the Secret Commonwealth to understand adult Lyra better and see how such a story might work - for example, might Pantalaimon go alone to the Jewish quarter of Prague when Lyra is unwilling to? What would each of them find out? What could really drive Lyra to check out one particular scholar? So, that's the bad news: after having a hard time starting to read the Secret Commonwealth, any progress that might be done is postponed until after I read it. I do intend to try and do it quickly, though.

So, yeah. I intend trying to talk about Jewish life in Lyra's world through the eyes of an old Jewish Rabbi, Philosopher and Kabbalah student, or maybe two or three of those. I will need to thouroughly research their history, but that's going to be fun (hopefully). Plus, I'm descended from Maharal! So this is kind of uncovering family history!

Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful day!

[greywritesrandom]

Legends and Lore - 27 {Monster}

Golems

In the shadows of Jewish folklore, the Golem emerges as a creature of both awe and dread—a silent, hulking automaton forged from the earth itself. These clay figures, animated through ancient rituals and mystical inscriptions, are an early form of what might be considered magical robots. Their purpose can swing between guardian and terrorizer, depending on the circumstances and the hand that moulds them.

The most legendary of these clay constructs is the Golem of Prague, a figure shrouded in both historical and mystical fog. Created in the 16th century by Rabbi Judah Loew, also known as the Maharal, this Golem was conjured to protect the Jewish ghetto of Prague from anti-Semitic attacks and the wrath of the Holy Roman Empire. According to legend, the Golem was inscribed with the Hebrew word "EMET" (truth) on its forehead, which imbued it with life and purpose. As long as the word remained, the Golem was a powerful protector. 

However, the story takes a darker turn. When the Golem’s creator became concerned about the creature's growing strength and uncontrollable nature, he erased the first letter of the inscription, transforming "EMET" into "MET" (death). This act of desperation rendered the Golem lifeless once more, but not without consequences. The legend holds that the Golem’s massive, clay body was hidden away in the attic of the Old New Synagogue in Prague, where it remains to this day, a silent sentinel awaiting its master’s command.

Golems have since transcended their origins to become symbols of the dangers of unchecked power and the complexities of creation. They evoke a sense of eerie unease, embodying the intersection of human ingenuity and the unknown forces that lie beyond our control. In stories and folklore, these creatures serve as cautionary reminders of the perils inherent in trying to play god and the unintended consequences of tampering with forces greater than oneself.

With their origins steeped in both sacred rituals and the darker whispers of the supernatural, Golems continue to captivate the imagination, straddling the line between protector and menace. Their stories remain a chilling testament to the power of creation and the fragility of control.

[witchofanguish]

The Golem From Prague

NARRATOR: The era: the sixteenth century. The place: Prague. The Jewish community is in grave danger. Gentiles sow discord and spread blood libel. But worry not- the Maharal of Prague labors in his laboratory for a solution that will save the Jewish people.

MAHARAL: Keep praying, Zalman! When Shabbat finally comes, the Creator of the World Himself (CHECK THIS) will raise the Golem from its slumber and bring it to life, and it will protect us from the gentiles!

MAHARAL: The time has arrived! Zalman!

ZALMAN: No, Rebbe!

MAHARAL: Pull the lever!

<Zalman pulls the lever, the Golem rises>

MAHARAL: Hurrah!

ZALMAN: Hurrah!

MAHARAL: Hurrah!

ZALMAN: Movement! (this is a pun on הידד-היזז)

MAHARAL: The Golem lives!

ZALMAN: It lives!

MAHARAL: It lives!

ZALMAN: It lives!

GOLEM: Good morning.

MAHARAL: Good morning! How are you feeling? Slept well?

GOLEM: Fine, I guess... a bit occupied. (not sure about this one at all lol)

MAHARAL: The Holy One, Blessed is He brought you to life so that you could protect us, the chosen people!

GOLEM: Chosen for what?

MAHARAL: For riots, pogroms, (that's two words for pogroms) blood libel, rape, murder... but don't worry. God keeps guard over us.

GOLEM: I'll tell you the truth, it doesn't sound like he loves you that much.

MAHARAL: We're the chosen people.

GOLEM: Chosen for suffering maybe! <laughs>

MAHARAL: Heretic!

ZALMAN: Heretic!

MAHARAL: Heretic!

ZALMAN: Heretic!

MAHARAL: The Golem rises up against its creator!

GOLEM: But I'm not-

MAHARAL: Kill it!

GOLEM: Hold on a sec, daddy- (informal version of dad, not sure if that's the right connotation)

<Zalman smashes Golem over the head with a frying pan>

GOLEM: Ouch.

MAHARAL: Say it strongly! (as one would to a child, I imagine to rebuke?)

<Maharal smashes Golem with a hammer>

GOLEM: Ooh-ah.

<scene change>

MAHARAL: This is it, Zalman! We have a new and improved Golem with fifty percent less intelligence! Pull the lever, Zalman!

ZALMAN: Yes, Rebbe!

<Zalman pulls the lever, Golem rises once more>

ZALMAN: It lives!

MAHARAL: It lives! The Golem lives!

GOLEM: Golem lives.

MAHARAL: Onward, Golem! Go out and protect us from the gentiles!

GOLEM: What are gentiles?

MAHARAL: All those babblers who think God likes them more!

GOLEM: Ah, Golem understands. Only Jews have conclusive evidence that God likes them more, yes?

MAHARAL: Certainly! It's written in the Tanach.

GOLEM: The gentiles don't have the Tanach!

MAHARAL: They... they do have some holy books, but they're very stupid, very very stupid.

GOLEM: Ah. If that's so, Golem thinks that it's impossible to know which book is silly, which book is true, and which book is complete nonsense. (the specific phrase used at the end is 'kishkush balabush.' I'm not sure if that's a childish phrase or not.)

MAHARAL: Ugh! Ugh! Heretic!

ZALMAN: Heretic!

MAHARAL: Heretic!

ZALMAN: Heretic!

MAHARAL: Kill it, Zalman!

<various comedic hitting the Golem over the head etc etc, next scene>

GOLEM: So why is it forbidden to to cook a goat in its mother's milk and permitted to fry schnitzel in its mother's egg?

MAHARAL: OOOOH!

<smashed over the head again>

GOLEM: So when women speak it's not a forbidden sexual act (erva/ערווה) but when they sing it is? (it took me like ten minutes to figure this one out, never got what they were talking about the other hundred times I've watched this because of how obscurely it's phrased and because I forgot this is a specific offense lol)

<smashed>

GOLEM: But if I enjoy it, I didn't let it out in vain.

ZALMAN: ...there's something to that.

<Maharal smashes Zalman over the head, then the Golem a bunch of times. next scene opens with Golem rising without a head>

MAHARAL: No mistake! This is the chosen Golem! One hundred percent muscle, zero percent intelligence. It's only missing one last thing.

ZALMAN: What's missing?

MAHARAL: What's missing?? The kippah, Zalman!

[benevolentbirdgal]

What makes a golem a golem? I see a lot of media that calls any sort of construct or manmade being a golem but I feel like that’s not right? I see a lot of people see Frankenstein’s monster is a golem for example.

Great question that I'm probably going to end up answering in like four different directions!

Also, sorry for the delay, I saw this, thought wow, this deserves a thoughtful response, and then got busy for two weeks with travel and family stuff!

Okay, so usual disclaimers that I am not the holder of the One True Jewish Opinion and that folklore can be wibbly, but here's my basic take on what makes a golem a golem.

There are a few positions I'm going to explore here on "what is a Golem" -

The most literal/traditional definition from pre-20th century writings.

The most inclusive - Every Constructed Man Is A Golem and/or if someone calls it a Golem it must be one.

The appropriation-observation - That Mech Isn't A Golem, But It's A Problem That It's Pretending To Be.

Also: Full Disclosure: My personal opinion is definitely somewhere in the "Golem means a specific thing, but it gets misappropriated a lot and that's bad" range.

In the most literal & traditional sense, a Golem is a formerly inanimate anthropomorphic shaped clump of Something (most traditionally clay or dirt or rock) brought to life by the magic of the Hebrew alphabet. Golems also lack free will - whatever you tell them to do, they do, and generally they are portrayed as very literal in how they interpret instructions. They are also, in the earliest examples, mute.

Golem folklore goes back into at least Talmudic times (first centuries common era), with examples of Rabbi such-and-such making golems using Hebrew names or the word for truth in middle ages. Our modern conceptions are also typically heavily grounded in the writings of the Maharal of Prague (Judah Loew ben Bezalel), who lived and wrote in the 16th century. Although relatively recent, the Maharal and his golem he deactivated so it wouldn't have to work on Shabbos are the most famous at this point.

Many of these stories understood golems as both general household help and as potential protectors of the Jewish community. The Maharal in particular engaged with the latter angle.

I do not think that the most exclusive interpretation of what we call golems, at least alone is helpful for modern discourse. Having a base understanding is useful though.

Roughly, tradition tells us that a golem is a traditionally clay-based constructed humanoid figure brought to life by the power of the written Hebrew language and operates without free will and usually without speech. They are not evil, just literal AF, and need to be handled with care - both with respect to their behavior and by some accounts, how the golem itself is treated.

This is a fairly restrictive definition. The opposite view is that anything that looks like, is called as, or vibes like a golem counts. In my observation, this is usually in the interest of calling out misappropriated golems.

I basically see three problems with the "everything is a Golem" camp:

It's NOT a one-to-one, but there are other manmade alive-but-not figures that fill similar roles outside of Jewish folklore. I'm not saying that a Talon (Greek) or Shabti (Egyptian) Tupilaq (Inuit) are exact equivalent to Golems, I'm saying that if a creator from a background with a constructed person-like entity as part of their traditions creates media with constructed person-like entity we should hear the contextual horses not zebras.

If something is a golem, we need something to not be. If we wanted to be very expansive, one could even argue that household robots like Rosie from The Jetsons are Golem analogues, which would be fun to argue, but one would be wrong. Basically, I oppose "anything is this specific thing" definitions.

There are lots of pieces of media that misappropriate golems (and other Jewish folklore, but that's a song for another time), but it's important to me that we save that label for Actual Problematic Appropriation, not literally anything that could possibly count because of vibes or whatever.

I do think we should be immediately suspicious of that which is labeled by creators as Golems when the creators are not Jewish. Why is gentile creator insisting this is a thing from a community they are not part of???

I sympathize with the assessment that misappropriated golems and golem analogues abound, because they do. This brings me to my own view.

For me - I think the best ways to determine if x is a Golem or Golem-analogue, misappropriated or otherwise, is to explore the following three questions:

Does it line up to the traditional description?

Do the creators insist that it is a Golem and/or do we have reason to believe they were influenced by Golem stories?

Is there a community consensus from the culture of origin - Jewish - that this piece of media is a Golem or Golem analogue? [by far the trickiest to determine].

I think there are basically three answers you could land on: definitely a Golem, definitely not a Golem, and some middle ground of inspiration from the thing.

Since the example given was Frankenstein, I'll run that as a sample:

Eh. I see where people are coming from on this one, I do, but I don't think the evidence is damning here. We could nitpick on the physically different aspects - the lack of Hebrew inscription, people instead of dirt/clay, the electricity bringing to life, but I actually think the thematic differences are more relevant. Golems are explicitly under the control of their creator, have a (relatively) easy on/off switch, are generally intended for good purposes (household help, self-defense), and regarded as part of the household (most narratives have Golems not working on Shabbat). Although I wouldn't say Frankenstein's Monster is evil, there's a very different relationship and operation that is much more horror-y than folklore-y at the end of the day.

Shelley never straight-up said the monster was a Golem. Although Golem narratives go back much earlier, their debut to the wider world was in 1808 through the Brothers Grimm's submission to a literary journal, Journal of Hermits. In 1808 and 1812 we see clear departures from traditional Jewish narratives in the write-up's from the Grimm brothers. It's perfectly plausible she interacted with Golem or Golem-esque ideas through her intellectual circles in this way.

There is not community consensus that Frankenstein's Monster = Golem. There are definitely Jews who hold this position, but it's not a community consensus by any means.

In this case, at least for Shelley's 1816 publication (not getting into later stuff or movies), inspiration from the Brother's Grimm bastardization is probable, but ultimately I'd say not a Golem.

As per usual, OP (or anyone else) is welcome to follow-up, other Jews welcome to add stuff, goyim welcome to reblog!

[stromuprisahat]

Thoughts on nichevoya=golems?

My first answer was no, I pictured the clay man from Císařův pekař a pekařův císař, baking bread for the people...

But I looked at wiki for less fairytale-y informations and:

The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late 16th-century rabbi of Prague, also known as the Maharal, who reportedly "created a golem out of clay from the banks of the Vltava River and brought it to life through rituals and Hebrew incantations to defend the Prague ghetto from anti-Semitic attacks and pogroms".[16][17] Depending on the version of the legend, the Jews in Prague were to be either expelled or killed under the rule of Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor. 

They're not the same, I doubt LB wrote them as such, unless she was trying to say mythical Jewish protectors were evil, but there are similarities.

They're made by powerful leader of people oppressed over a long period of time, who happen to be in greater danger than usual. They're made by unconventional, for ordinary mortals forbidden, means.

The greatest difference is golem was made out of ordinary material, brought into life by said magic, while nichevo'ya are almost completely merzost-made out of the Darkling's own being. Horrifying way to protect others.

[sapphoandvanzetti]

did the maharal of prague write this

Clay is like if dirt could be flesh.